Posted on: 27 August, 2003

Author: B.G. Holte

So you’ve sat down at the kitchen table, wrote some ideasfor an ebook down on ... one you liked and thought “Where do I go from here?” The answer is simple, visitthe forums that relate to your So you’ve sat down at the kitchen table, wrote some ideasfor an ebook down on paper,found one you liked and thought “Where do I go from here?” The answer is simple, visitthe forums that relate to your subject. Now don’t get allexcited yet young grass hopper,there’s proper protocol you must follow! You can’t just gointo a forum and copy andpaste the information from other peoples post and call ityour ebook. That’s a big no, no.“Well than how do I go about it you ask?” How do I get theinformation for my ebookthat I need if I can’t just use other peoples knowledge? The answer is you can use otherpeoples knowledge, but only with permission. When you visitthe forum get a feel forhow everyone posts and the “hot topics”. Read and payattention to the hot topics andnote the major complaints of posters (there’s always peoplecomplaining). Approach themoderator(s) of the forum and ask them for permission to usetheir forum to gather theinformation needed for your ebook. All they can do is sayno, when you approach themtell them the idea for your ebook, your real name, address,and telephone number. Themajority of operators will appreciate your honesty and willgive you permission and maybe willing to help you out even more. Once you get theirblessings, you have a lot ofinformation that you will be privy too and that you canactually use. Just talking aboutthis technique makes me drool and you should be droolingtoo. Can’t you feel theexcitement? Close your eyes and think about the hugeopportunites that could open upfor you. Not only will you have more than enoughinformation to create your originalinfo product but you should be able to create your backendproduct as well. If you havethe information available to you why not get the consumerfrom both ends? Your helpingthem and their filling your bank account, what more couldyou ask? I used this approachrecently with an ebook that I’m creating. Let me explain,the moderator appreciated myhonesty (I even told him and all the other members of theforum that I would be chargingfor the ebook.) But before I did this I made one keymistake, one that I learned from.The key is to not just sign up for a forum, ask forinformation and explain that you wouldbe charging for the ebook using only your screen name andnothing about yourself. I didthis, call it paranoia or whatever. I did not know who I wasdealing with, but neither didthe moderator or the members. I completely understood wherethey were coming from.The internet is so much different than the offline world, Ifind people to be much moretrusting in the offline world. Gaining trust on theinternet is liking asking your dentist notto cause you any pain, difficult to do unless he puts youunder. Anyways, my firstapproach flopped big time. One forum member even replied“Oh great, another one whowants to profit from our hardwork.” The forum moderatorcontacted me by email andexplained that they “may” be willing to help me if I gave alittle more information aboutmyself such as where I was from etc. God...I felt like sucha bonehead. I couldn’t faulthim for that though, I explained to him that I was vague onmy posting of personalinformation because you never know who’s looking over yourshoulder on the net...suchas hackers. In the end I told him my real name, address,and phone number. He emailedme back and said thank-you, he stated he felt much morecomfortable in dealing with meand gave me permission to use his forum to gather theinformation I needed. Afterreceiving that email from him, I went back to the forum andfelt I needed to defendmyself a little with the one sceptic. I explained verydiplomatically to the poster that hewas entitled to his opinion, but at least I was being honestabout charging for the ebook.So the moral of the story is honesty is key to using forums(I was being honest, justvague...duh!!), introduce yourself properly...not like I didthe first time. From thatmistake I made I learned another valuable lesson when itcomes to using forums, insteadof just emailing the moderator I will now take it one stepfurther...I will call themoderator via telephone if possible. When I do complete theebook all contributingmembers will get a free copy of the e-book and will becredited with any info they giveme in the book. And the one member that had a problem withmy first post apologizedfor his comment and actually is one of the majorcontributors of information for theebook...go figure eh?Learn from my mistake, good luck in all of your upcomingprojects.Brian. Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com