I’ve said before that I’m not a big fan of content directories, especially Helium, which I think produce far more revenue for the websites than they do for writers. My own couple of submissions there have earned less than a dollar in almost a year since they’ve been posted. If I take Younce as a real master of the medium, compared to my own dilly-dallying, then the high end still isn’t all that impressive: $1000 for 90 hours of work is only $11/hour. I just wrote a post for a website that took me less than an hour to write, and for which I’ll make several times $11 — which puts my rate at about $50/hr, a good solid rate for a freelance writer.

Still, if writing isn’t your career or if you’re looking for a way to ramp up to a career-level income, maybe Younce is onto something; it’s certainly worth taking a look. If you want to check it out, download The Helium Report right away, as Younce plans to offer the e-book for sale some time after the end of the month.

The Writer’s Technology Companion Desk-Side Guide To… Writing Ebooks Covers the technical ins-and-outs of writing, formatting, distributing, and promoting ebooks. (12pp plus front matter)

Download [PDF: 312Kb]

I’ve also added an “Ebooks” page to the site. I have several 5-part series in the works, and aim to release at least one a month. I’ve decided that I am going to try to release each of these series as a free ebook after the posts run on the site, and the whole collection will be available from the “Ebooks” page.

I have been thinking about making these ebooks available as physical books through a print-on-demand service like CafePress. However, in order to cover the publishers’ base price, I’d have to price what are going to be really slim volumes at $5 or $6 US — way too much, especially when you add shipping, for such little books. But if I can work out a way to do that — maybe by putting together a “Writer’s Technology Companion Omnibus Edition”, I’ll add that option to the “Ebooks” page.

A note: Despite my best efforts, I managed to munge the base file for the ebook up pretty bad, so there’s a few typos I couldn’t fix (three, that I know of). Considering my own advice to proofread thoroughly, that’s pretty embarrassing — I hope you’ll forgive me my transgressions!

One thing to pay attention to is structure. Readers won’t be able to easily flip to the table of contents to see what’s coming up or where they’re at in the grand scheme of things, so it pays to reiterate the table of contents periodically, for instance by outlining each chapter on the first page of the chapter. Use clear subheads throughout your work, too.

Although this won’t apply as much to literary works, in non-fiction you’ll want to use shorter paragraphs that can be scanned easily. Use boldfaced text for key points. Organize multiple points into bulleted lists. Generally keep in mind what the experience of reading on-screen is and cater to it as much as possible.

One thing you can do in an e-book that you can’t do well in a paper book is to add interactive elements. Use links to web content to extend your document — you can link to definitions and encyclopedia articles, other books, and of course your own website. You can also embed short videos, sound files, and other interactive elements, but make sure they add to the value of the e-book — don’t do it just because you can!

As with any other writing, make sure you plan your work, outline, do your research, and so on. Even if you intend to give your e-book away for free, make sure you hold to the same high standards you expect of all your work.

Given that, unless you’re a major bestseller, your publisher’s marketing efforts are liable to be rather limited, most authors today need to have a pretty keen sense of how to get the word out without a budget or institutional support. Viral marketing essentially means making it as easy as possible for people to tell their friends, colleagues, and loved ones about how great your product is; on the web, it’s meant to use forums, email lists, social media sties, and other outlets to help foster a “buzz” around your product.

Most writers already know the value of word of mouth — the all-knowing independent bookstore owner who has a knack for putting the right book into your hands, the fan who sings the praises of their favorite authors high and low, the recommendation of a friend who just knows you’re going to love the book she just read. If you scan your own shelves, there are probably dozens of books you heard about through people you trusted and bought on their recommendation.

That’s viral marketing. The Internet gives us an opportunity to magnify that effect ten-fold, a hundred-fold, or even more. But it can be a dangerous prospect; done poorly, viral marketing comes off as sleazy self-promotion. Check out Viral Marketing Unleashed for some ideas about how to avoid that.

By the way, this post, and Wordpreneur’s offer, are great examples of viral marketing. I trust Wordpreneur, which makes me likely to trust the site’s recommendations. Then I turn around and recommend it (and Wordpreneur) to you. And you tell a friend, and they tell a friend, and…