Posted on: 03 December, 2001

Author: Merle

E-books are one hot marketing tool. For those of youwho don't get out much, an e-book is basically acollection of HTML documents that have been compiledinto an executable (.exe) file. The concept is t... E-books are one hot marketing tool. For those of youwho don't get out much, an e-book is basically acollection of HTML documents that have been compiledinto an executable (.exe) file. The concept is that ofan electronic book that can be downloaded, read pageby page, and passed around easily online.Some e-books are sold where as others are givenaway freely. Those who download free e-books are encouraged to give them away to their friends orbusiness associates. The "give away" part is whatmakes e-books such a powerful marketing tool. Alsoknown as viral marketing, when done right your bookcan be passed around to thousands of people allover the world. For this reason it is my opinion that e-books work best when there is no charge involved. Think about it: Who doesn't like getting something for free? So if you've been thinking of jumping on the "e-book bandwagon" my advice is to give it away and let it do what it doesbest: Generate traffic to your website.Once your book is written, it has to get out intothe mainstream of the Internet. You need to heavilymarket and promote the book yourself to get the ball rollingso it can do its magic. This is where a lot of folks get stumped.I have written two e-books myself, so I've done alot of research and have found out what worksand what doesn't. If you have included anyother websites in the book, your first stepis to contact their owners and let them know about it.Also, tell them it would be great if they offer thebook from their site or mention it in their newsletter.Most will be happy to comply; since their names are in thebook, they benefit from promoting it as well.If you have sold banner ads in the e-book (whichis a great idea), make sure you supply youradvertisers with text link ads and/or graphics theycan use to help get the word out. Your job is to make itas easy as possible for them "to pass the word."This is viral marketing at its finest.Your next step should be to add a page on yoursite where visitors can download the book. Ifyou have any graphic skills at all, whip upa book cover to add along with a descriptionthat stresses the benefits they'll receive fromreading it. If the book's content is good (and itshould for all of this to work right!), youwill soon receive feedback in the form of compliments.Make sure you put them on this page as well.Testimonials are very powerful. If you publish an ezine you can use the bookas a bonus for your subscribers. There are many other ways to promote your newbook. Contact ezine publishers that you thinkwould be interested in your subject matterand send them an e-mail stating how nice itwould be if they mentioned it to their readers.Most publishers are always looking for contentand will be happy to help out.Some websites do e-book reviews and then publishthem online or in their newsletters. Here are afew to get you started:ZD Net 4 Star Reviewhttp://www.upload.com/public/default.htmFor reviews of e-books that relate to Netmarketing send them to Lee Bensonmailto:[email protected] Junction- Linda does reviews for herezine send to mailto:[email protected] are also sites on the Net that housee-books of all types and function as e-booklibraries. Your book can be submitted to any of the following;E-book Nethttp://www.ebooknet.com/Carver's E-book Libraryhttp://carver.bizland.com/submit.htmSuccess Libraryhttp://allaboutsuccess.com/successlibrary.htmEbooksNByteshttp://www.ebooksnbytes.com/submit_ebook.htmlEbook Palacehttp://www.ebookpalace.com/newlink.shtmlStealth Promotionshttp://www.stealthpromotions.com/e-library.htmThe E-book Directoryhttp://www.ebookdirectory.com/addebook.htmlIf you do a search on the major search enginesyou're sure to find many more e-book librariesyou can submit to.E-book discussion lists are two way communicationwhere you can announce your book once yousubscribe. Some are;E-book Chat mailto:[email protected] Newsmailto:[email protected] Talkmailto:[email protected] tip is to visit any of the websitesthat house free software and submit your bookto them. Most include e-books, since theyare .exe files. Do a search and you'll find thesesites by the thousands. There is free softwarethat can submit your e-book to 50 sitesin one shot: Go tohttp://www.analogx.com/contents/download/program/ssubmit.htmand download "Soft Submit" which will uploadyour book to 50 sites at once.Don't forget about including the download URLin your signature file. You are using one,right? I thought so. You could always writea press release about your e-book and e-mailit to the media. Discussion boards are anothergreat outlet but don't post inappropriately.If you have the book in your sig file you couldjust post a comment or answer a question andyour signature line will do the rest.Use your imagination and you'll find hundredsof ways to utilize your e-book in your marketingcampaign. After all, this is one viral infectionyou want everyone to catch! Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com