How to get an eBook published in 7 days

Nikki Parkinson Life 39 Comments

The Monday before last one of my blogging besties, Mrs Woog, sent out a tweet.

What made this one stand out from the 24,235 before it was that she referenced the word eBook. Specifically her eBook, that she had woken up that morning and declared she was going to write. That day.

Of course, she is, I thought to myself after seeing the tweet. She’s bound to be all fired up after attending the ProBlogger Melbourne event the Friday before. Why wouldn’t you spend your Monday writing an eBook?

eBooks are the new bestsellers

eBooks are the new bestsellers don’t you know?

That was when I realised three things:

1. Mrs Woog DIDN’T attend the eBook session at ProBlogger.

2. I did.

3. As a result of attending the eBook session, all I was planning to do on that same Monday morning was put the word eBook on my ever-growing procrastination to-do list.

Yes, I can be highly productive on a daily basis but suggest to me a long-term project and I need someone to put a bomb under me and take away my Twitter privileges.

Not, Mrs Woog.

“Like everything in my life, I jump into things in a very specific unstructured manner. There was no plan,” she said exclusively from Woogsville. “It took a few hours to pull out the featured posts and then a few days of cock ups afterwards.”

What about tips for someone like me who really should just do it?

“Get someone who knows what they are doing to do it for you. Also think about pricing. My original plan was to sell it for a dollar but a wise woman changed my mind. Also maybe have a marketing plan? I might get around to that one day as well.”

That “someone who knows what they are doing” in Mrs Woog’s case was Sass from Moozoo Designs.

Sass charges from a minimum of $100 for 50 pages. Which just blows me away how super reasonable that is given that she will take your copy and images and turn them into something that someone can download and read on their computer, phone or iPad.

This involves everything from the design process using inDesign and Adobe Illustrator through to compressing of images and files and doing the final conversion to PDF format.

“It’s really important that when the content is sent to me that it’s ‘ready to go’. I don’t edit the content so writers need to pay attention to spelling and grammar. A brief is good, what the blogger would like their ebook to look like, fonts you would like used, heading ideas and what they would like their title page to look like. You need to include any links and any attribution for use of images. If you are loading your book full of pictures and images, your file size will increase dramatically. There are some people out there in internet land who still have dial up and won’t want to spend all day trying to download your 500MB eBook. It takes time! I have learnt the more you try to rush the process the more things will go wrong!” Sass said.

Sass uses both e-junkie and Fetch as file hosting services for ebooks. e-junkie also has provision for affiliate sales.

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About the very funny eBook in question …

mrs woog eBook

Mrs Woog’s eBook – Tales from the Frontline. Not Another Farking eBook About Parenting ($7.95) – is the kind of eBook they should hand out at hospital before being allowed to bring home your first born. It will prepare you for everything from making an Easter parade hat through to establishing a bribe scheme that kids actually respond to. In short, it will help you drop all at least 90% of the guilt we carry around thinking we have to be the perfect parent. And it will make you laugh so much you’ll wish you did those damn kegels they told you about in hospital more often.

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Here’s what I learned about producing eBooks from the ProBlogger team that Mrs Woog got spot on (and no, she hadn’t read my notes):

1. Yes, you can re-purpose content from your blog.

2. Yes, eBooks can diversify your blog income.

3. Don’t gloss over content that you know nothing about.

4. Have a high standard of writing.

5. Sell to your readers, not yourself.

6. Your number one objective is to get people to click the buy now button.

7. Use e-junkie to sell and distribute your eBook.

8. Don’t do free eBooks.

9. When it comes to pricing, does your ebook solve a big or a small problem?

10. Go with your gut feeling.

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Have you considered writing and producing an eBook? Have you already done one? What’s your advice for novices like me?

Disclaimer: I’m not an affiliate of Mrs Woog’s book, although she has promised me more wine on my next visit to Sydney.
 

Comments 39

  1. lol I think you would provide a lot more than just bring the drinks babe!! The title is brilliant, isn’t it?! I would recommend the ebook thing although I spent a lot more than that on mine.

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  2. Nikki

    Thanks for alerting me to what Mrs Woog has done since ProBlogger. I too was inspired by ProBlogger and must have gone on a similar journey to her, only I set up my company in 7 days instead – Check it out: http://impactiv8.com.au/how-i-set-up-my-small-business/

    Anyway, one of my business goals was to develop an eBook within 12 months. I might have to bring that timeframe forward a bit now after hearing what you had to say about how Mrs Woog sprang into action.

    Loren

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  3. So inspired! I feel this online world is running faster than I can keep up – still trying to get my blog numbers up, work out how to tweet properly, but have just added “ebook” to my list To Do list of pitches and blog post ideas. Love having this focus. Mrs Woog sets the bar high but we all started where she has so why not! Thanks Nikki (love your blog and can’t wait for Feb and your ebook!)

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  4. Ah Nikki, you had me at ‘in 7 days’ I’d like to finish anything in 7 days!! I am a bit like Sharon – the quality of content I like to use takes me a bit longer than that (although the first drafts of my books do start with a compilation of blog posts that are mostly rendered unrecognisable by the end of the writing/editing process…)

    7 days… there is one e-bookish related project I could finish in 7 days! Thanks for the reminder 🙂

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  5. I don’t think that I could do justice to my readers by doing a book in 7 days in amongst normality…now send me off to a tropical island for a few weeks first & then the last week to write, that’s a whole different story!! lol Thanks Nikki xxx

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  7. I would recommend the ebook thing although I spent a lot more than that on mine. Glad I did because it means I produced something to be proud of and which gets fab feedback. It’s important to over-deliver, esp. with your first product.

    I’d love to read your ebook Nikki and will read Mrs. W’s too:)

    So exciting now I have an ipad:)

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  8. Timely subject! I have finished a rough draft of a new ebook and found a template to make it look good. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that when I turn it into a pdf it doesn’t explode. IF it does, I’ll be giving Mrs. Woog a call 🙂 I uploaded a plugin for my wordpress site to sell it directly off my site, but will check out e-junkie. Thanks for the tips!
    LOVE
    Deb
    The Happy Housesitter

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  11. Love Mrs W’s ebook! I’d actually love to do one for each of the main categories of my blog – so for photography I might do something like ‘going from your compact to making the most out of your dslr’ or ‘how to take photos of your children like a professional’. I’d love to have a mix of blog posts and new content and have each as a great intro into what I’m all about. Now if I could just find the time . . .

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      1. Me too please! (She says trying to breathe from under her procrastination/to do list too! My excuse is two toddlers 16 months a part, I’m not going to feel bad about being too scared, I mean too busy to do an ebook until my boys are in school! Obviously also not from the Nike school of thought, I mean action!)
        Nicole x

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  13. Thought about it … haven’t gotten around to it yet. Must be something to do with the fact that I already run a quarterly magazine, monthly ezine, blog – oh and I have a hubby and family too, not to mention work 29 hours per week! One day …

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  17. I so want to buy this. It shows that a title (and a farking excellent tagline) is very very important. And also because I know that Mrs Woog will have some stellar advice inside that is REAL lol. Thanks Nikki – great post!

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