Monday, November 20, 2006

Please welcome Dorothy Thompson!






I have a guest author, relationship expert, columnist, renowned authority on the Soul Mate phenomena, and queen of the e-books here today, please welcome Dorothy Thompson. The one we will be talking about today is "A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook."

Welcome Dorothy! Let me jump right in with a few questions for you:

First, how long did it take you to gather and research all the material needed to publish an e-book that would help others publish and promote their own e-book?



Hi Marcia, and thanks for having me! To be honest, this eBook is the accumulation of five years of research, but it wasn't until the last year did I realize the secrets to real book promotion. Five years ago, I started out with a children's book that was published by an e-publisher. I barely knew a thing about eBooks, much less how to promote them. It wasn't until I started self-publishing my own eBooks did I realize where I went wrong. For starters, I didn't take an active part in promotion. As a newbie author, I thought the publisher would do all that. After only a handful of eBooks sold over the years, I gave up on it.



Now, through trial and error, and a different approach, my eBooks are selling quite well. As in anything, it sometimes takes having you go under before you realize what it takes to come out on top. This I have achieved through "A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook."



As for the time it took to gather and research to put this eBook together, I would say it took the whole five years to really figure out how to get people interested in a paperless book, and get them to buy one. People love print books, and I am one of them. But, eBooks are a whole different thing. People buy them for information mainly, and if you can provide that information that isn't available anywhere else, you have landed on a gold mine.



Next, is this the first book you have had published, either in paper or e-book?



Actually, this is my fourth eBook, and I also have print books I have either co-authored, or edited. All of my eBooks with the exception of the children's eBook, I have published myself. I like the hands-on control of self-publishing, and the profits can't be beat either. Where else are you going to make money off your books without having to share?



I am contracted by a small press publisher for books that I feel would do better in print. But, then, there are other books I have that are more suited for eBook formatting, such as one in which contains a lot of clickable links as in "A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook."



One thing people need to keep in mind is your market when determining whether to go with print or electronic means of publishing. My eBook is interactive, so electronic is the only way to go. For fiction, I would recommend print because it's harder to sell in electronic format, but I have seen some eBooks do extremely well. Informational eBooks are hot right now. If you have a certain knowledge of a particular subject, put this knowledge into an eBook and sell it from your website. A lot of writers who are waiting for that NY contract or royalty statements from their already-published books find this an excellent way to make a little money (or a lot!) on the side.





Last but not least, what kind of money are we looking at to publish an e-book....from the actual publishing and promoting of it?



LOL, glad you asked. How does nill sound? If you have a program where you can make your own snazzy book covers, and have a way to turn a .doc into a .pdf, you're in the good.



If you don't have a program to make book covers, drop me a line at thewriterslife(at)yahoo.com, and I'll set you up with one. My rates are lower than anywhere, and I have a pretty good eye for what makes a good cover. I've been complimented quite a few times.



As for promoting, my eBook shows you hundreds upon hundreds of ways to promote your eBook without it costing you one red cent. Of course, you can buy ads, what not, but you really don't have to. And this is what it's all about—finding outlets to promote (which I have and are in the eBook), without it costing a thing.



If you would like to find out more about my eBook, visit www.thewriterslife.net/promoteebook.html

Thanks for visiting today, Dorothy. If any of you have any further questions for Dorothy please feel free to contact her at the website she has listed above.

Thanks, and happy promoting to you!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

This is so interesting!

thewriterslife said...

Hi Martie, and thank you for having me! The link shouldn't have a period at the end. Take it off and you'll go right to my selling page. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask! ;o)

Anonymous said...

Dorothy is a relationship expert? I got plenty of questions then....

thewriterslife said...

LOL, ask away!

Anonymous said...

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing Martie!