LESSON #47: How to Create an Ebook

By | August 4, 2009

In the previous lessons we’ve been talking about how to create an information product. Today we’re going to take a closer look at creating an ebook…

(Watch this video…)

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Main points:

  • Ebook = digital book

    Possible formats…

    -PDF (Recommended)
    -Word Doc
    -Text file
    -HTML page
    -Exe file
    -Kindle and other special formats

    Recommended Free Software: www.OpenOffice.org

    Open Office is an open source software suite, and their Writer program can create high quality PDF’s… for free!

  • Ebook Formatting

    – 8 1/2 x 11″
    – 12-14 point font
    – Times New Roman (most common for printed books)
    – Arial (great for reading on-screen)

    Tricks to take up more space…

    (This is not about adding fluff, or filling it with too much white space… your ebook should consist of high quality content. But it can be helpful to make your ebook seem longer to add perceived value. Also please note: keep your target market in mind. Some audiences prefer short, concise information, in which case a shorter ebook is better.)

    – Margins (just don’t increase them too much)
    – Line spacing (I like 1.5)
    – Arial font instead of Times New Roman
    – Chapter breaks

    Components I include in my ebooks:

    -Title Page
    -Legal Disclaimer Page
    -Table of Contents
    -Chapters
    -Resource Section

    (See video for demonstration of me creating an ebook by rebranding and tweaking another PLR ebook)

    PLR Tip: If you can’t find PLR for your topic, consider finding someone with a product in your niche that you think is good quality, and simply ask them if they’ll private label it to you.

  • 3 places that I like to put links in ebooks…

    1) At the beginning
    2) Integrated throughout
    3) At the end (resource section)

    Linking Tip: Always use use redirects on your own domain, rather than embedding your affiliate link in the ebook. That way you can change the destination later on, without having to update the ebook. See also link cloaking

    Advanced Tip: Creating brandable PDF’s for your affiliates is a great idea. I’ve used ViralPDF

    Advanced Tip: Always keep your source documents! You might want to boost your income by selling PLR to it some day.

    Recommended resources:

    PDF Ebook Templates

    Instead of DULL, PLAIN, BORING documents, now you can easily create
    BEAUTIFUL and PROFESSIONAL looking ebooks in a matter of minutes.

    PDF Templates
    Ecover Engine

    This is a very cool software tool which enables you to create great looking E-covers for your products… even if you have no graphics experience at all!

    PDF Ebook covers

    Action steps:

    1) If you’ve chosen to create an ebook for your information product… do it!

    For many of you, this product will be just the tip of the iceberg. Ideally, it will be a front end product that leads to bigger products, and bigger income as you build your business. We’ll be talking about your marketing funnel in the next lesson.

    As always, you are welcome to post your questions and comments below.

    Have a great day!

  • 168 thoughts on “LESSON #47: How to Create an Ebook

    1. monty

      Hi.

      How can I “copy protect” my book, so that the recipient cannot copy & paste my document…….without passwords. I.E he can read the document & print it but not copy & paste it

      Any ideas ?

      Reply
      1. Russell Lee

        Monty, the reality is that anything that can be displayed on the screen can be copied with the push of the PrtScr button, which places that image on the “clipboard” and the clipboard then can be pasted into whatever app desired. Even Google’s sophisticated copy blocking schemes are useless with this. Save yourself the aggravation and forget about copy protection and focus instead on copyrights that Eric mentions, if you’re that concerned.

        Hackers, by the way, love the challenge that copy protection schemes offer, similar to solving FreeCell puzzles. Electronic Arts used to copy protect their games by using half tracks on the floppys and encoding the data. Solving that puzzle was fun by building a machine language monitor that executed small portions of the code up to a stop byte that you inserted. The executed code would reveal the next scheme which was then executed to its conclusion, and thus the entire “protected” code was soon laid bare. The resulting game would then be saved unprotected and distributed to gamers. The hacker didn’t care about making money, his gratification lay in beating a system that thought to frustrate him.

        Most ebooks that I’ve seen aren’t worth the trouble to copy and paste, let alone defeating copy protection. While some ebooks are good sources of references, more commonly they are used as stepping stones to the end users target. The best strategy is to work with the end user by supplying good content to begin with and then make your money with embedded links to helpful or necessary tools/products, instead of frustrating the end user with selfishness/fluff which will spell the end of your business. No one likes selfishness, but everyone loves passionate givers. If your ebook gets circulated beyond your circle because of its perceived value, so much the better for you because more eyeballs will see your embedded links.

        Reply
    2. roger

      Hi Eric,

      I created a 5 page ebook as a test following what you taught here.

      When I inserted the image, it takes only a part of the page and it won’t take the full page as I see in some ebooks produced by others.

      How can I make so the image takes up the whole page. Image dimensions 1222*1590 pixels.

      Thanks.

      Reply
      1. Eric Post author

        If you’re using MS Word, you can stretch the image by dragging the corner of it.

        If you want to make the image the background of the page go to DESIGN >> Page Background >> Page Color >> Fill Effects >> Picture

        Reply
    3. Eric

      I have a PLR ebook that I bought. It has master resale rights and comes with a sales page. My problem is that I don’t know how to get that information onto a website and how to setup a payment system of my site. Any advice would help. Thanks.

      Reply
    4. Antonio Matos

      Hi Eric,

      Thanks for the post is a step by step approach that I enjoy very much.

      Have a nice day.

      Warm regards,
      Antonio Matos

      Reply
    5. Augustus

      Hi, Eric,
      I’m interested in your ecover software but as I filling my PayPal payment it was rejected.
      I later found out that my country was not listed among other countries that their payment can be accepted.

      I’m very much in need of this software.
      Pls which other way can I get this tool.
      Do reply as I patiently wait for your reply.

      Reply
      1. Micah

        Hello Augustus,

        The best solution we have at present, would be to find someone who could make purchases on your behalf, and then send the products to you.

        We’ve heard success stories from nearly every country, but I don’t know any marketers from your country personally.

        We recommend that you view the following inspiring article and user comments:

        Ladan Lashkari: If this girl can succeed – so can you!

        This can help you when there are business restrictions that must be overcome in your country.

        Reply

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