Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I've really been giving though to writing an ebook for my area of expertise (25 years in my field) and even jotted down a bunch of ideas. However, the question looms in front of me:
* focus my time on writing an ebook and promote it?
OR
* write a site for serving up Adsense, and use my potential content that i would put into an ebook, into articles for the site?
Whats the advantages of one over an another, especially given that ebook sales could include not only sales of the book to buyers at my website, but also affiliates would hawk it as well?
Really curious to your thoughts of one vs. the other.
If you are into say Gardening then perhaps adsense because it is a popular subject from a surfers point of view. Also remember that certain fields although legal are prohibited from displaying google ads on there pages.
Again depending on the subject, you could do both. Make a website/page introducing your field with adsense on it, with a link to purchase your ebook which could provide an in depth discussion on your field
Here is my plan:
1. Develop a great content site and become known in my niche.
2. Write a book (or several) that includes content plus “extra” stuff.
3. Publish the ebook and publish hard copies using a print on demand service.
4. Get the book listed in amazon and other online stores.
5. Promote the book on my site and promote the site in my books.
I am still in the early phases of all this and I may be dreaming. But we all have to dream about something and in my case it is becoming and author and publisher both online and offline.
>> For instance if somebody is in the Funeral directing business, then perhaps an ebook would be better, simply because adsense is only good if you have traffic, and how many people are searching for things to do with that subject?
you're joking right? everybody dies, there are lots of advertisers in that field.
For instance if somebody is in the Funeral directing business, then perhaps an ebook would be better, simply because adsense is only good if you have traffic, and how many people are searching for things to do with that subject?
Be careful when taking any industry as an example.
For instance did you know that approximately 10 million people in Europe and the USA die every year?
Yes, every day on average that's 27,000+ funerals.
That's a huge industry and why there are so many companies involved in it and precisely why their funeral directors would need such information.
Watch the rush of Adsensers to build funeral directing informational sites!
Personally, I think the biggest obstacle to writing any kind of book is time. It takes time to write good material of any kind. Writing enough content for a book takes even longer. Even if you're a subject matter expert!
The incremental approach of building a site with good content may make more sense financially in the short term, after which you can compile (and expand) the information into some kind of book. Unless you think you can whip off a quality book in a week or two. But I've never been able to do that. Even if you can write quickly, you'll need to hire someone to copyedit it, you'll have to get an ISBN number (if you want to distribute it via Amazon), figure out the layout, etc. Don't underestimate the work involved. Writing short articles and placing them on a website is easier by far.
Eric
I'd opt for the Web site with AdSense ads.
Like I said before, I think the website is the quicker path to profitability. You should be able to make it self-sufficient quite quickly. The hard work's getting it significantly beyond that point.
Eric
You can also submit these articles to other sites- become an authority
I know people die each year, thats not the point, How people search for such a topic is the point!
How does anyone research any topic, everyone does it differently.
For instance the "pre-need/paid" funeral market in the USA is more common compared to the "at need" funeral market which is more prevalent in Europe.
Americans tend to compare and insure for these costs more than Europeans who prefer to pay "on demand" even though pre-need funeral planning is available.
Heck, I look like an expert on this now:-))
1) From a consumer's perspective I find e-books highly suspicious. I've never yet bought one and it's entirely reasonable to assume I might never do so.
I know I can buy high-quality books for ten to fifteen pounds in a high street bookshop which have been vetted by both the publisher and the bookshop.
Why I would spend five times that amount to buy an e-book which has been vetted by no third party and only has the author's comments and some (most likely made up) testimonials to recommend it, I have no idea.
2) I'd also go with the site from the angle of a self-employed publisher. With a site, as many readers can view your work as wish to and from that expanding readership you sell qualified traffic: the advertisers get the traffic, then they pay you the money.
In the instance of an e-book you are selling an unknown item to your readership: they get nothing, then they pay you the money, then they find out if they were ripped off or not. (Or, most likely, they don't pay you the money, they wander off and save it for a rainy day).
I know people die each year, thats not the point, How people search for such a topic is the point!
Overture searches in May:
271695 funeral home
83372 funeral
49268 flower funeral
40465 friend funeral
17454 funeral services
15404 funeral poem
7571 funeral song
5684 director funeral
5598 chicago funeral
5191 funeral sermon
5015 dark funeral
I get your point, and I think we see quite a few people search for it. :-)
From a consumer's perspective I find e-books highly suspicious.
I completely agree. I've viewed a few ebooks on one of my topics and all have been 2% usefull info and 98% filler.
I know there are some good ebooks, but I think they are hidden under a industry of 10000s of crap ones.
Conversely, depending on your field, you could blog (with adsense) through the writing/editing process, discussing both the topic and the book's progress, then publish. There is a weight loss site where the author has been doing that, seemingly to much success.
Best luck,
-KKS
Suffice it to say that I wish I'd just done the web site first and used the content from the books for the web site. I only recently became aware of affiliate marketing for the web and only then because I used a free stat counter that had a link to WebmasterWorld. By the way, hooray for WebmasterWorld!
Do you think a well written content site could provide the back bone of a good book? I sometimes wonder if the web site will undercut sales of the book. On the other hand the target audience may be completely different. Anyone know the demographics of book buyers verses web users?
One thing I agree with all on is ebooks. I don’t trust them and besides I want to hold a book in my hand.
Suffice it to say that I wish I'd just done the web site first and used the content from the books for the web site.
I earn far more from the Web in a year than I ever did with any of my books, and that's with an editorial "content site."
There are several advantages to do-it-yourself Web publishing over traditional publishing, at least if you've got a topic that lends itself to advertising and affiliate links:
- Easier distribution
- Potentially a much larger audience
- Unlimited shelf life
- You get to keep all the revenues (after paying your minimal production costs)
Books have their place, but too many of them are disasters from an income point of view.
In my niche, I've seen one well written web site get published as a book (and a fine, well illustrated, glossy, over size, expensive book at that). The web site, however, then vanished, only to be found in the google cache.
I very much doubt that the book broke even while I think that many people who did a search for the main keywords in the niche came across that web site. I don't think the target audience was all that much different but the internet audience is so vast and international that it probably just overwhelms a book-purchasing audience.
I agree with europeforvisitors on the financial side of book publishing. The statistics in the business are abysmal -- finding an agent is like winning the lotto, getting a book deal is not guaranteed once you have an agent, and most publishers expect a very high percentage of their books to lose money. Even so, many writer web sites advocate real publishers over ebook publishing because of the advertising issue.
As usual, very good advice.
I just started a new site in a new niche. My goal is to write for adsense while doing research for a book. The point of the book is not to make $$, but to help me get the career I want (In academia).
In the writing world, it used to be that ongoing research for a book would result in articles (where you would retain certain rights or they would revert to you after a time period) that you could publish for money and then collect into a book later. I wonder if now that strategy will also start to include your strategy as well, substituting Adsense for articles. Good luck to you, emodo. I hope Adsense works out! Lord knows the payoff in academia is not the bucks!
