New EBook Authors: Why Create PDF Documents to Sell From Your Website

New eBook authors don’t always appreciate the need to create PDF documents to sell from their own websites.  Your newly published eBook is being distributed at Smashwords, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble, therefore, eBook sales are off and running, right?  Wrong!  If you think that all you have to do is sit back and watch the cash from your book sales roll in, you’re sadly mistaken!  New indie authors should not automatically expect their eBook to start selling like hot cakes.  In fact, in the beginning, you should be happy and count your blessings for every single sale that you get, if you get any.  

In the beginning stages of your eBooks’ release, it is not unusual to have little to no sales from week to week.  If you become fixated on all the sales that you are not getting, you won’t have time to do the activities that can help you to get sales.  Aside from writing more books, those activities include promoting your eBook via blog posts, social networks, bookmark links and related websites.  Before your eBook even gets to this point, there are also things you can do to help optimize the book’s chances of success.  Some of those tips can be found in a previous blog post titled: How New eBook authors Can Make Their Titles More Searchable 

Your EBooks’ Accessibility

There are lots and lots of ways for potential readers to access all the great eBook titles that are available, including instant downloads in PDF format.  Companies like:  PDF Online and WordtoPdf.com are online resources that will allow authors to convert their word documents (or original eBook manuscripts) into PDF format.  These two websites are among the many that offer this kind of document conversion for free.  This enables the author to make their eBook available directly to potential customers, without the use of a middle-man (like Smashwords, Amazon, Nook Press, etc.).  

These particular sites, and others just like them, do not distribute the new PDF version of the eBook for you.  That means that the author is responsible for the actual delivery of the eBook.  This is one of the drawbacks of selling your eBook from your blog or website, without using one of the popular eBook distributors.  But just like most problems or challenges that exist on the internet, there is a “work around”.  If you are an author with a newly published eBook, you can choose to use a service like Pulleyapp.com and they will not only convert, but also deliver your PDF eBook.   

Readers Give Author Support

Using a document conversion and delivery service will make the author’s eBook available immediately after the reader makes a purchase. Secure credit card payments via PayPal is usually the standard payment option that customers are given.  Many readers are more than happy to give their favorite author support by making an eBook purchase directly from the author’s website or blog.  The cost for this type of eBook delivery service varies, but can be as low as $6.00 a month, for countless deliveries of a limited number of products.     

Maximize Your EBook Distribution

While your objective is to maximize your eBooks’ distribution and sales, doing this from your website or blog is also a way of having a backup plan.  What would you do if any disputes ever arose, or something went wrong with your eBook distributor accounts?  When your eBook sales finally start to accumulate, you will be receiving your earnings via Smashwords, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other distributors.  Those payments will not be made available to you if there is some type of issue or discrepancy with your account, whether justifiable or not.  On the other hand, payments made directly to you, as a result of a website or blog sale will instantly go to your PayPal or bank account.  There is no waiting period to get paid, unlike the eBook payments resulting from major distributors.

Selling your newly published eBook from your website as a PDF is just one way to help maximize sales and distribution.  It is important to keep in mind, that while this is a smart marketing move and can increase book sales, it should not replace other eBook distribution methods.  Do not take all those popular eBook distribution websites for granted.  In order to fully monopolize on your potential eBook sales, you have to rely on promotional and sales efforts, in addition to the top distributors like Amazon, Nook Press and Smashwords.  

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How New eBook authors Can Make Their Titles More Searchable

You probably already know that you need to make sure your fiction eBook title uses keywords that are likely to be searched.  But did you know that it is much better to concentrate on key phrases, instead of individual keywords?  Try to do this, whether you decide to use the Google Tool and research certain keyword phrases, or you come up with your own; based on whatever your story happens to be about.  

Your title should be helpful when it comes to your book being searchable.  You want the eBook title to come up in the search engines when readers search for related key words.  The title should help to distinguish what kind of story and genre the reader can expect.  This is useful information to those readers searching for a particular subject, or another.  These are the kind of markers that can help make your titles more searchable. 

 

EBook Keyword Phrases

The keyword phrase(s) that you choose to associate with your eBook should be searchable and included in the title.  You can also add adjectives that are related to the key phrase, as well as variations of the key words.   

The EBook Category

The eBook category is not something that you should select half-heartedly.  What are the categories that each eBook distributor offers?  This is a question that you can find the answer to, in advance of actually uploading your eBook.  When you have narrowed down exactly what category(s) your eBook will be placed in, you will need to make sure to include this information in your eBook description. 

Your EBook Description

In addition to optimizing your fiction eBook title, new epub authors need to make sure to optimize the eBook description.  Any book descriptions or blurbs about your eBook should ALWAYS contain certain details, no matter where the description happens to be posted.  Find a natural way to include the title in the actual description.  You can be subtle in how you insert the information, but be sure to get details about the eBook category in your book description.  Using these tactics, one way or another, the title is more likely to come up in the search results. 

Always Optimize

If the information contained here sounds familiar and seems to go without saying, good for you; that means you’re a smart author who is successfully using SEO strategies and concepts.  For some authors, this may sound like semi-technical jargon that they would rather not be bothered with.  But while there is nothing glamorous or fun about search engine optimization, newly published eBook authors cannot afford to underestimate the need for it.  Do all that you can to make sure your fiction title is more than just cute and catchy.  For future epub titles and fiction stories, remember to use these important SEO tips if you are a new eBook author.

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Important SEO Tips Every New EBook Author Should Know

There are four important SEO tips that every new eBook author should take advantage of, especially those who write and publish fiction.  The vital SEO tips you are about to consider were written specifically for authors of new fiction eBooks.   Fiction authors in particular, tend to make a common mistake when it comes to their marketing and promotional efforts.  Authors usually realize the importance of the right title for their eBook, with regard to the book’s story and theme.  However, authors don’t generally think about the eBook title in terms of having to categorize and market the book after it’s written.  This oversight can result in an eBook title being buried and difficult to locate after publication. 

Of course, this can happen to any eBook or newly published title distributed online, but non-fiction titles typically stand a better chance of survival.  Even without any particular attempts at search engine optimization, non-fiction titles have a tendency to speak for themselves.

Non-fiction Writers

Non-fiction writers who publish eBooks are the kind of authors who enjoy researching a good topic and shaping it into a theme.  With the abundance of good authors who spend their time collecting facts and making them come alive, there is no shortage of non-fiction eBooks. For non-fiction article writing, before the story even starts to take form, a key topic and/or category is defined.  The same is pretty much true for non-fiction eBooks.

Since non-fiction authors are usually former online article writers, they are already used to incorporating keywords and certain SEO concepts.  Most online writers, who later become authors, are not strangers to search engine optimization.  This is primarily the case with those who get paid to write as ghost writers, product reviewers, web content writers and blog posters.  Non-fiction writers who create ad copy and promotional advertising are especially familiar with basic concepts of SEO.  

It is interesting to note, that some of those same non-fiction writers tend to forget all about important SEO strategies when it comes time to market and promote their published eBooks.  This is a big mistake for non-fiction authors, but it is an even bigger one for fiction eBook authors. 

Fiction Writers

Nowadays, fiction authors are swarming the internet, giving avid readers thousands of choices in epub titles.   Fiction writers with newly published titles make their eBooks readable from a number of different devices.  Fiction fans can feel comfortable enjoying a hot steamy novel on everything from Amazon’s Kindle to Barnes and Noble’s Nook, not to mention the Apple iPad and iPhone.  Popular fiction authors know the importance of making their eBooks available in multiple formats, in addition to offering print versions of their books.  

With the help of Smashwords and the other top eBook distributors, new indie authors are taking self-publishing to a whole new level.  But the fact that your eBook is out there and available is only one phase of your eBook success. Smashwords.com founder Marc Coker had much to say about new indie authors with newly published eBooks.  In the Forbes article:  “Marc Coker:  Make Yourself Findable”, Coker says:  “Making yourself findable is more important than putting yourself out there and proactively marketing, but these findable things require proactive effort.”

Fiction authors don’t have to worry about the availability of their books, when they submit to the top eBook distribution sites.  But just because those distributors accept your eBook for distribution, doesn’t mean that your title is “findable”.  Your eBook title will be affected by how much or how little you give thought to using SEO concepts.  

SEO is something you can begin to put into affect, long before your eBook gets to the point of distribution. 

There are four areas that eBook authors can devote attention to optimizing.  Doing so will help your newly published eBook to be more searchable and easier to find at Smashwords, Amazon, Nook Press, and online in general.  To learn more about these specific areas, stay tuned for the upcoming blog post: How New eBook authors Can Make Their Titles More Searchable.

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