Knowing how to write an ebook that customers will wish to purchase involves using the age old marketing maxim of finding out what they want, then giving them what they want. This applies just as much for authoring ebooks as it does to the traditional book publishing industry.

Fledgling ebook business entrepreneurs that are writing ebooks should therefore take the same approach as corporate publishers in deciding how to write an ebook. This article will detail how to research what your readers want and how this can inform how to produce your ebook.

If you are somebody that is very much in tune with your target audience then perhaps you already know what your readers want. If on the other hand you are unsure, or you wish to confirm your hunch, then thankfully there is an on-line tool that can facilitate authors.

The Google Adwords Keyword Tool is able to collate information from Google’s indexes of the vast array of websites on the internet (find it by running a web search for the tool name). The tool allows you to enter either (a) words or phrases or (b) a website URL, and returns results of key words that users search for relating to this phrase/website.

The power of this for an ebook author is that you may enter a phrase relating to the ebook you wish to write (e.g. digital photography) and discover the array of phrases that web users search for relating to this term. In doing so, you could discover niche areas (e.g. wildlife digital photography) which could then form the core theme of your ebook.

If you enter a website URL into the keyword tool then you can also profile areas that interest readers. For example, if you were to enter the URL for a photography forum website then you could discover thousands of references to ‘digital photography lighting’. If you have knowledge in this area and feel your insights could benefit others then it could be a good ebook idea.

Once you settle on a key phrase that appears popular then this should inform two key elements in writing your ebook. The first element is the core theme of your book. The ebook should provide insights specifically related to the key phrase. It is fine to introduce new concepts or ideas based around the key phrase but introducing vastly unrelated subjects (get rich schemes in a photography book) is to be frowned upon.

The single key phrase should also be used in the main title of your ebook. Doing so helps your chances of the book being targeted by your readership based on their search terms, which are after all an insight into their needs. You can use variations of the phrase in the title and reorder the word so that the title reads well.

To sum up: Knowing how to write an ebook that sells comes back to the single concept of researching what your readers actually want.

Writing ebooks or software and want to sell them online? Read our DLGuard review and get your software or ebook business online today.

Software applications (a.k.a. apps) have become increasing popular with the proliferation of applications for smart phones. Parallel to this, an industry has grown up around the ways of distributing digital products. The following guide details the main options currently in widespread use. Each approach has benefits and constraints relating to security, control, and cost that will either suit or not suit some authors and publishers.

Sales/Download Management & Distribution Software

This business model facilitates an independent approach to sales that will be preferable to many developers. In this model, the app owner installs the application to handle sales and digital downloads on their own web server. This way, they can be in full command of their own shopping cart, download link security and customer data. There are many open source and commercial versions (such as DLGuard) available that are already in widespread use. Historically, this approach came first on the Internet as developers sold their products via their own sites. With time, third party distributors started forming online to promote and sell thousands of products from a central location.

The big advantages to the author is the opportunity to capture customer mailing list data combined with the ability to control the marketing and security of how their product is perceived and accessed online.

The cost of such an approach includes the ticket price on the sales application (though free open source versions are available, and widely used), the commission to the payment processor and the human resource cost of installing and administering the sales app.

Third Party Vendors/Distributors

This is the most widespread and familiar approach to most people as the prime example in today’s marketplace is Apple’s app store. It is also the model used for distributing other free/open software, shareware and other commercial digital products for PCs and Macs.

In this model, the software engineer uploads their product to the distributor’s site. The distributor controls all sales and promotion of the product for a commission on each sale made. Developers of iPhone applications use this approach to benefit from Apple’s brand and sales channel. Developers of other applications for PCs/Macs may wish to use several sales channels to increase their potential sales and diminish the risk of a distributor failing (going bust or failing to sell enough of their product).

The shopping cart/payment processing of these applications is completely taken care of by the vendor. On the downside, you have little or no control over the marketing of your product on their site (how the product looks/branding/etc.).

When customers purchase the product, the download link security is managed by the distributor. This entails controlling if the hyper-link has a time limit or if there is a limit on the number of download attempts that can be made.

Given that you have no access to the purchaser’s details; you cannot build up a membership listing of purchasers. As a result, you miss out on potential loyalty purchases. This could affect you if you intend publishing several products and therefore benefit from a listing of loyal customers.

In Summary

If you are creating products that could benefit from the network effects of a large company (e.g. developing iPhone Apps) then you should go with the third party vendor/distributor business model. Your commission will be lower but the sales volumes will be higher. As the saying goes, it is better to have a smaller piece of a bigger pie.

If you wish to sell software online and retain control over marketing and customer data then installing your own sales management and distribution solution will provide the benefits and control you seek.

If you only have one product to sell, don’t wish to capture purchasers in a mailing list and want zero involvement in the set-up, marketing and sales then using one of the many online vendors would be the option for you.

Writing ebooks or software and want to sell them online? Read our DLGuard review and get your software or ebook business online today.

Writing ebooks can generally be a fluid creative process but it is easy for this process to spiral off track and out of control. It is fine to allow creative license but this should be contained within the overall process and overall goal of the eBook you are writing.

It is far easier to treat your eBook business like creating a tangible product (such as a car). In doing so, the ‘product’ should have an early prototyping phase where ideas, ideation (the creation of more ideas) and innovation (the commercializing of inventions) can be nurtured. Prototyping eBook ideas can include activities such as creating mind-maps, drawing up story line arcs, writing rough drawing storyboards (high level chapters or stages of your book), etc.

After prototyping your eBook ideas you are ready to start into the execution phase of producing and writing your eBook. The stages mentioned below are formed in such a way that the overall goal of your eBook filters down into each activity.

• Establish the goal of your eBook.

Writing ebooks that put across a well defined goal will always prove better than a book that appears to be a mish-mash of posts/articles from your website. Set the goal(s) and stick to them.

• List off all the jobs you will need to do to complete the book.

This can be as simple as taking your rough listing of chapters, add any formatting/presentation that will be required and not forgetting research that you (or others) will need to do. You’ll have your own list of add-on tasks specific to your eBooks subject. Give each task a rough level of effort (e.g. 2 days to complete chapter 1).

• Highlight those jobs that require external help; source and schedule their time early on.

Planning to use a personal assist to do some research for your book? Intending interview some industry leaders to add some real world insight? Well, then you’ll need to front load booking their time and add this to your list of jobs/schedule.

• Put in a margin of error

Knowing this margin of error as a percentage only really comes to you with some experience of knowing how many days over your writing will go. As a starter, add 10 to 15% contingency.

By this stage you now have a list of all the work to be done. You could use project management software to plan this out and establish the duration of all your work. Alternately, use a whiteboard with the days of the week and add post-it notes for each action to be completed. Or just keep it simple by adding the actions to your diary along with any planned holidays you wish to take (so you know to work around them).

• Keep on top of things as you implement your plan so that you always know if you are on track.

As you start to write your eBook, refer back to your planned list of jobs (on the whiteboard/diary/PM software) and track if you are on time or falling behind. Deal with setbacks/changes as they arise and use your contingency if needed.

• Set yourself milestones and track them in a report.

To keep your motivation levels up, work to attaining minor milestones when writing eBooks that could include completing chapters, completing research, finishing formatting, etc. The prospect of writing a 300 page eBook is much more daunting than sprinting through a 10 page chapter.

• Pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Last thing to do is a post mortem.

You’re done! Now you have completed your plan, take a look back at what was done right/wrong and how accurate your estimates were. Note down items you had not planned for which affected your timelines (delays with research/other work commitments/etc.) so that your next eBook will have more predictable timelines of delivery. Gauge what direction your own eBook business is taking and if there are smarter ways of creating your content.

Want to start selling ebooks online? Then read my DLGuard review – the one-stop solution for selling digital downloads – and get your ebook business online today.

Digital Rights Management (DRM) is an area of technological advancement that authors within the eBook business should pay close attention to over the coming years as these innovations are striving to safeguard their written work.

DRM relates to protecting creative output in digital media formats (CDs, DVDs, eBooks, etc.). This technology attempts to stop your written eBook being resold or duplicated without your permission. The music industry was slow to react in protecting their music in digital formats, meaning tunes were widely available on the net without the music publishers profiting.

The eBook business is different from the music industry though as eBooks are a result of the software sector rather than the book publishing sector. Consequently, written eBooks have incorporated innovation in DRM from the early days to protect the eBook’s contents.

Previously, software vendors such as Adobe pioneered the PDF format for writing eBooks. Their software can inhibit the functionality of PDF readers. Most notably, a protected PDF can be configured to disallow copying of the eBook text or even disallow printing the file. This is DRM in action.

Most PDF file creators/readers/add-ons now provide this functionality. Some prime examples are the Adobe Reader and Microsoft Reader. The Microsoft reader goes one step further by ID stamping PDFs with the purchaser’s details in order to discourage sharing the PDF with others.

What does the future hold for securing the ebook industry? Perhaps the future is already here! Devices such as the Kindle Reader can communicate back to servers if eBooks are being illegally shared. It is then up to the publishers/vendors (e.g. Amazon) to decide what to do. Could they remove the PDF? Yes, apparently, as detailed in one recent case (2009), Amazon remotely removed PDFs from customers’ Kindle Readers (http://mashable.com/2009/07/17/amazon-kindle-1984/).

Software developers are now also including the ability to disable eBooks remotely. Some vendors can render a PDF unreadable using remote notifications if the customer uses a stolen credit card or is looking for a refund (2 widely used means of acquiring PDFs freely). For most authors protecting their PDFs through simple configuration of PDF export/creation software is a simple solution that most will welcome.

These improvements in the eBook business may be arriving too late for the existing files available online (these do have copyright protection on their content; Just no technological way to safeguard them). Over the coming years, developments in copy protection via hardware and software solutions should make it even more convenient for eBook authors to get writing eBooks and securely selling them online.

Writing ebooks? Want to start selling ebooks online? Read our DLGuard review and get your ebook business started today.

I found out for myself over 18 months writing ebooks and selling them online using DLGuard that it is a one-stop sales solution for starting your own eBook business that could produce real value to others. So I built this website as I had not been able to find a review that covered an extended period of product use.

I wrote my own review as I prefer to see reviews that critique a product over an extended period of time. I believe that reviews that appear 1 or 2 years following a product release show how a product has benefited the user over an extended time period.

On this note, my DLGuard review has shown that it performs admirably and has worked equally well no matter what form of digital product is sold. In truth it could be writing eBooks, creating software applications, producing WAV files, etc as the sales principal is the same. You simply create your digital product then add it to your online inventory and let DLGuard start selling ebooks online, allowing customers to pay for and securely download your product without the need for your involvement.

For the individual/home office user I tried searching for similar products and was only able to find one in a similar price range. This product was aMember and while it has very similar functionality it does not have the same ease of use. I found installing and operating aMember a more cumbersome task and eventually gave up on using it. Simply put, with DLGuard the user interfaces are more intuitive and did not require extensive reading of manuals to get up to speed. In fact, I was up and running within a day of downloading the application. As my use of the product increases I have referred back to the manuals and online forum to become informed of some of the nuances of using DLGuard.

DLGuard had originally been recommended to me by a former work colleague who uses it for securely delivering software patch updates to customers in his small work office. His search for similar products had only highlighted costly enterprise systems/solutions intended for larger offices/enterprises so it represented a more apt tool to use for him, and for me.

Given my good experiences using DLGuard I wanted to spread the good word through this review, about how it can benefit your sites, as it has benefited mine, and ensure you get the best start in setting up your own eBook business and let DLGuard automate sales while your focus remains on writing ebooks.

Related Posts: DLGuard Review | Writing Ebooks | Ebook Business – Getting Started | Selling Ebooks Online

The DLGuard review shows how it can provide security and control over selling your digital products. The ease with which it can be installed and managed is staggering. The following are customer testimonials that exhibit how others are using and benefiting from this tool.

Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian www.EzineMarketingCenter.com

This has got to be the EASIEST install I’ve had the pleasure of doing this year – or even in the last 3 years!

For such a complex, powerful script, set-up was drop-dead easy. And it works like a charm too. I tested it out on one of my Clickbank products and it took barely 10 minutes to change my settings and create a new download link – one protected by DLGuard.

Now, I’m sure my experience with setting up download pages helped – but your program is so simple, even a beginner shouldn’t have much trouble getting started. Plus, the way you’ve protected sellers against digital pirates who try to hijack download links is sure to help save a lot of folks a lot of money.

I’m impressed with DLGuard, and will certainly be telling my clients about it.
Thanks again

John Rogers www.ResellersOasis.com

DLGuard gives way more bang for the buck than anything else I’ve seen that’s comparably priced. And the support is exceptional, which is something that is often lacking with products in that price range.

Once you establish and begin using a central system for payment and delivery of your digital products, you will never go back to the hassle of installing and managing something for each domain separately.

Ron Cowart www.CounterServicePro.com

Almost two weeks ago, I purchased DLGuard and installed it on my server. After watching several purchase downloads proceed flawlessly combined with the script capturing the buyers info (that info needed for product/server security) in such detailed fashion, I had to say something.

Being middle-aged, I recall a time when service and quality merchandise were expected when one handed over their hard-earned dollars. We have progressed (or seemingly so) to the present where at least some appear to expect double payment if their product/service meets the standards their advertising depicted. But not with DLGuard!

It’s always refreshing and at least in my opinion, worth the time that it takes to say thank you, to see the type of quality that I’ve seen in DLGuard.

You’ve done an outstanding job. Your efforts are sincerely appreciated.

Michalis Kotzakolios www.niche-mania.com

I normally write my own scripts to handle payment processing, but I’ve been so pressed for time lately that I thought I’d give DLGuard a try as I’ve read a lot about it.

Firstly, I downloaded and installed it in 10 minutes! You really went the extra mile on simplifying the installation so that no matter what your level of experience is, it’s a piece of cake!

Next, because I’m also running an internet special, I wanted to plug-in the product and get it online so I could automate the delivery and take myself out of the loop. I spent another 10 minutes doing this – most of that time going back and forth thinking there was more to do, but there wasn’t.

I went through some of the other features quickly and all I can say is if you’re selling ebooks online, or any other type of downloadable products, then take it from me – buy this program right now!

I cannot believe the value built into this for the price.

Harvey Segal www.supertips.com

The last time I tried to implement a download management solution I gave up after page 42 of a huge complex manual.

With DLGuard it was ridiculously easy to install and then to run.

Add to that the superb customer support and constant innovation and it’s an easy decision to purchase.

Related Posts: DLGuard Review | Writing Ebooks | Ebook Business – Getting Started | Selling Ebooks Online

Automating how you sell ebooks online requires a solution that can manage a shopping cart, work with the payment processors during checkout and email customers with the download links for their purchased digital product.

DLGuard is a one-stop sales management solution for downloadable digital products that is easy to install and use. It has many security safeguards to protect your product from theft and does not require continuous administration to manage the system & customer purchases.

However, this description only scratches the surface of what features it provides and how these features will benefit you, so I’ll share these with you here:

• Download link security is built-in.
  It is possible to set passwords and expiration time limits for links. In addition, you can restrict the number of download attempts that can be made with the link. To start securely selling ebooks online DLGuard protects the download link from being shared or misused is a crucial requirement for protecting your digital sales. If genuine customers fail to use the link in the allotted time then DLGuard also lets you reset the timer/attempts for this customer.
• Supports the three main sales methods on the internet (single item/multi-item/membership).
  Single item purchases (such as individual eBooks or individual software applications), multiple item sales (use the shopping cart facility allowing customers to browse for more products to add to their cart) and membership websites (single purchase memberships and recurring membership administration is handled).
• Fully integrated with all the main payment providers.
  It integrates with PayPal, ClickBank, 2Checkout, AlertPay, Ebay, PayDotCom, Authorize.Net, WorldPay, E-Gold, 1ShoppingCart, E-Bullion, LinkPoint and PagSeguro.
• Customer tracking and reporting.
  Search your DLGuard customer database by name/email/receipt number to garner download information (how many products they purchased, number of download attempts, etc).
• Automated auto-responder sign-up.
  This feature can be useful to help build up a mailing list of loyal customers. DLGuard automatically does this for you, and appends new sign-ups to your mailing list after each sale is made.
• Offer promotional coupon codes.
  Automatically facilitate the change in price when a user uses a coupon at the checkout and track coupon usage. You could even combine this with your mailing list to provide reduced price products to your loyal customers to further improve your brand.
• Customisable Checkout and Shopping Cart Pages.
  All DLGuard pages can be modified so their design resembles your site. Keep your site looking professional by providing a consistent look and feel across your pages. DLGuard provides a number of page design and email templates that can be modified to your exact requirements.
• Integrate your own scripts.
  If you write/code your own widgets & scripts then DLGuard can integrate these into the product to facilitate whatever actions you wish to do. For example, automatically emailing you after each sale is made.
• Supports tracking your free product downloads.
  In this case the checkout process is curtailed (so that no payments are necessary) and reverts to simply providing the secure download links and compiling customer email addresses.

That’s a lot of benefits! What are you waiting for? Check out today how DLGuard securely automate how you sell ebooks online.

Related Posts: DLGuard Review | Writing Ebooks | Ebook Business – Getting Started | Selling Ebooks Online

• Discover the sales options for downloadable products and why DLGuard has helped thousands start their own EBook business.
• Learn how DLGuard secures download links, provides a customizable shopping cart and integrates with the major payment systems.
• Take control of offering your own promotional coupons, creating membership areas and automatic mailing lists sign-ups.
• Stay risk-free with a 60-day money back guarantee.

In this review I shall look at the options available to sell digital downloads and then go into the details of the option I have used since 2007.

What are the options?

There are basically three ways of selling ebooks online (or any digital product for that matter; software/music/etc) with varying control, security and cost implications, as follows:

• Third Party Websites. Once you have a book written and exported it to PDF file format you upload it to a distributors website who then control the selling of your book in return for a commission on each sale. Dealing with Paypal/Clickbank to process payments is handled by the seller. You have no control over the product marketing on their site or on capturing purchaser’s details. Security of downloads is under the control of the vendor (for example, whether the download links have a time limit). Long term, you cannot build up your ebook business with a membership listing of customers so you miss out on potential loyalty purchases.
• Password Protected Folders. This is an old-school approach whereby you create a shared folder on your web server, make it password protected then send the purchaser details of the password and where to locate the digital product for download. On the upside, there is no cost involved. On the downside, the security is weak as the password can be shared with multiple people and there is the overhead of administration (setting up passwords for each customer).
• Sales Management Tools. This approach involves using sales applications on your own server that look after the checkout process, securing download links & passwords, capturing mailing list sign-ups and allowing the creation of membership sites/products. After the cost of the product, your only cost on each sale is the commission to Paypal/Clickbank/whomever for the handling of the payment. The only overhead is the application setup and administration – which in truth is well documented and as simple as using MS Word or Winzip.

If you intend expanding your ebook business to sell several digital products online then choosing a sales management tool is the best option. The remainder of this article is a DLGuard review as this is my choice of digital download sales tool. The review covers my 18 months of profitable use of this product.

What is DLGuard?

DLGuard is a software solution for selling digital downloads in a secure manner (the ‘DL’ stands for download). In its 6 years of production it has grown into a fully featured product. It consists of scripts that cover all the functionality required of a sales management tool – adding inventory, providing onsite purchase links, interfaces with payment systems, along with other extras.

It supports the three main methods of checkout sale on the internet – single item sales (which can include bonus products if you so wish), multiple item sales and membership websites. Moreover, payment processing is fully integrated with all the main providers – PayPal, ClickBank, 2Checkout, Authorize.Net, WorldPay, AlertPay, Ebay, PayDotCom, E-Gold, 1ShoppingCart, E-Bullion, LinkPoint and PagSeguro.

Note: The focus of this article is using DLGuard for securely automating sales in an ebook business; But it is worth highlighting that DLGuard is a sales tool that will work just as well with any type of digital product – music files/software/PDF files/etc.

You start by writing ebooks using your preferred word processor application and exporting them in the PDF file format. You then add the PDF to your inventory of digital products in DLGuard (you can choose to sell eBooks, music, images, software, etc. or any combination you wish). The inventory submission page lets you configure the security options of the download link and design the emails it will automatically send out to purchasers.

DLGuard provides the scripts/code for placing ‘buy now’ type links on your web pages. Customers clicking on these links are brought through to the checkout page (this page is also customizable to suit your own web site’s design).

Once payment processing is complete, the customer receives an automated email with a secure download link to their purchase. There are safeguards on these links to set time limits and maximum download attempts to avoid digital theft. In addition, security features are in place to secure your ‘thank you’ & ‘download’ pages should Google list them, inadvertently opening them up to being used by any Google user.

Once you are selling ebooks online to a steady stream of customers, you will wish to start using viewing customer tracking & reporting features in DLGuard to assess conversion rates and analyze customers (to the point where you can view customer IP addresses & emails to check for odd sales/returns patterns – e.g. a customer constantly returning a product for a refund which is a sure sign they are copying the book and infringing your copyright).

The list of extras goes on and on so I’ll finish with two favorites: The automatic auto-responder sign-up and promotional coupons. The auto-responder is simple to setup and allows you to start building up your mailing list of customers. Next time you have a new product out you can contact these customers direct. It’s a fact that loyalty customers can help long term in providing consistent long term sales. The promotion coupons (like the ones you see in the checkout process for Amazon and most major sites that sell ebooks online) can be configured as part of your shopping process too. Its nice to marry the promo coupons up with your mailing list of customers to offer some early release specials.

You can also consider your purchase completely risk-free, since, if for any reason you’re not happy with the product, then simply let DLGuard know within 60 Days of purchase and you’ll receive a 100% refund.

Does DLGuard actually work?

Yes it does – to put it simply!

I’ve been using it since early 2007 to great effect selling eBooks online, plug-in software applications (I sell software online for music production apps) and music samples (unique .wav or .aif files of ambient noises that I construct from scratch). I have three separate sites all pointed to my single sales application. Each sell digital downloads securely from the one DLGuard installation.

The installation steps (10 simple steps) for the tool were a piece of cake to execute and adding files to the inventory was simplicity itself. It integrated in with my sites with great ease and instantly started compiling my new sign-up list of customers (especially useful for selling music samples). In hindsight, DLGuards ability to converse with the major payment processing players (Paypal, etc.) was not something I had originally considered necessary, but since looking at the sales reports I can now see how I’d have missed out on a lot of sales if I’d gone with a ‘paypal-support-only’ product.

In the coming months, I’ll expand out my sites with membership areas using DLGuard and provide some value-added books in PDF format detailing my approach to sound production and how to sell software online. It’s nice to know that the product can handle more advanced functionality that can benefit a website as it grows.

If I had gone with selling via an online distributor, then I’d have lost out the creation of my sign-up lists. I’d also have been hit with their commissions on each sale. I did try using another similar product, aMember, but found DLGuard much easier to setup and use on a day-to-day basis.

The only ‘gotcha’ during the period of use has been the fact that DLGuard has a two domain license limit (i.e. you may use it on two website domains). The workarounds for this is to either buy more licenses or alternately create a single sales domain and direct your ‘buy-now’ links and buttons hyper-links to this one domain.

For screenshots, testimonials and system requirements, click here to learn more.