Ebooks scare away most writers, and not without reason. They’re a big commitment, since most ebooks are at least 20 pages long, and many are much, much longer. Don’t overlook these writing jobs, though. If you know enough about the topic (or it is common enough to be easily researched), you can easily write an ebook for a client or to sell yourself.

Think about it this way. Say someone wans to order 20 500-word articles about a specific topic and is willing to pay you $20 each. (Let’s not argue about whether or not that’s a good price right now, …read more

Hmmm. I thought the key phrase how to write would bring up a bunch of blogs that might fall under the rubric of getting the writing done. Not so. After 45 minutes of messing around, these three are the ones I found that make any sense at all.

ReadWriteWeb – not exactly about how to write, but lots of tech tips, many of which writers will find useful or interesting.
Writing to Done, professional writer Leo Babauta’s blog about writing. I like this one and have subscribed. And sometimes I think I understand the title
Keen To Write A Business Book? at Home …read more

Last week I complained about the poor customer service I got from my phone and internet provide.
Today, I want to tell you about a company that has given me excellent service, and this one even has something to do with freelance writing. The company is ClickBank (and yes, that’s an affiliate link). ClickBank provides a convenient way to sell your digital products like ebooks. You sign up for an account, pay a small, one time fee, and as long as you maintain the links, people can buy your ebook forever. You earn a commission on each one. It’s up to …read more

Over at Just Make Money Online has an article called: 12 Steps to Make Money Online with eBooks (and Other Ideas)
She sums it up pretty well, and even suggests you can take her steps and turn them into an ebook… well guess what? I wrote at an ebook called: Yes, YOU can make money with eBooks! As it happens I did it before Shai wrote her article… but I think it fleshes things out pretty well.
Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing – a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision – for those …read more

Sigh! I suppose it should be obvious, but until I read Joe Wikert’s story called Kindle Book Conversion: One Author’s Story that I realized there would, of course, be formatting problems when it came time to get your book, or mine, into shape for whatever ebook reader I wanted to be able to sell it for.
Actually, the story is a Q&A with Francis Hamit is the author of The Shenandoah Spy, but the bottom line is it will cost either coin or extra effort to get your book ready to display on Amazon’s Kindle, and I’ll bet the same thing …read more

Although most of the readers here are writing words, my hunch is at least some of you are also writing words for music or even the tunes themselves. Shai Coggins, who blogs at Just Make Money Online (http://www.justmakemoneyonline.com) has a post called: Make Money from Online Music Sharing with Grooveshark.. As a listener you can download music for .99 or thereabouts; as a creator you get a piece of the action.
There are places where writers have what seems to be the same opportunity, except the audience is supposed to be the print media. Is there anything similar to downloading music …read more

The blog, allbookmarketing.com, has a post called: The Benefits of Publishing E-books.
The entry has a good list of reasons to publish (and write) ebooks, but one of the entries says this: People will often pay significantly more for an e-book from an industry expert than a print book. Why? Because they want the instant gratification. Although I recognize ebooks are often an impulse item, it’s not been my experience that it’s possible to charge a great deal for them. Maybe I’m missing something?

What’s been your experience?
By the way, I do offer an ebook on ebook writing.
Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant …read more

Just Make Money Online points to a podcast where Jason Van Orden tells how he makes $70,000 a year with his podcasts and blogs. So I ran up freerice.com
It’s excellent, if not earth shaking marketing advice. But it got me thinking…
In today’s market there’s a whole lot more you can do with the content of a book than just write a book! Obvious? Sort of, but for me, at least, I tend to forget about things like podcasts and online video… mostly because I don’t use them much. But lots of people do, and I’m not meeting those people where …read more

There’s still lots of talk about Amazon’s Kindle.
For example, if:book talks about how the dollars might work for ebooks in a post called: kindle maths 101
Mashable talks about the problems with wireless, the Kindle and certain parts of the country in Moving To Montana? Forget About Your Kindle!
Then there are all sorts of sites that claim to offer ways to break into the digital rights management part of Kindle, some acknowledging copyright breaks, others just assuming it’s okay.
We’re closer to a breakthrough on ebooks and ebook readers imo, but we’re not quite there et.
Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing …read more

Bringing your book to market requires a whole lot more than just the writing. While it’s true, nothing happens if you don’t write, once you’ve got a completed manuscript, there are at least 10 things that need to be completed before your finished:
1. Addition of front and back matter – title page, copyright notices, index, acknowledgments, etc. Best source: Chicago Manual of Style
2. Professional copy edit – someone to make sure nothing has slipped through. Truly worth the effort.
3. Cover design – your book’s cover is it’s billboard… hard to understate it’s importance. You …read more