Craig Rentmeester's Blog

Thoughts 1 Year After Writing an Ebook

I'm in love with ebooks as a marketing tactic
Writing an ebook was a great experience.

It was easy to publish and distribute. Also, it forced me to communicate my knowledge in a digestible to first-time readers. 

If you're like me, or many bloggers for that matter, you're using your blog as a credibility springboard for your career.

An ebook is a cheap tactic that can spread your ideas beyond your blog, not to mention garnering links back to blog if it's well-received. 

It can help you get speaking gigs, consulting offers, credibility building testimonials, new RSS subscribers, and much more. 

Statistics for We Have a Web site. Now What? Part 1
Downloads = 500+
Testimonials = 5
Consulting Offers = 4
Recognition = Recommended by Chris Brogan*, Advertising Age Top 10 marketing blogger according to the Power 150. 

*I've never met him, but check out his ebook called Trust Economies on relationships and communities

Feedback from some of the Readers
"Simple and to the point." - Colleen
"Very useful, easy to follow." - Ansias
"Good, simple to understand, interesting short (and) sharp samples." - Unknown
"A good non-technical explanation of SEO concepts." - Albert
"You've really made the book easy-to-understand for non-techie people. Thanks!"    - Emily

Tip: If you write an ebook, create a survey to gather suggestions, thoughts and testimonials.

Download my first ebook,  We Have a Web site. Now What?

News: Part 2 of the ebook series is the works. It will focus on off-page SEO factors.

Other possible installments, include:

• Conversion Methods and Tracking
• Going Social - Leveraging Social Media
• Analytics
• E-mail Marketing

Hopefully, I will find time to publish and package the series for sale the series using Lulu.

Business Profile: Lulu

Lulu is one of the neatest services I've seen in a long time, and I have been meaning to talk about it for a while.

What is Lulu?
Lulu provides short-run manufacturing of books for self publishers, among other things. It basically allows anyone to write and create a physical, paperback book. In addition, Lulu provides services for reviewing content, editing, formatting, and promoting your book.

The Pros

• The service is flexible. You can choose to print one copy, one hundred or one thousand. The quantity is up to you.

• The prices are  pretty affordable.
  • 35 copies of a 150-page book, black and white and bound = $243   ($6.92/copy)
  • 100 copies of a 85-page book in full color and bound - $1550   ($15.50/copy)

• Lulu offers a free online store front to help you sell your masterpiece without the upfront production cost commitments typically associated with printing.
• You can get your ISBN number
• A wide range of services for editing, formatting and promoting your work.

The Cons

• Lulu doesn't give cash advances to authors to allow them to quit your day job while you work on your masterpiece.
• Lulu doesn't provide data about the number of authors who sell fewer than 500 copies to strangers (most) or just how many books get published each year (thousands).

Feedback/Insight
Have you or someone you know used Lulu? If so, let me know. I have been thinking about writing a basic guide to marketing for a while and Lulu seems like the perfect route for it.

Any feedback you have would be much appreciated.