Make Money Publishing Your Own Book

This month's special report in the BeAResumeWriter.com membership site is on self-publishing. So I thought I'd also blog about it today!

Everyone who publishes will not make a lot of money, regardless if they self-publish or choose the traditional publishing route. It's just a fact of life. About two percent of all books published, regardless of method, become "best sellers." But your book or information product doesn't have to be a "best seller" to make a decent amount of money. If you could make $100 a week, or $500 a week from self-publishing, wouldn't that add up over time! Even $100 a week is an extra $5,000 a year!

This type of income is possible if you follow the proper steps.

Create Your Information Product — The first step, of course, is to create your information product. What problems does your target audience of jobseekers need to solve? Research and brainstorm the topic, create an outline, write it, or have it written by a ghostwriter. It's always helpful if you can back up your information with quotes from professionals, case studies, and proof that your solution works.

Proofread and Edit Your Information Product — After you think you're done with your information product, let some other people look at it to proofread and edit it. It is still up to you to accept the critique or not, but it's always a good idea to let others see the product before you launch it. Does it flow well? Is the sentence structure readable? Does the grammar make sense? Are there any common misspellings or misuse of punctuation? You are too close to the product to do this yourself if you wrote it. Let someone else do this part.

Format Your Information Product Well — How your product is formatted depends on how you plan to distribute it. Are you going to sell it via Kindle, PDF, in print, or another method, or all of the above? If so, you'll need special formatting for each case. Formatting is essential for reader enjoyment and even lends to understanding of your concept. Don't hold back on on this area because it is an essential element to create a successful information product.

Create an Awesome Book Cover — If you're not a designer, please hire one. (I recommend Vikiana on Fiverr.com) Your book cover and your title are the two most important aspects of your information product to get someone to buy it. Yes, the inside content needs to be awesome too, but the inside can be a work of art never seen by anyone if book cover is not professional and the title doesn't speak to your target audience. 

Don't Skimp on Marketing — Some people who claim that information products didn't earn them any money didn't finish. They didn't market. Marketing should start before the official launch of each new information product that you publish. Marketing is an ongoing process that will garner you sells anytime you want them, if you keep doing it. Establishing and maintaining relationships with your target audience is an essential component of business success, including publishing. Don't be fooled into thinking once the book is published you're done, you're only just beginning!

If you want to make big money with information products, follow these tips and you'll find that you will enjoy the kind of success that you always wanted. People are hungry for information and answers to their problems. You have the answers, and the means to get the answers to them right at your fingertips.

Mining Your Own Virtual Goldmine

When you have information that other people want, you have a virtual goldmine at your fingertips. Information products line the shelves at bookstores nationwide in the non-fiction section, but they're also online 24/7/365, catering to the needs of millions of jobseekers who are hungry for advice and insight at all hours of the day -- and night!

As a seller of non-fiction information products in the careers industry, you can build an empire of profits targeting a single niche of jobseekers (for example, moms returning to the workplace, or IT professionals). Or, branch out and offer solutions to a multitude of people who need guidance (anyone who is looking to ask their boss for a raise).

While the traditional print publishing industry only gives authors a small portion of the proceeds after subtracting agent and publishing house fees, if you sell information products online, you’ll get to charge more and keep almost 100% of the profits for yourself.

Typically, a non-fiction book at Barnes and Noble would cost the consumer an average of $9.95 to $29.95. But when you’re selling information products ready for instant download online, you get to price it higher, because the selling point usually begins at $37 and rises up to $97 or even more.

Plus, your overhead costs are low. There's no printing costs, shipping, storage, or shelf placement fees. There's only the cost for the shopping cart (I use Payloadz for instant sale and delivery), transaction costs (Payloadz ties into my PayPal account), and maybe a website domain and hosting for the sales page for the product (although that's not necessary).

Why are jobseekers downloading information products? This is the age of high-tech development. Your readers may be sitting in an airport, accessing your ebook from their laptop.

They want information now, not the next business day. If they need to practice their interviewing skills before a job interview the next day, they can't drive to the bookstore at midnight to get a self-help book — but they can log onto their computer and download your Interview Success Guide, putting your advice into action in mere minutes. 

Another reason information products are hot commodities online is because they often come with money-back guarantees, giving the consumer added trust.

If you create information products for sale yourself, then you want to make sure you produce top-quality deliverables and urge your readers near the end to start taking action with what they’ve learned to keep refund requests low and demand for your products high.

Done right, it's like having your own personal goldmine that you can tap anytime you want!