ProBlogger: How to Beat Amazon eBook Competition

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How to Beat Amazon eBook Competition Posted: 23 Oct 2013 08:37 AM PDT This is a guest contribution from The Blogger, Greg Narayan. If you’ve tested your luck in the eBook industry you probably have noticed one thing: the scene is a total mess. While it takes years to publish a hard cover novel, we can now whip off a PDF eBook in the time it takes to make a PBJ sandwich, then start selling it online. This presents a real problem to both producers, and consumers as competition rises to the extremes. Aside: If there ARE good eBooks out there, they are here at ProBlogger.net. I’ve bought a few and even at my current stage in blogging I’ll admit that even the beginner content has taught me a ton! Back to the whole ebook mess… how do we know which eBooks to buy, which ones will sell, and what topics need coverage? Well, let’s take a look. Learning how Amazon works Source: Goodereader.com This short story  begins with Amazon, who frequently sends me eBook suggestions which I often delete. But the other morning I decided to give Amazon’s suggestions a shot. Maybe it was my refreshed feeling with the new fall season or the strong cup of coffee that sat in front of me. Either way, I was ready to learn. And what I saw in this email proved worth it. Gregory J. Narayan, Are you looking for something in our Business & Investing Books department? If so, you might be interested in these items. Typical introduction…but I kept reading. Side note 1: If you’re a blogger or anyone bent on learning online marketing, clicking Amazon emails, ads, and even Facebook ads can be really informative. It costs you nothing and you can then take notes on the persuasive copy and landing pages that others have invested money in. At the top of the list was the new book called “Let Go by Pat Flynn” and below it were books that were also awesome, but just lacked the pop that Pat’s had. Here are five things I noticed from observing Pat’s book, which to date has already sold thousands of copies and receives ways more reviews than other books in his niche. Best Practice Tips from Published Amazon eBooks Source: Alvaro Gonzalez http://www.alvarogonzalezalorda.com/ These are some tips I sort of “stole” from Pat’s eBook launch. Tip #1: Create a title that resonates Make your title brief and powerful with simple words. The idea is not to use fluffy words like "world class, expert, millionaire, unique, or empire" because that's what everyone else is doing! These words look great upfront but will only cloud your objectives. Instead, pick a unique yet simple combination of words that people will remember. Ideally, you want the title to be both memorable and relatable – reflecting the kind of activities a lot of people want to pursue. Activities? Yep, eBooks are about doing. ⇨ Best practice: Keep the title short and include your name (even though Amazon sometimes discourages this) Tip #2: Pay for a respectable logo Pay a starving logo-designer a couple hundred bucks to create something memorable, instead of using some played out image like an open road or top of a mountain. It will make their day and they'll put good hours into your design which will be reflect for months or even years to come, depending on how your niche evolves. A good, respectable image can dominate your whole cover (which is a good thing) and create a lasting impression in peoples’ mind. Again, think memorable and relatable. ⇨ Best practice: Think up a story to go along with the image. Tip #3: Recruit other known authors for social proof Bring in 2-4 other niche names and you’ll really add value to your end result. I know it's nice to do everything on your own – I've been guilty of trying to write, design, and even code my entire blog – but honestly outsourcing some of the work is a really smart tactic. Firstly, this shows folks you have a network of like-minded thinkers. Second, this will instantly multiply the organic marketing base you have (with things like more personal Facebooks and Twitters to share from). Lastly, more authors means more people to critique your own work before you publish to Amazon! The value of another set of eyes is overwhelmingly high, yet most of us take this for granted. ⇨ Best practice: Don’t email your contributors until you have the ball-rolling, a sales page drafted, an image, etc. Once you do, give folks a concrete assignment and deadlines (people are just too busy otherwise). Tip #4: Don’t get greedy with your price Don’t set your eBook to hardcover prices. Unless you're already established, no one is going to pay your rate of $15-30. Common sense economics tell us it's more valuable to get more sales even if it means at a lesser price, duh. But common sense economics also tells us that we often overvalue things we create. This part might be less intuitive. So, maybe ask someone (like ehem, one of your awesome readers?) how much they would pay. Do a survey or a poll, and tailor your price around the higher end of what people say they would pay. ⇨ Best practice: Research prices of other eBooks already dominating your niche, and price yours competitively. Watch "The Price is Right" for a shrewd strategy or two :) Tip #5: Jockey for positioning The order in which we see thing really matters. So if your new eBook does start to gain some popularity and rise the ranks on Amazon or wherever it’s listed, you should deliberately keep increasing it’s rankings. You could achieve the ‘snowball effect’. Sometimes, more people noticing your book and noticing that others are noticing it can really launch it into the limelight. And your window for success in this department may be slim. In the next section, I’ll show you what I mean. Time to contact Mr. Flynn Source: PatFlynn http://patflynn.me/ In my excitement seeing Pat’s book blast apart the others (seriously, hundreds more reviews than the next guy) I instantly reached out to him. What ensued was a ridiculous fun Twitter conversation/forum that you may want to join in on if you have a moment. What I learned from Pat, as I prepare my own eBook for it’s sale (on the to-do list after I finish this post), was priceless. The main message? You can enter even the most saturated niche – just do it with style, confidence, and originality. Bonus Tip: Create an offsite promotions page Now, I don’t mean to bombard you with so much here that you wont’ be able to stammer out a comment (which you know I love) but I needed to include this too. Sure, your blog is a good place to promote your new eBook or any product you come up with. But you could go the next step. Domain names go for as cheap as $2 bucks a pop (Google Search for discounts!) nowadays, so why not setup a promotions site and nest your eBook download right in there? Advantages of offsite promo: ⇨ More websites = more trafic potential = more clout ⇨ Your announcments won’t get burried by newer articles as they would on a blog format ⇨ Leverage new domain name to build PageRank around keywords closely related to your book And if it’s building PageRank you’d like to do…well, let’s just say the topic of eBooks and PageRank will be like peanut butter to jelly soon! Conclusion If you want your new eBook to launch well you have to research your niche and find out how to be different. While this boils down to price, style, and content there are lots more criteria to take advantage of. Get creative, click ads, and send pipe dream emails to those you admire. The biggest flaw would be assuming you’ll get rich (or make anything) just because you make it to Amazon. I know this has gotten your ideas flowing. If you have any stories from your own eBooks or personal businesses, I’d love to hear about them in the comments. The Blogger runs a blogging answers community out of Manhattan but really considers his home online. He just finished the launch page for his new PageRank eBook, make sure to hop on that list and read up before the next update passes you! As usual, get more on Google+. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger How to Beat Amazon eBook Competition

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Shoemoney - Skills To Pay The Bills

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Should you profile build by being a bitch… or will you just piss off your company instead? Posted: 23 Oct 2013 07:04 AM PDT As I wrote last week's story about Gary Henderson's #ID2013 conference, and his ill-thought-out video that made a lot of industry big wigs look like douches as he spliced and diced footage from the conference taken months earlier, and then how his subsequent social media rantings about the negative reaction to the video turned a bad situation even worse.  It also got me thinking how people post and interact on social media influences not just their personal brand, but also the corporate brand of whatever company they represent.  I am sure many of us formed opinions on Gary Henderson, his company, and his conferences, all due to the way he reacted to the whole #ID2013 conference video fallout.  But then again, it was a nice profile build since a ton of people had never heard of him, his company or his conference series before the video, so maybe the whole thing was a planned profile build, although I (hopefully) suspect it was hoped the video would go viral as "wow cool" not "so not cool". But it definitely got me thinking about how the things people rant, bitch, or snarky response can really hurt an overall business brand, even if the person isn't necessarily the brand.  Damage by association, so to speak.  It doesn't really matter if someone disclaimers a rant with "my views are my own and not that of {insert company name here}".  But should people really need to censor what they say just because of how it makes their company brand look?  Can one person taint a brand for bitching on their personal brand?  The answer is hell yes, especially if they like their job and want to keep it.  Because people have been fired over what they say on their personal account, most recently Pax Dickinson, so it's clear that people have issues with their brands being associated with employees being asses even in their offtime. Looking back at the #ID2013 from last week, Henderson's attitude that no one except the first complaining speaker who disagreed with him was owed an apology rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.  And many people weighed in on their opinions, however none as hardlined against him as Miranda Miller.  But which begs the question, was it Miranda's place, as someone who was not even in attendance at the event in question, to bitch about Gary Henderson to the extent she did, in defense of her friend(s)?  The majority of the responses by people were of the "Geeze, this isn't cool," or "You know Gary, an apology would go a long way here."  Or was it simply an attempt for Miranda to profile build in a Facebook thread by a well known industry person (Simon Heseltine) when the comments were definitely a "who's who" in the industry.  Or does she (and some others) thrive on confrontation? There are plenty of people who try and profile build by going the bitch-route, none more apparent as the Google tin foil hat crowd.  True, it can get you noticed, but not necessarily in the way you want to be noticed.  If you are trying to make a name for yourself, do you want to be known as "the guy who only ever bitches about Google" or "that chick who is always bitching about something?"  Probably not unless you just don't give two shits about what anyone thinks of you in the industry and you have no aspirations to be a speaker and don't need clients. There are definitely those who have managed to build a profile and personal brand for themselves by going the bitch route throughout the years.  Think about Michael Gray (although he has mellowed out over the years {duck}), Rae Hoffman (has never mellowed out!), Lisa Barone (and yeah, why does it feel like she has fallen off the edge of the planet, even before her wedding/honeymoon?), Rand and the original bitcher, Danny Sullivan.  When Danny Sullivan rants about something Google has done, does it raise Search Engine Land's profile or do you simply think "there goes Danny bitching about his flavor of the month Google issue again?".  Or when Rae Hoffman goes off on one of her many tirades, do people outside of her groupies really pay attention anymore? Do you think negatively about their businesses because of their personal bitching?  Many people refuse to have anything to do with iAcquire because of the arrogant Michael King (aka My Cool King).  I know that there are certain people who refuse to refer clients to many otherwise kickass businesses, simply because they are associated with people who always bitch and have a bone to pick about the stupidest shit with people. A rare but well deserved rant by someone who rarely ever rants will draw a lot of attention, do doubt about it.  If someone I respect who never ever rants about anything suddenly rants about something in the industry, you can bet everyone will be paying attention. If Danny rants, I barely pay attention anymore.  Now if Matt Cutts were to rant, you would be I’d sit up and listen. But if everything you post on Twitter or Facebook is a "fuck this person" or just bitch bitch bitch, people begin to tune it out to the extent that when you have something really worthy of that rant, most people just aren't even aware it was as big of a deal as it could be, because it's passed off as "oh joy, there goes ___ bitching again." And when you get fired, chances are good part of that reason was the company you work for was sick of seeing how you loved to piss off people in the industry, and even though you were a “name” (or trying to be).

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