How to Catch a Ride on the E-Book Bandwagon
| Category: E-books | Date: 2003-06-11 |
It used to be ezines, but now everyone wants to jump on the e-book bandwagon.
Theyre being given away on marketing sites all over the web, and theyre attracting a huge number of downloads. Theyre most often given away as free incentives to get people to sign up for ezines. But on some sites theyre being sold for between $7 and $29, and some are even being marketed as affiliate programs.
Unless you can offer a substantial product its better to give yours away for free. An e-book of your own can be a great marketing vehicle for promoting your site.
Imagine the traffic, a popular e-book can bring you, if its given away free from hundreds of web sites. And not only traffic. Your e-book can contain advertising from businesses and affiliate programs youre promoting, and, if you wish, you can even sell ad space in it.
But just how do you produce one? Theres surprisingly little online information in how to put one together. This article is about to change that.
To put this article together I downloaded dozens of e-books, and put them through their paces. Instead of judging them on their content I went by their looks and ease of use, then discarded all the ones that didnt make the grade. I also asked for opinions from participants in business and marketing forums.
The e-books I had left were all put together with the same few software programs. The e-books that topped my list were written in a program called Web Compiler, which I liked because it looked just like Microsoft IE4. However its also the most expensive. The others to make the shortlist were E-ditor PRO (which is very similar to Web Compiler), Neobook, Super Winbook, and the Windows version of Writers Dream. Evaluation copies of each of them are available for free download. The links ( along with a longer version of this article ) are posted on my web site at http://www.ozemedia.com/ebooks.htm
If you can put together a web site, then Web Compiler, which sells for US$149US or 99 pounds sterling, and E-ditor PRO are by far the easiest to use. This is because theyre HTML compilers which allows you to take a collection of HTML, either from a Web Site you already have or maybe HTML you prepared specially, and turn it into a single self-contained "executable" file, ready for download. Very little technical knowledge is required to use these two programs.
Web Compiler can handle almost anything you can do with a web site, including: embedded video and audio; built in searching; Javascript, but not Java; and you can even use forms and shopping cart type applications, as long as its being read while connected to the net.
Another feature is that the underlying HTML can be made inaccessible, and groups of pages can be protected with passwords, allowing information to be restricted to authorized users, or maybe even sold.
A downside of Web Compiler 32 is that it only works on computers using Windows 95 or 98. Though an older 16 bit version is available for Windows 3.1 users if there are any still around. There is no Mac or Linux version.
Read more here: http://www.ozemedia.com/ebooks.htm
E-ditor PRO comes second on my list. It works in a very similar way to Webcompiler, but is much lower in price. Like Webcompiler, E-ditor PRO lets you compile HTML pages that include text, images, photographs, sound, animations and movies into a very portable and compact executable file.
Basically what you do is put together a web site, then with a click or two you transform it into an ebook. You format your information in HTML pages using any web creation software. (Netscape Composer, FrontPage, DreamWeaver, Claris HomePage, HotDog, etc...). Then you launch E-ditor PRO and select the files that should be included in your new e-book (text, photos, sounds, animations, video, etc.) Select the options you want your e-book to have (both visual and security options are available to set). Choose a name for your new e-book and click the Compile! button.
Thats it!
You then have a brand new information product ready to be sold over the net or to be given away as a traffic driver
Its a highly recommended program,
Neobook is next. Its an impressive authoring system, and though its not as easy to use as Web Compiler, its just as versatile You can use it to create and compile a standalone multimedia application using pictures, sounds, video, hypertext, and other elements. Plus you can add custom push buttons, check boxes, radio buttons, and text entry fields to create an interactive learning environment. Again its Windows 95 only. A shareware download is available from http://www.ozemedia.com/ebooks.htm, and its $199.95 if you decide to keep it.
Super Winbook 98 Compiler is much lower in price, at just $39.95 for the registered version. It doesnt work with HTML files, but handles text from just about any word processor, and it compiles and compresses all of the book files into one file ready for download from web sites.
If you already have your book in Text (*.txt) or Rich Text (*.rtf) files, just load them into the Winbook Compiler, make changes, add sounds, and in a matter of minutes your book is ready for distribution.
Writers Dream, is the grandfather of e-book programs, and has around longer than the Internet. Both the DOS and Windows versions use plain ASCII text files that you create with any word processor. Then add sound and graphics, and compile the result into one stand alone .exe file. The unregistered version works fully, but doesnt allow you to create files that you can distribute. Writers Dream works with Windows 3.1 and is only $39 if you decide to keep it.
About the Author
Article compliments of Phil Wileys All the Secrets newsletter. Phil puts together a unique weekly marketing and free publicity letter, that stands out from the rest of the crowd. Hes got a great personal touch, and a lot of insider media knowledge which teachs you how to grab all the free publicity you can handle. You can subscribe for FREE at ozemedia.com
phil@ozemedia.com
http://www.ozemedia.com
Theyre being given away on marketing sites all over the web, and theyre attracting a huge number of downloads. Theyre most often given away as free incentives to get people to sign up for ezines. But on some sites theyre being sold for between $7 and $29, and some are even being marketed as affiliate programs.
Unless you can offer a substantial product its better to give yours away for free. An e-book of your own can be a great marketing vehicle for promoting your site.
Imagine the traffic, a popular e-book can bring you, if its given away free from hundreds of web sites. And not only traffic. Your e-book can contain advertising from businesses and affiliate programs youre promoting, and, if you wish, you can even sell ad space in it.
But just how do you produce one? Theres surprisingly little online information in how to put one together. This article is about to change that.
To put this article together I downloaded dozens of e-books, and put them through their paces. Instead of judging them on their content I went by their looks and ease of use, then discarded all the ones that didnt make the grade. I also asked for opinions from participants in business and marketing forums.
The e-books I had left were all put together with the same few software programs. The e-books that topped my list were written in a program called Web Compiler, which I liked because it looked just like Microsoft IE4. However its also the most expensive. The others to make the shortlist were E-ditor PRO (which is very similar to Web Compiler), Neobook, Super Winbook, and the Windows version of Writers Dream. Evaluation copies of each of them are available for free download. The links ( along with a longer version of this article ) are posted on my web site at http://www.ozemedia.com/ebooks.htm
If you can put together a web site, then Web Compiler, which sells for US$149US or 99 pounds sterling, and E-ditor PRO are by far the easiest to use. This is because theyre HTML compilers which allows you to take a collection of HTML, either from a Web Site you already have or maybe HTML you prepared specially, and turn it into a single self-contained "executable" file, ready for download. Very little technical knowledge is required to use these two programs.
Web Compiler can handle almost anything you can do with a web site, including: embedded video and audio; built in searching; Javascript, but not Java; and you can even use forms and shopping cart type applications, as long as its being read while connected to the net.
Another feature is that the underlying HTML can be made inaccessible, and groups of pages can be protected with passwords, allowing information to be restricted to authorized users, or maybe even sold.
A downside of Web Compiler 32 is that it only works on computers using Windows 95 or 98. Though an older 16 bit version is available for Windows 3.1 users if there are any still around. There is no Mac or Linux version.
Read more here: http://www.ozemedia.com/ebooks.htm
E-ditor PRO comes second on my list. It works in a very similar way to Webcompiler, but is much lower in price. Like Webcompiler, E-ditor PRO lets you compile HTML pages that include text, images, photographs, sound, animations and movies into a very portable and compact executable file.
Basically what you do is put together a web site, then with a click or two you transform it into an ebook. You format your information in HTML pages using any web creation software. (Netscape Composer, FrontPage, DreamWeaver, Claris HomePage, HotDog, etc...). Then you launch E-ditor PRO and select the files that should be included in your new e-book (text, photos, sounds, animations, video, etc.) Select the options you want your e-book to have (both visual and security options are available to set). Choose a name for your new e-book and click the Compile! button.
Thats it!
You then have a brand new information product ready to be sold over the net or to be given away as a traffic driver
Its a highly recommended program,
Neobook is next. Its an impressive authoring system, and though its not as easy to use as Web Compiler, its just as versatile You can use it to create and compile a standalone multimedia application using pictures, sounds, video, hypertext, and other elements. Plus you can add custom push buttons, check boxes, radio buttons, and text entry fields to create an interactive learning environment. Again its Windows 95 only. A shareware download is available from http://www.ozemedia.com/ebooks.htm, and its $199.95 if you decide to keep it.
Super Winbook 98 Compiler is much lower in price, at just $39.95 for the registered version. It doesnt work with HTML files, but handles text from just about any word processor, and it compiles and compresses all of the book files into one file ready for download from web sites.
If you already have your book in Text (*.txt) or Rich Text (*.rtf) files, just load them into the Winbook Compiler, make changes, add sounds, and in a matter of minutes your book is ready for distribution.
Writers Dream, is the grandfather of e-book programs, and has around longer than the Internet. Both the DOS and Windows versions use plain ASCII text files that you create with any word processor. Then add sound and graphics, and compile the result into one stand alone .exe file. The unregistered version works fully, but doesnt allow you to create files that you can distribute. Writers Dream works with Windows 3.1 and is only $39 if you decide to keep it.
About the Author
Article compliments of Phil Wileys All the Secrets newsletter. Phil puts together a unique weekly marketing and free publicity letter, that stands out from the rest of the crowd. Hes got a great personal touch, and a lot of insider media knowledge which teachs you how to grab all the free publicity you can handle. You can subscribe for FREE at ozemedia.com
phil@ozemedia.com
http://www.ozemedia.com
Copyright © 2005-2006 Powered by Custom PHP Programming