The Ebook Cavern Newsletter

Nearly there now. This is an article I wrote in June 2007 on creating your own premium ebook.

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If you’ve been following my advice so far then you should have an almost fully automated store, fully stocked with resellable ebooks, some of which have been created by you. All seems to be going well, but you are missing one key component - Your very own Premium Ebook. Why you may ask? Here is a list of reasons below:

1) You will have your own Unique Product:- If you create your own premium ebook then you have a unique product, only available from you. This is a very powerful asset because it provides customers with a strong reason to come to you and your eBay store. Although customers may be tempted by resell right products in your eBay store, these will be available elsewhere. Your own premium product on the other hand will not.

2) You have full control over the Price:- With a resell rights product you can set the price initially. However, as other resellers start to sell this product the price will invariably be forced down. With your own premium product you can set the price and this is the price customers will have to pay. If they don’t like it then there’s nowhere else they can go to get your product. Therefore, you (and not the market) have the greatest control over the price of your ebook.

3) It is a valuable Branding Tool:- By selling a high quality premium ebook customers will associate this high quality with your brand. For example by selling “How to set up a Successful, Automated Ebook Business on eBay”, a product I believe is high quality, I hopefully have customers associate quality with The Ebook Cavern brand. Plus, you can provide links to your other products, websites and newsletters within this premium ebook, further building your brand.

4) It allows you to recruit Affiliates:- With premium products you have the option to start an affiliate program, and recruit affiliates (people who help sell your products in exchange for a commission on the sale). This can help improve your traffic and sales. If you’re looking for an affiliate program I would recommend ClickBank. They charge you a 10% fee on each sale and a $49.95 activation fee, but they are one of the largest digital product affiliate networks on the Internet and I would say it’s money well spent. Plus, it’s very easy to set up and ClickBank take care of tracking all the affiliate sales for you.

So there you have it. These are just a few reasons why you need your own premium product. A good premium product can seriously improve your brand image and generate a lot of additional revenue. I’ve certainly noticed the difference since I created “How to set up a Successful, Automated Ebook Business on eBay” and certainly plan to create more. If you take anything from this article, then take your first steps towards creating your own premium product and start thinking of some ideas for your very own today.

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About the Author:
Tom Parker is an eBay Ebook PowerSeller who sells ebooks and software at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern. To receive free tips from Tom regarding selling ebooks on eBay and a free collection of ebooks sign up for his newsletter at http://newsletter.theebookcavern.co.uk/.

(You may reprint this article on your blog, ezine, newsletter or website providing the article remains unchanged and the ‘About the Author’ box is included and unchanged.)

Another one from the archive, this time covering distribution your own, created, resellable ebooks.

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Once you have your own resellable ebook you have a very powerful promotional tool in your hands. However, this is no use to you if it’s not distributed effectively as no one will read it. In this article I discuss a number of ways that you can effectively distribute your ebook.

1) Sell it on eBay:- This is probably the most obvious way to distribute your own ebook. Get some graphics ready for your ebook (either design your own or get a professional graphic designer to do it for you) and then list the item on eBay with resell rights. A certain proportion of customers will also resell your ebook increasing its distribution.

2) Include Graphics, a Delivery Email and a Sale Page:- Always make your ebook as easy as possible for potential resellers to sell. Looking at it from the resellers viewpoint, lets say they receive two ebooks - A and B;

• A) Includes a sales page, graphics and a delivery email.
• B) Includes just the ebook.

Which one are they going to resell? It will be most likely ebook A because it’s virtually ready to go on sale. With ebook B the reseller will have to get graphics, design a sales page and come up with a delivery email, all of which take time and effort. The majority of ebook sellers will take the easy option so including all the above is a must.

3) Give it away on your Website or About Me page:- If you want as many people as possible to have a copy of your ebook then give it away for free. The problem with this strategy is that people may devalue your work if it is freely available. I would therefore advise you give it away in exchange for the customers email address. People will value your work more if they have to give something (even if it’s not money) to receive your ebook. You can give your ebook away on your website, eBay About Me page - or both.

4) Give it away on Forums:- Many online forums have a free ebook section where you can give away your free ebook. These are a great source of exposure for your ebooks and cost you absolutely nothing.

5) Give it away to your Subscribers:- As I’ve said before if you don’t have an email subscriber list then get one. If you do then this is a great place to distribute your ebook. Since the subscribers have opted in to receive content from you it is likely they will be interested in your ebook and want to resell it.

6) Give it away to other eBay Ebook Sellers:- Have a little search on eBay and find some eBay ebook sellers. Then get in touch with them through eBay simply telling them about your new ebook and asking if they would like to resell it. If they do - Great. If not, you’ve wasted a few minutes at the most. Most eBay ebook sellers will be happy to resell your ebook because it’s new content which they have paid nothing to acquire.

7) Give it away to other people’s Subscribers:- As I have told you in previous editions of this newsletter many eBay ebook sellers have their own newsletter. Furthermore, many non-eBay ebook sellers run their own newsletters too. A quick search of eBay and/or Google will allow you to find some related newsletters. Once you’ve found a few, get in touch with the person who runs the newsletter and tell them that you have just written a new ebook with resell rights. Ask them if they would like to sell the ebook to their newsletter or give it away for free. Most newsletter owners will take you up on this offer.

Make your Ebook Brandable:- Making your ebook brandable allows your customers to change certain links and/or text in your ebook. For example, say you link to one of your products within your ebook and this product has an affiliate program, then you can let customers rebrand links to this product with their own affiliate link. Alternatively you can let them brand the ebook with a link to their website. The choice is yours.

But why would you want customers to change links within your ebook? Quite simply because it makes them more likely to resell your ebook themselves. If there’s an opportunity to earn an affiliate commission or get some extra website traffic by redistributing someone else’s ebook, most people will take this opportunity.

And there you have it, 8 simple ways to distribute your own resellable ebook more effectively. Remember, more exposure for your ebook will ultimately mean more traffic and sales for you, so get implementing these ideas.

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About the Author:
Tom Parker is an eBay Ebook PowerSeller who sells ebooks and software at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern. To receive free tips from Tom regarding selling ebooks on eBay and a free collection of ebooks sign up for his newsletter at http://newsletter.theebookcavern.co.uk/.

(You may reprint this article on your blog, ezine, newsletter or website providing the article remains unchanged and the ‘About the Author’ box is included and unchanged.)

This one’s from March 2007 and covers creating your own resellable ebook.

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Creating and distributing your own resellable ebook is one of the best promotional methods available to you. If distributed effectively, one resellable ebook can provide you with hundreds of additional customers via links within the ebook (see my previous article for more information on this). However, before a resellable ebook can start generating customers for you, you first need to create it. Now this is not as expensive or daunting as you may think. Follow the simple steps outlined in this article and you will be well on your way to creating your very own resellable ebook:

1) Come up with an Idea:- First you need to come up with an idea for your resellable ebook. This is by far the hardest part of the process. However, it still doesn’t have to be that difficult or time consuming. Your ebook can be on absolutely anything but it makes sense to write on a subject you have some knowledge in. If you run a newsletter on any particular subject, how about using some of those newsletter articles to compile a report or ebook? If not what about your hobbies or your daytime job? Perhaps your job utilises some unique skills which other people would like to know about? Maybe you enjoy baking and have some unique recipes to share with others? There’s very likely to be something that you do which can be written down and compiled into a resellable ebook.

If not the next option for you is a list. These are relatively easy to compile and can prove very popular. For example, two of the resellable ebooks I have created; The Ebook Cavern’s UK Dropshippers Guide and The Ebook Cavern’s UK Wholesalers Guide are lists. The possibilities with lists are practically endless. You could create a list of websites that provide free website design software? Perhaps you could create a list of betting sites that offer free bonuses for new customers? Maybe you could compile a large directory of recipe sites? Whatever the topic, with a little research you can create a list for free which can then be turned into a resellable ebook.

After reading the above two paragraphs you should have plenty of ideas for your own resellable ebook. If not there is one more option available to you, although it won’t be free. That option is ebooks with Private Label Rights (PLR). PLR ebooks are basically ebooks where you are given full rights to the content. You can put your name on it, edit it, sell it give it away, use it as website content etc. Pretty much once you buy PLR ebooks you have the same rights to the content as you would have with content that you have written yourself. Now I’m not going to go into the advantages and disadvantages of PLR content because I haven’t actually used it myself and it’s a topic that deserves its own article. I would recommend you write your own content, but if not, PLR content is a good second best.

So where can you find PLR ebooks? Well, to be honest there are lots of places. I can’t recommend any personally because like I said I haven’t yet used PLR ebooks. However, a quick Google search for “Private Label Ebooks” will bring up plenty of results. If you do opt for PLR ebooks I would recommend you do enough editing so that the content seems unique to you because other people will also have this PLR content too.

2) Add some Links:- Once you have the content for your ebook you need to think about the links to include so that you can fully benefit from your resellable ebooks. As I explained in my previous article your own resellable ebook can be used to promote your eBay store, sell your own product or affiliate products, and generate leads for a mailing list. Therefore, you need to think which links would best be suited to this purpose.

I usually get my links in the ebook by inserting an About the Author page. On this page I have brief description of my eBay store, websites and newsletter with links to each of them. With affiliate links I only add them if they are relevant to what I am writing. For example, since I write a lot about eBay in my ebooks I use eBay affiliate links. I don’t just throw affiliate links in for the sake of it and neither should you. I only use affiliate links to recommend relevant products and services that I have used myself and honestly feel are value for money.

3) Create a Cover Image:- Now that you have the content and know what links you are going to include, the only other thing you require is an ebook cover image. This again is not nearly as difficult as you may think it would be. Plus it can be done for free. Obviously, this cover image will not look as good as professionally designed graphics (unless you are a graphic designer), but it will keep your costs down to zero.

First you will need some free images that can be used commercially. If they don’t state that you can use them commercially then they can’t be used for your ebook cover. The only website I’ve found that offers this is http://www.ace-clipart.com/, but if you use their images you do need to provide a link back to their website. Once you have found a graphic that you like then open it up in a graphics editor (Paint will do for this) and add your title text. You now have a flat version of your ebook cover image.

Next you will need some software to convert this image into an actual ebook cover which you can get for free by doing a quick Google search. Using this software you can then select a variety of templates for your ebook cover. When you have found one you are happy with simply click the create button and your ebook cover will be created for you. Then save this image and you have your very own ebook cover.

Personally, I feel that it is worth the additional money to have someone create your graphics for you. I originally did create my own ebook covers but the end product just doesn’t look as professional as if you have a graphic designer work on the graphics for you. I recently had some graphics designed for me by Jack at http://www.neocovers.net/ and was very impressed with them. As a result I am currently in the process of having him do all my graphics for me. I feel spending a bit of cash on your getting your ebook covers professionally designed, enhances the overall perception of your product, your business, and therefore holds value in the long-term. However, if you are short on cash then use the free method until you have enough funds to get some graphics designed professionally.

4) Compile the Ebook:- So now you should have your content, know what links you are going to have inside your ebook, and have your ebook cover image created. All you need to do now is compile this information into a readable ebook. To begin open your word processor and get ready to type. The first page I include is a title page which contains the things on the list below:

• The ebook title: The first thing I include on the page is the ebook’s title in large text.
• The ebook cover image: Under the title I include a large flat ebook cover image which you should already have.
• The author’s name: Under the image I write a message like “brought to you by Tom Parker (Owner and Creator of The Ebook Cavern).”
• A resell rights notice: Under the author’s name I include in large bold text “This ebook comes with Full Resell Rights and Full Giveaway Rights. You can resell this ebook for any price you wish or give it away to your customers.” This is to maximise the distribution of my resellable ebooks. Remember the more eyes that read it, the better for you.
• An offer to join my newsletter: As I have said before you should be building your own mailing list. This is one of the many ways I try to do this.

After the title page I then include a Disclaimer. This is just a statement that basically says you (the author) are not responsible for any losses incurred by the reader, there are no guarantees of income, and that the reader is responsible for the use of the information in your ebook. Many ebooks contain Disclaimers. Just have a read of a few of them to get an idea of what you need to include in your own.

Following this I include a Table of Contents. This is a very good way to organise your content, because it makes you put your information into relevant, logical sections. For an ebook, your Table of Contents should organise the information into a logical order that reads well. Think what would go well at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end. For a list, I usually organise the links into alphabetical chapters e.g. for a recipes ebook it could go something like Apple Recipes, Bread Recipes, Cake Recipes etc. With PLR ebooks the information is likely to have been organised into some kind of order for you. You might want to keep this order or you may want to switch it around a bit.

After you have written your Table of Contents, organise your actual ebook content in this order. Once you have done this your ebook is ready to be published. Now there are two main formats used when publishing your ebooks; Executable (.exe) or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf). If you want to publish in .exe format then you can get many free ebook creators by doing a quick Google search for a “Free executable ebook creator”. If you want to publish in .pdf format I would recommend the free Open Office which you can download by doing a quick Google search for “Open Office”. To use the .pdf publishing option simply copy your ebook over to the Open Office writer and then use the “Export as PDF” option. Personally, I recommend you publish in .pdf format. It is fast becoming the favoured ebook format and there are generally less compatibility problems with .pdf than with .exe.

After completing step four you should have your own resellable ebook published complete with an ebook cover - a very powerful promotional tool. Furthermore, the amount you have spent creating your own resellable ebook should be low if not free. Next you will need to distribute your new resellable ebook effectively, a topic that I will be covering in my next article.

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About the Author:
Tom Parker is an eBay Ebook PowerSeller who sells ebooks and software at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern. To receive free tips from Tom regarding selling ebooks on eBay and a free collection of ebooks sign up for his newsletter at http://newsletter.theebookcavern.co.uk/.

(You may reprint this article on your blog, ezine, newsletter or website providing the article remains unchanged and the ‘About the Author’ box is included and unchanged.)

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If you are serious about creating your own digital product then I recommend you check out Tony Shepherd’s The One Month Magnate. In this ebook Tony reveals the exact steps he followed every day to create his own digital product within a month.

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This is one from the February 2007 archive.

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If you have been selling resellable ebooks on eBay for some time, then it is likely that you adopt a method similar to many ebook sellers. You source cheap or free ebooks with resell rights and then resell these in your eBay store. Now there is nothing wrong with this method. It means that obtaining the ebooks is cheap or even free, you don’t have to spend time creating a product and a lot of the time you even get a ready made sales page and download page. For next to no money, you have a digital product that can be sold again and again, for very little effort. I used to rely solely on this method when reselling ebooks on eBay and achieved reasonable success with it. I even wrote a newsletter article last year on sourcing free ebooks that can be resold on eBay. To this day I still resell other people’s ebooks in my eBay store. However, the difference is that I now also create and sell my own resellable ebooks also.

Now you may be thinking; ‘Why would you want to go to all the time and effort of creating your own resellable ebooks, which are likely to depreciate in value very quickly? Surely it is much more time and cost effective to resell ebooks that are already available with resell rights?’ If these are your thoughts then you are thinking about resellable ebooks in the wrong way. Let me put it into perspective and hopefully change your thinking on the issue with the example below.

Lets say for this example you are selling your own ebook and someone else’s ebook, both for £1.99 in your eBay store. Now when you sell someone else’s ebook you make £1.99 which is all well and good. However, when you sell your own resellable ebook you make £1.99 from the sale AND after the sale you have the potential for much more. What potential you may be asking? Well let me explain below just what your own resellable ebook can do for you.

1) Promote:- Your own ebook can be a very valuable promotional tool for your eBay store, your website or whatever else you want to promote. If you want to promote your eBay store simply write a little note such as “brought to you by http://stores.ebay.co.uk/YOUREBAYSTORE.” Or you could even write a small paragraph about your eBay store, what it sells etc, and then provide a link to it if people want to find out more. If you have your own website, write an ebook that contains similar content and of course provide a link to your website somewhere within the ebook.

As you continue to sell your ebook with resell rights, some of your customers will also start to sell it and eventually their customers will sell it too. As time goes by your ebook will continue to be distributed, creating an increasing amount of traffic - your very own viral traffic tool. The more your ebook is distributed, the greater the potential for traffic to your eBay store/website.

2) Sell your Premium Product:- If you have a premium ebook then resellable ebooks can be used to sell it. For example, if you have a cooking recipes ebook that you have wrote containing 1000 recipes this could be your premium ebook. You could then use 10 or 20 of these recipes to create a resellable ebook. At the end of this resellable ebook you could leave a note such as “Want to get 1000 recipes just like this? Then Click Here.” The Click Here will link to your premium ebook. If people like the recipes in your premium ebook then they are likely to go on and purchase the full 1000 recipe premium ebook.

As before the same principles apply, and as time goes by your resellable ebook gets seen by an increasing number of readers and should generate an increasing amount of sales. Obviously, the above recipe ebook is just an example. The principles above can be applied to almost any product/genre, allowing you to use your resellable ebook to promote and sell a premium product.

3) Sell an Affiliate Product:- If you don’t have your own premium product then the same principles from above can be used to sell a product as an affiliate. An affiliate (if you do not know) is someone who sells a product in exchange for a commission on the sale. The one thing I would recommend if you are selling products as an affiliate, is to make sure that you have sampled the product before you promote it. Not only will it allow you to promote the product better (as you will actually know what you are talking about) but you will also be able to avoid products that are of a low quality.

4) Generate Leads:- If you don’t have your own mailing list yet and are serious about doing business online then I have one simple suggestion. GET A MAILING LIST. It is quite possibly the most valuable asset you can possess in Internet Business. To explain the very basics of list building, you first need to sign up for an autoresponder programme (I use and recommend Aweber), build your list (using a variety of methods) and also maintain it (by providing value to your subscribers). Please bear in mind that this is a very, very basic analysis of list building and I would recommend you did some research on the topic before gettting your own list. I will be covering list building in one of my future ‘Ebay Ebook Success’ articles but if you cannot wait till then I would recommend Jim Cockrum’s How to turn Auction Traffic into Cash. This is the ebook that I used to research and build my mailing list with the help of eBay traffic. Anyway, I’m going off topic here.

Once you have a mailing list, a resellable ebook can be a valuable source of leads. All you have to do is place a link inside the ebook for customers to sign up for your mailing list. Like before as distribution of your ebook increases, the number of leads it generates should also increase.

I hope this article has shown you the potential creating your own resellable ebook provides. Whereas someone else’s resellable ebook can bring sales revenue, your own resellable ebook can bring this plus additional sales of your premium products, extra traffic, affiliate commissions and valuable leads. I am not suggesting that you cease to sell other people’s resellable ebooks. In fact other people’s resellable ebooks probably still comprise the majority of my eBay store inventory. However, even one or two of your own resellable ebooks can make a huge difference.

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About the Author:
Tom Parker is an eBay Ebook PowerSeller who sells ebooks and software at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern. To receive free tips from Tom regarding selling ebooks on eBay and a free collection of ebooks sign up for his newsletter at http://newsletter.theebookcavern.co.uk/.

(You may reprint this article on your blog, ezine, newsletter or website providing the article remains unchanged and the ‘About the Author’ box is included and unchanged.)

I wrote this article in January 2007 as a review of my progress over the year.

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As you probably know (but maybe you don’t) I have been selling ebooks on eBay for the last three years. However, the previous year has probably been my most successful to date although I still have a long way to go. In this article I measure what I’ve achieved in this past year and set goals for the coming year.

Around this time last year (January 2006) I was sending out my first newsletter to around 20 subscribers. My eBay store had less than 100 items inside and my websites were barely up and running. Although I had been alerted to the importance of websites, email marketing, ClickBank, Google Adsense, affiliate marketing etc, I had kept my main focus on eBay. This was mainly because eBay was the easy option. It doesn’t take long to learn how to list ebooks on eBay, and once you’ve learnt it’s surprisingly easy to build an eBay store full of ebooks. In contrast, learning about all these other methods outside of eBay just seemed so overwhelming. For this reason, up until 2006 I had kept my ebook sales mainly eBay based. However, during 2006 I began to explore the other avenues that I mentioned above.

Now in January 2007 I have my own income generating websites, a mailing list of over 300 subscribers (and growing by the day), my own premium ebook, four of my own resellable ebooks and a bustling eBay store with well over 100 active items.

I initially purchased a hosting package (which included domain names) during 2005, in order to host My Digital Dispatch so that I could auto-deliver the ebooks I sold on eBay. My original intention when purchasing the hosting was not to create a website. However, during 2006 I read certain ebooks including; The Silent Sales Machine, The Rich Jerk, The One Month Magnate and Ebay Auction Income Streams. These ebooks convinced me that to use the hosting only to auto-deliver ebooks was wasting a very valuable resource - the domain names. Since I was already paying for them I decided to test some of the ideas inside these ebooks.

I first set up The Ebook Cavern Website (http://www.theebookcavern.co.uk/) with the intention of hosting The Ebook Cavern Newsletter and eventually selling my own premium priced ebook. Following this I set up The Ebook Cavern Reviews Website (http://www.theebookcavernreviews.co.uk/) using ideas I came upon inside The Rich Jerk ebook. The website itself offers reviews of Internet Marketing ebooks I have purchased, outlining how useful they have been to me and who I think would benefit from them. During the year I also set up my third website, The Article Cavern (http://www.thearticlecavern.co.uk/) which provides articles on Ebooks and Internet Marketing.

Creating these websites gave me a big boost in comparison to operating on eBay alone. Not only was I getting my eBay sales but I was also making money on my websites in the form of Google Adsense revenues, Commission Junction revenues, affiliate sales and sales of my own products. My websites could also be used as an additional promotional tool and a tool to capture leads for my mailing list. All these benefits were at no additional cost to me because I was paying for the hosting in order to auto-deliver my ebooks. I just had to invest a little time in generating the websites.

My second significant achievement in 2006 was building my mailing list. I did this by placing sign-up forms on all my webpages and also on my eBay pages, whilst providing incentives for people to sign up. Jim Cockrum’s ebook How to turn Auction Traffic into Cash also guided me in building my mailing list effectively. From a figure of around 20 subscribers in January 2006 I now have well over 300 subscribers to The Ebook Cavern Newsletter.

Having a mailing list is another significant development in comparison to selling solely on eBay. When I sold solely on eBay I looked at each sale as a one time opportunity. However, a mailing list allows you to build a long-term relationship with customers and hopefully generate repeat purchases. It also gives you the opportunity to inform customers when you have launched a new product, added a new section to your website etc.

My next major achievement during the year was when I began to create my own products. I read several ebooks telling me the importance of creating your own product before I actually took the step and created one. In June 2006 I created and released “How to set up a Successful, Automated Ebook Business on eBay.” This was the first premium ebook I had created. I also updated my two previous resellable ebooks into the more accessible Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format and promoted them more heavily than before. On top of this I created a further two resellable ebooks before the year was up.

Creating my own ebooks was another significant development for me since January 2006. My first premium ebook provided me with a product of which I had 100% control. I could set the price, place my own links in the ebook and promote it as my fully unique work. My own resellable ebooks have also served as very valuable promotional tools for my eBay store and websites and could also be used as incentives for newsletter subscribers.

So to summarise in 2006 I have achieved the following:

• I have created three Websites!!
• I have begun to generate revenue using Affiliate Programs!!
• I have created and sold my own Premium Ebook generating additional revenue!!
• I have increased the size of my mailing list by approximately 300 Subscribers!!
• I have created four resellable ebooks to promote my eBay store and Websites!!
• I have increased the size of my eBay store!!

So now you can see, in a simple list format, what I have achieved online during 2006 with a part-time effort. If you have been selling ebooks on eBay in the past year you should make a similar list so that you can measure your progress. If you have not yet begun to sell ebooks online then you should use this list as your inspiration. If I can achieve this in one year with a part-time effort then what is stopping you doing the same next year?

That brings me onto my own plans next year. Although I am happy with what I have achieved this year, I feel I have only laid down the blocks which I can build upon next year. My affiliate revenues have not been particularly high and I believe I can generate more sales per month of “How to set up a Successful, Automated, Ebook Business on eBay” than I currently do. Therefore, my goals for next year are not radical - they are just to improve upon what I am already doing. I plan to increase the size of my eBay store further, continue to build my mailing list, create more resellable ebooks to promote my eBay store, websites, and products and generate an increased amount of affiliate revenues. I also have ideas for three more premium ebooks and plan to create and release these in 2007. Finally, I have one new goal - to experiment with Google Adwords. So to summarise my goals for 2007 are:

• To increase the size of my eBay store and to keep to my target of updating my eBay store at least once a Month!!
• To increase the number of subscribers on my mailing list by at least 350 Subscribers!!
• To create at least three more premium ebooks and sell them via eBay and my Websites!!
• To increase my monthly Affiliate Earnings!!
• To create further resellable ebooks to promote my eBay store, Website and Products!!
• To begin a Google Adwords campaign for How to set up a Successful, Automated Ebook Business on eBay!!

So that’s my online plans for 2007. I hope you’ve learnt from this article the importance of setting goals if you are selling ebooks online, and just what you can achieve in one year. If you’re not selling ebooks online I hope that this article has given you reason to begin. Good luck in the New Year!!
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About the Author:
Tom Parker is an eBay Ebook PowerSeller who sells ebooks and software at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern. To receive free tips from Tom regarding selling ebooks on eBay and a free collection of ebooks sign up for his newsletter at http://newsletter.theebookcavern.co.uk/.

(You may reprint this article on your blog, ezine, newsletter or website providing the article remains unchanged and the ‘About the Author’ box is included and unchanged.)

This is a great one from the archives detailing how to become a PowerSeller selling ebooks on eBay.

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PowerSeller status is something that many eBay sellers strive to achieve, but few actually manage. With PowerSeller status you gain recognition, respect, and trust which indirectly lead to increased sales. In this article I outline the methods I feel are the best in order to become a PowerSeller.

To qualify for PowerSeller status you have to meet eBay’s requirements which are:

• To uphold the eBay community values, including honesty, timeliness and mutual respect.
• To sell on average a minimum of £750 (or the exchange rate equivalent) or 100 items per month, for three consecutive months. In order to qualify you need to sell at least 4 items per month.
• To achieve an overall Feedback rating of 100, of which 98% or more is positive.
• To have been an active member for 90 days.
• To have an account in good financial standing.
• To not violate any severe policies in a 60-day period.
• To not violate three or more of any eBay policies in a 60-day period.
• To maintain a minimum of four average monthly listings for the past three months.

Now looking at the above list, I feel points 2, 3, and 8 are the most significant. Points 1, 5, 6, and 7 can be achieved largely by just reviewing and following eBay’s rules. Point 4 is beyond your control, you simply have to accept that the minimum period (from registration wth eBay) that you can become a PowerSeller within is 90 days. However, points 2, 3, and 8 are fully within your control and these are the true keys to becoming an eBay PowerSeller.

I will begin with point 2, which states that you must meet either eBay’s Sales Value requirements or eBay’s Sales Volume requirements. In my opinion meeting the Sales Volume requirements is much more achievable than meeting the Sales Value requirements, especially when you are just starting out. As it states above, if you achieve sales in excess of 100 units for three months, then you will become a PowerSeller. Now 100 sales per month may sound a lot for a first time ebook seller, but if you break it down into daily sales then it is only 3-4 sales per day, a much more achievable target. If you run 10 auctions per day and 35% of these are successful then you will be selling enough to qualify for PowerSeller status. If 10 auctions does not bring you the required sales then keep experimenting till you discover the right amount of auctions to achieve 3-4 sales per day.

By following the above instructions you will also fulfill eBay’s minimum monthly listing requirement (point 8). That just leaves point 3, which outlines eBay’s feedback requirements for becoming a PowerSeller. If you are selling 3-4 items per day (as I outline above) then in three months you will have made approximately 300 sales. From these 300 sales you can potentially receive 300 positive feedback ratings. So long as you maintain a good level of customer service, describe your ebooks accurately within your listings, delivery your ebooks quickly, and promptly respond to customer queries, then you should receive at least 98% positive feedback from these 300 sales.

So to summarise if you want to become an eBay PowerSeller then:

-Sign up as an eBay User: If you haven’t signed up for a basic eBay account then Click Here to do so.

-Sign up as an eBay Seller: Once you have a basic eBay account you then need to sign up as a seller which you can do so by Clicking Here.

-Review and Follow eBay’s Rules: In order to become a PowerSeller you must be in good standing with eBay. To achieve this you must follow eBay’s Rules and Policies which you can view by Clicking Here.

-Sell 3-4 Ebooks per Day: Start by listing 10 ebook auctions per day and measure how many are successful. Through testing you can determine how many auctions you need to run in order to generate 3-4 sales per day.

-Maintain a Good Level of Customer Service: Deliver your ebooks promptly, respond to customer queries quickly, describe your ebooks accurately etc, and you should have no trouble gaining at least 98%+ positive feedback.

-Keep following the above steps for 90 days: Do the above and you will be a PowerSeller within 90 days, with at least 300 sales to your name, and at least 300 positive feedbacks.

And that’s all there is to it. By following eBay’s rules, selling 3-4 items per day, and being good to your customers, then you can become a PowerSeller in as little as 90 days from now. Take action today and three months from now you could be rewarded with eBay PowerSeller status.

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About the Author:
Tom Parker is an eBay Ebook PowerSeller who sells ebooks and software at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern. To receive free tips from Tom regarding selling ebooks on eBay and a free collection of ebooks sign up for his newsletter at http://newsletter.theebookcavern.co.uk/.

(You may reprint this article on your blog, ezine, newsletter or website providing the article remains unchanged and the ‘About the Author’ box is included and unchanged.)

This article was originally released in August 2006 and outlines how you can be sure you have resell rights to the ebooks which you are selling.

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Identifying resell rights in an ebook may seem like a no brainer. However, when I started selling ebooks on eBay I did not know how to be truly sure that I possessed the resell rights to an item I was selling. It’s a topic I overlooked until a customer asked me “How do I know if an ebook has resell rights?” I felt that it was a good question which I haven’t adequately addressed previously so here goes.

To ascertain whether you have resell rights to an ebook the first thing you should do is check the first few pages of that ebook for a resell rights notice. If you do have resell rights then you should find a notice such as “You have Full Resell Rights to this Ebook. You may resell it for any price you wish.” If you do not find a resell rights notice in the ebook then DO NOT risk reselling it. The person who sold it to you could be reselling it illegally. On the other hand they could be selling it legally and the ebook simply doesn’t have a resell rights notice, but it’s not worth the risk. If you do find a resell rights notice then the chances are that you do in fact have resell rights to the ebook.

However, beware as this is not always the case. Sometimes ebooks that do have a resell rights notice are not actually resellable. I have been contacted by eBay’s Vero department on a small number of occasions stating that they have removed my auctions because I did not have the resell rights to the item in question. I was under the impression that I did have resell rights to these ebooks. An example of this is David Blaine’s Mega Magic Ebook. Inside this particular ebook there IS a resell rights notice. However, eBay’s Vero department informed me that a certain magic company (I can’t remember the name), had the rights to the use of David Blaine in printed media.

In situations like this there isn’t much you can do. I recommend you remove the listing immediately (if eBay has not already done it) and then send an apology to the copyright holder explaining that you were under the impression that you had resell rights to the ebook, and if you knew the material was copyright you wouldn’t have listed it for sale.

The purpose of this article is to inform you and not to scare you. eBay’s Vero department have contacted me very few times regarding ebook removal / copyright violation and I am sure it is a rare occurrence for all eBay ebook sellers. However, by following the information in this article you should minimise the chance of eBay’s Vero department contacting you, and also know how to respond if they do contact you. Just remember the simple rules:

- No Resell Rights Notice - Don’t list the item for sale.
- If eBay Vero contact you - Apologise and remove the listing from eBay.

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About the Author:
Tom Parker is an eBay Ebook PowerSeller who sells ebooks and software at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern. To receive free tips from Tom regarding selling ebooks on eBay and a free collection of ebooks sign up for his newsletter at http://newsletter.theebookcavern.co.uk/.

(You may reprint this article on your blog, ezine, newsletter or website providing the article remains unchanged and the ‘About the Author’ box is included and unchanged.)

Here’s yet another one from the archives. This discusses promoting your eBay store using Reviews and Guides.

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In my last article I discussed how to effectively promote your eBay store using your About Me page. In that article I outlined that it was one of the most underutilised promotion opportunities on eBay. Ebay Reviews and Guides are a new introduction by eBay, but are just as underutilised by eBay sellers as the About Me page. In this article I will discuss how you can utilise this excellent feature to promote your eBay store:

1) What is an eBay Review or Guide?:- A review is simply your own personal review of any product on the eBay market, for example a CD, DVD, book etc. You give the product a rating out of five and then write a brief personal review about what you liked, didn’t like etc. A guide can be on absolutely anything you are qualified to give advice on. I convert these newsletter articles into “Ebook Success” guides on eBay which complement my eBay store. However, guides don’t necessarily have to relate to your eBay store. If for example, you enjoy fishing then you could write guides related to fishing.

2) Why should I write an eBay Review or Guide?:- I would personally recommend writing guides over reviews. The reason for this is that when you write a review the only credit you receive is a small link to your eBay feedback profile. When you write a guide you receive a link back to your eBay feedback profile, eBay store, eBay About Me page, and some of your active listings. Anyway, whether you choose to write a review or guide, the reason for doing so is promotion. People reading your review or guide will be made aware of your eBay presence, may click on a link to one of your pages, and this may even lead to a sale.

3) What should I write my eBay Review or Guide on?:- As I mentioned earlier I write “Ebook Success” guides which are basically converted copies of these newsletter articles. However, the possibilities are endless. Just think of your hobbies, your job, or anything else which you know enough about to write a series of guides on. Everyone can write about at least ONE THING. Once you have found your topic, break it down into small, relevant guides. If you’re really, really struggling to find a topic for a guide, then write a review on a product that you own. Although the promotion will not be as great as the promotion you would receive from a guide, it still provides you with free promotion.

That’s all there is to it. Keep writing regular guides and if they are good people will rate them positively. The more positive ratings you get, the higher your reviewer rank gets. Also, the more guides you write, the more pages you have on eBay promoting your listings, your store, and your feedback. Since reviews and guides are relatively new and haven’t fully taken off yet, it’s best to get in now, while the majority of eBayers are not writing reviews and guides. That way when it takes off on a larger scale, you will already have a solid foundation upon which to build. To write your own eBay review or guide go to http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/. This is a promotional opportunity that you should not pass up. For five minutes writing, you can have a free, long term, promotional tool at your disposal.

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About the Author:
Tom Parker is an eBay Ebook PowerSeller who sells ebooks and software at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern. To receive free tips from Tom regarding selling ebooks on eBay and a free collection of ebooks sign up for his newsletter at http://newsletter.theebookcavern.co.uk/.

(You may reprint this article on your blog, ezine, newsletter or website providing the article remains unchanged and the ‘About the Author’ box is included and unchanged.)

*****

If you enjoyed this article and want to know more about generating traffic on eBay I highly recommend John Thornhill’s Auction Traffic Explosion which contains over 30 methods of generating traffic using eBay.

***** 

This one’s from June 2006 and discusses promotion via your eBay About Me page.

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In my last article I discussed various promotion strategies for your eBay store one of which was using your eBay About Me Page. Your About Me Page is one of the best ways to promote yourself on eBay. It allows you much more freedom than other eBay pages and there is a link to it besides your eBay User ID so every time you buy an item, place a bid etc, people may click on it. Despite this it is one of the most underutilised pages for the majority of ebook sellers. In this article I will discuss how you should be using your eBay About Me Page to effectively promote your eBay store:

1) Describe yourself and your Ebook Business:- At the top of the page you should describe yourself and your ebook business. Say a little about yourself, how you got into selling on eBay, and what you sell. Also say why people should buy from you instead of the competition. Examples could be that your eBay store is updated every week, your prices are low etc.

2) Link to your Feedback:- To prove that you are a trusted seller you should link to your feedback rating from your About Me page. Just include a simple sentence like “Click Here to view my feedback.”

3) Provide a Contact Address:- Buyers viewing your About Me page may want to ask more questions so it is only logical that you provide a contact address. Make it clickable for maximum ease to the customer. For example “You can contact me at any time at: sales@theebookcavern.co.uk.”

4) Provide a direct link back to your eBay Store:- Not all the visitors to your About Me page will have found it through your eBay store. Some may not even be aware that you own an eBay store. The only way to make sure that everyone viewing your About Me page knows that you have an eBay store is to provide a clickable link to it. For example “Click Here to visit my eBay store.”

5) Other Links:- If you have a specific auction which you want to promote, or a specific page you want to link to then do it here. For example “You can visit my super duper auction by Clicking Here.

“If you follow the steps in this article then you should be well on your way to maximising the effectiveness of your eBay About Me page. Many customers will use your About Me page to assess whether to buy from you so it’s essential that yours is effective. Till next time good luck with your ebook sales and take care!!!

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About the Author:
Tom Parker is an eBay Ebook PowerSeller who sells ebooks and software at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern. To receive free tips from Tom regarding selling ebooks on eBay and a free collection of ebooks sign up for his newsletter at http://newsletter.theebookcavern.co.uk/.

(You may reprint this article on your blog, ezine, newsletter or website providing the article remains unchanged and the ‘About the Author’ box is included and unchanged.)

This ones from May 2006 and discusses the vital issue of promoting your eBay store.

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To really maximise your eBay ebook sales you need to be promoting your eBay store. eBay stores get less exposure than normal eBay listings and therefore will not yield great sales for you unless you promote them. There are many ways both on and off eBay that you can promote your eBay store. This article outlines some of them:

1) Ebay Auction Listings:- eBay Auction and Buy It Now listings get the main exposure on eBay. When someone does an eBay search for an item all the eBay Auction and Buy It Now listings are displayed first. Then after these the eBay Store listings are displayed. Since these Auction and Buy It Now listings are getting the most exposure it makes sense to run a few of these and insert a link to your eBay store inside the actual description. This works especially well with Auction listings as people often click the link so they can buy the item instantly from your eBay store rather than wait for the auction to end.

2) Ebay About Me Page:- The eBay About Me page is one of the best free opportunity’s eBay provides to promote yourself. Every time someone on eBay sees your eBay ID (whether you bid on something, leave feedback, or buy an item) there will be an About Me logo next to it and some people will click this logo. Despite this, it really is one of the most under utilised tools on eBay. If you do not yet have an eBay About Me page yet then get one NOW. Use it to write about your eBay store and tell people why they should buy from you.

3) Ebay Reviews and Guides:- These are a relatively new addition to eBay but they are still a great way to promote your eBay store for free. The reviews section allows you to write product reviews such as CDs and DVDs. The guides section is more relevant to eBay sellers as it allows you to write guides on just about anything. There has got to be some topic that you can write a guide on so get righting now. When people read your guide they are presented with a link to your eBay store which is again more free exposure.

4) Ebay Seller Cross Promotion:- I outlined in the last article that with an eBay store you can cross-promote your items. Recently eBay has also added the ability to cross-promote with other sellers. This is very easy to set up and eBay manages the whole process for you. All you have to do is go to the “Cross-Promotion Connections” area of My eBay and then use the request cross-promotions link in order to set them up. If the other seller agrees then a box promoting their products will appear on your listings and vice versa. This is a valuable way to increase your eBay sales and also generate more traffic to your eBay store.

5) Search Engines:- As I mentioned in my last article you get an actual URL with your eBay store. This URL gets listed in the eBay stores directory and search engines which means extra traffic for your eBay store. What’s more eBay allows you to pick your search engine keywords so you can be listed under the categories that you feel are most appropriate to your eBay store. Getting listed in the search engines is a great way to bring in customers from outside of eBay and maximise your sales potential.

6) Store RSS Feed:- When you access the home page of an eBay store you may notice a small RSS box in the bottom left corner. If you click on this RSS box then you will be shown your store’s RSS feed. Now I myself am not an expert in RSS but I do know that it is another way to promote your eBay store easily and effectively from outside of eBay. You can get some free software that submits your RSS feeds to the main RSS directories by doing a search on Google.

7) Blogging:- For those who don’t know a blog is a weblog. It’s basically like an online journal where you post your thoughts, comments, or whatever else you want. Blogging is an excellent way to get traffic to your eBay store. Quite a few websites offer free blogs which you can sign up for and then link back to your eBay store. Post in it regularly to gain exposure and your blog should soon become a great source of traffic.

Article Submission:- There are 100s of article directories out there that will you can submit your articles to, and if accepted you are allowed to have a live link back to your website or eBay store in the author resource box. This is a great way to generate traffic to your website in the long-term as not only do the search engines index your article, but people also reprint these articles on their websites complete with your author resource box (and live link back to your eBay store). The longer your article is online the more it will be reprinted and so the more traffic it will generate.

Hopefully this article has opened your eyes to some of the free and effective promotion methods for your eBay store. At first the fact that eBay Stores do not get as much exposure seems like a major problem but by putting a little effort into promoting it yourself, it can be much more successful than any eBay Auction listing. Till next time good luck with your ebook sales and take care!!!

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About the Author:
Tom Parker is an eBay Ebook PowerSeller who sells ebooks and software at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern. To receive free tips from Tom regarding selling ebooks on eBay and a free collection of ebooks sign up for his newsletter at http://newsletter.theebookcavern.co.uk/.

(You may reprint this article on your blog, ezine, newsletter or website providing the article remains unchanged and the ‘About the Author’ box is included and unchanged.)