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Introduction Thanks for downloading this quick starter guide to writing and selling ebooks. I put this together to give you an overview of the process that I went through when I wrote, published, and launched Designed to Convert – and the first version of Ebook Blueprint. The process hasn’t changed since 2014, but I think we can all agree that the internet has. New sites are popping up left and right that allow us to find our target audience better and faster. New apps are allowing us to have better one-to-many interactions with our followers to find out what their problems are and how we can serve them better. Writing an ebook is the fastest way to establish authority in any market, as well as good will, a bigger email list, and an additional income stream.
My name is Hector Cuevas, founder of Hectorpreneur.com and my goal is to help you package your expertise and skills into high quality products, so you can get paid to help people. Ebook Blueprint teaches you how to do that with your own book. So let’s get started…
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Step #1: Brainstorming If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Might sound cliché, but it’s true. Writing a high quality ebook starts with the planning phase. This is all about digging deep into the market and into yourself to find the best possible topic for your ebook. Brainstorming involves: •
Listing down all of your strengths and skills
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Listing down all of your interests and hobbies
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Listing down what’s out there in the marketplace
Figuring out how to make it better It doesn’t involve reinventing the wheel. Many people think their ebook idea needs to be 100% original. To some extent it need to be different and unique to stand out, but nothing is 100% original. Everything is remix of something else. So your goal with this phase is to focus on your strengths and writing something 10X better than what’s already out there.
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Step #2: Validation Knowing what your strengths and interests are isn’t enough. You need to make sure that the idea you have for your ebook will actually resonate with people. If no one wants it, you won’t sell any copies of your book. It sounds obvious, but people fall in love with their idea so much that they forget the fundamentals of business. “Find out what people want and then sell it to them” That’s what the validation phase is all about. It involves testing your idea and evaluating the results. It involves being completely objective about whether or not it’s good. Validation is about letting your results speak for you. So, if you find that people are really enjoying the content you’re putting out, and their showing interest in your ebook topic, then you can move forward with the idea. If the results show otherwise, just scrap the idea and try something new. It’s a far better option than wasting weeks (or even months) writing something people won’t buy.
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Step #3: Outlining 50% of the work happens in the first 3 phases. This one is crucial to actually finishing the ebook. Once you’re done with market research and you have validation that your ebook will sell, then you can start writing. But writing without an outline is like going on a trip across the country without a map or GPS. You won’t know where you’re going. You won’t know how far along you are. You won’t know if you’re hitting all the checkpoints along the way. Plus, it’ll be a nightmare. Outlining every single detail of the ebook is a vital piece of the puzzle because of everything I just mentioned. You’ll also be able to create a roadmap for your customer and make it easier for them to consume the content if it makes sense. Sequence is important. And you can make sure your ebook have a sequence by creating an outline beforehand. (don’t skip this step). Remember, this is 50% of the work.
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Step #4: Writing The outline is done – it’s all smooth sailing for here on out. Sorry… that’s just not true. But you’re in a far better position to create a high quality piece of work that can: •
Establish your authority in the market
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Build your email list of subscribers
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Bring in more passive income for your business
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Help a lot of people without trading time for money
But phase 4 is where most ebook go to die. Not because the idea wasn’t good enough, but because the writer wasn’t committed to the idea. I’m convinced that there many half written masterpieces out there that were abandoned by their authors. This phase takes guts. It takes perseverance and consistency. Writing and selling ebooks is not for everyone. The process will test you. But if you’re committed, you’ll make it to the end and finally call yourself a self-published author.
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Step #5: Launching If you’re at this phase, your ebook is done. How does it feel to be an author? Feels good doesn’t it? I imagine (if you’re like me) there’s no one in your inner circle that has written a book. It makes for very interesting conversations when friends and family find out. But your job isn’t done yet. You now have to launch and sell it – and most people get this wrong. They just put it up on their website, maybe create a sales page, have it on their sidebar and expect people to care enough to go buy it. That’s not how sales work. People need to be excited about your ebook and our job is to create that excitement and buzz with a strategic launch plan. This doesn’t have to be pushy. You can sell your book by simply communicating the value, removing the risk & telling people why they should buy now. There are many elements to a proper launch, but risk reversal, benefits, and urgency are among the most important things you need to do.
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Step #6: Automating After the launch is over, most people leave the sales page up on their website and wait for the sales to continue rolling it. This is how passive income works, right? Wrong! If you want to continue getting ongoing sales of the ebook you spend so much time planning, validating, outlining, writing, and launching – then your focus should be on adding consistent value. Marketing automation has matured a whole lot in recent years and now we’re capable (with the right systems in place) to know what certain segments of our audience wants to learn about and how to put the right message in front of the right people, at the right time. Automation (for the most part) is about getting consistent traffic, acquiring a stream of new leads, and making offers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you want to learn the ins and outs of automation (and this entire 6 step process) in much more detail, check out Ebook Blueprint. It’s my complete step-by-step program to writing, launching and automating an ebook. I’ll send you more information soon.
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