How to Successfully Sell Your Books on the Web
by Greg Spence
(c) 2000 Greg Spence.


INTRODUCTION

Writing a book by itself, whilst satisfying, will not get
you the recognition and income you need as a writer. The
choices that face you now that you have written a book are:-

1. Do I got out and find a publisher?
2. Do I self-publish my book in hard-copy?
3. Do I produce an ebook and sell it on the Web?

Let's face it, these days fewer and fewer unknown authors
are being taken on by the big publishing houses. They are
facing increasing competition from multimedia software
companies and particularly the Internet.

Unless the big publishers can find a book that is going to
sell by the thousands, they are unwilling to bring the book
to life....irrespective of the quality of the manuscript!

If you decide to self-publish you are then faced with the
challenges of running a business, writing, printing,
marketing and selling your book. Will you be able to find
any time to write your next one?

If you decide that selling on the Internet is a good move
due to the fact that you can reach a global audience
relatively cheaply and you are not involved in printing hard
copies, liaising with book distributors, and printing
marketing collateral, then this article will help you on the
road to becoming an established online author.


THE BIG 3

To succeed at selling your books online you need to address
these three areas:-

1. Create a great book
2. Create a Website that sells
3. Attract targeted customers to your website

Once you have these three mastered then you can
substantially increase your income, sell thousands of books,
and make a name for yourself...all from the comfort of your
own home.

Sounds easy doesn't it?

Well let's be honest for a moment and take a step back.

If it was as easy as my earlier words imply then everyone
would be making a fortune wouldn't they?

Yes they would. Like everything in life you get out what you
put in.

Work hard at creating your book, you will have a great one.

Find the right help to build and promote your website, you
will have one that sells very effectively.

Making money on the Internet requires consistent and
persistent effort but once you are on the road, it becomes
easier to maintain the momentum because it is possible to
automate most activities online. Something it is not so easy
to do with a bricks and mortar business.

Once you automate you can then spend more time doing what
you enjoy....writing.

So how do you do it?


HOW TO SUCCEED AT THE BIG 3

1. Create a great book

You must become completely customer focused if you are to
succeed on the net. What type of books do you enjoy writing?
Who else writes books in that genre? Who is the best writer
in the genre? Why are they the best? Be determined to be
better than the best.

I cannot help you to write a great book, although if you are
stuck for ideas, or want to know how to proceed, we do offer
a FREE email course called "The Infoproduct Masters course"
which in 5-days teaches you all you need to know to write a
book and shows how to sell it online.

To get the first lesson today (the whole course is FREE),
send a blank email to get-publishedtims@sitesell.net .

It will get you off to a great start.

2. Create a Website that Sells

"But I don't know anything about website building!"

"Where do I start?"

These are natural fears which are largely unfounded when you
realise that many authors sell their books on other peoples
websites! However, there are more who have decided to create
their own websites with a little help from organisations
such as mine at http://www.getpub.com .

The best way to proceed is to look at other sites and find
out what elements they have in common, look at the
copywriting on each page of the site, and look for web
marketing sites that can give you good advice.

My site Get Published! provides a lot of this information
for you, including a system that I use to create, market and
sell my books called "Get Published! Online". You can see it
at http://www.getpub.com/pubonlin.htm .

If all of this is confusing you then don't worry. I am a
great believer in sharing my knowledge and experience of
online publishing and website building. The way I do this is
by pointing you to people and very high quality resources
that can help you cut through the rubbish.

If you are new to website building, or have a website but do
not know how to promote it then I highly recommend you take
a look at Ken Evoy's book called "Make Your Site Sell!".

It has rapidly become the bible for people who want to
build, promote and sell from their website. It takes you
through everything, step-by-step, and assumes no prior
knowledge.

I recommend you check it out at
http://www.getpub.com/myss/ .

It actually forms part of Step 3 of my "Get Published!
Online" system.

My website was built using the principles in this book so I
know it works!

3. Attract targeted customers to your website

The key word here is "targeted". Once you have got your
great book written, have followed the steps to building a
website that sells in Ken Evoy's book, you then need to find
people who will be interested in your website and therefore
your book.

There are hundreds of books on website marketing, I should
know I have invested over $5,000 in them and do you know
what?

They all say the same thing...get customers to your site who
are interested in your book, in other words targeted
customers.

You can start by finding and joining mailing lists and
online forums that cover your subject area. This is where
people who are already interested in the subject matter of
your book hang out.

You can find these forums by searching in directories such
as ForumOne at http://www.forumone.com or Liszt at
http://www.liszt.com .

Do not try to sell them your book directly. This goes
against the etiquette of these forums. They are there to
discuss matters in and around the subject. However by
contributing your knowledge, these people will get to
recognise you as the expert and will then be more inclined
to visit your website and eventually buy your book.

This is one of many techniques you can use to start to build
traffic to your website. If I was to try and explain all of
these techniques in detail this article would be over 400
pages long!

Instead Ken Evoy does an excellent job of covering this in a
special report that he provides with his "Make your Site
Sell!" book.

If you want to know how to do this right then check it out
at http://www.getpub.com/myss/ .


SUMMARY

To be successful selling your books online you need to join
the 1% who succeed by having a great book, a website that
sells, and targeted traffic to that website.

Hopefully this article has shown you how to start on this
long, but very profitable road.

Good luck.

Greg Spence
Get Published! Online Website

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