Information Marketing

It's now official what a lot of people in Information Marketing have been suspecting this year: the explosion in the sales of eBooks. In fact, they are 3 times higher in the first 6 months of 2012 compared with the same period in 2011. The figures released from Publishers Association puts the figures at £64 million (104 million USD) compared with £24 million (37 million USD). This is an impressive statistic, you might agree with me.

So what is information marketing? In basic terms it is the packaging of knowledge or some creative work such as a story in a digital format: could be a book in a Portable Document Format (PDF) known as an eBook or some other work in a CD or DVD layout. This is the information side of the equation. The marketing side of the equation also falls on the authors lap: this may be a boon or bane for the originator. Information marketing is also known as self-publishing.

There is bit of a revolution happening in publishing at the moment. This self-publishing movement gives the author complete control of how, where and what price to sell his or her work: the greater the marketing effort, the greater the potential financial rewards.

I keep on coming back to the same point: in the current internet revolution which is growing rapidly but still has a long way to go, we all have the potential to sell something, since in this vast global market place you will find a willing buyer. In other words, the world is turning into a huge Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) place where anyone with access to an online computer can be a seller and at the same time a buyer too.

The internet is a great leveller: the purveyer and the consumers of information are engaging in a great exercise in democracy. It is now encouraged and easy to share your experiences and knowledge on the internet; equally, the consumers have the power to either love it or shun it. But the important thing is to get your information out there to as many people as possible. In other words, market your work well.

Producing and marketing digital products can be potentially a very lucrative proposition which has been proven with many successful marketers. So, the fact I am writing about information marketing in this article is to suggest that it can be an excellent source of online income.

There are in my opinion, mainly two types of people who delve in information marketing: so for those people involved with producing ebooks, they are either interested in telling a story well and those who are brilliant marketers. The latter have seen a great need to get out there and distribute the information in digital format and are reaping abundant rewards. A few are good at both, and they tend to end up there at the top of the MLM pile.

Why is there such a great thirst for information in a digital format? In my opinion because of three simple reasons which I will call the three Cs: Convenience, Cost and Completeness. Convenience because digital products are really easy to obtain by download; they are substantially cheaper because they do not normally involve any shipping; and completeness because the information has been put together to solve a particular problem. The third point is also important for this reason: due to the limitations in current search technology, it is not normal to find a solution to a problem you have by looking at a single search result; or perhaps even two or more. It is however, very likely that you will find the solution in an eBook that has been written on that topic. Furthermore, the author has also written about his or her real life experience with the problem you may be having and how it was overcome.

Furthermore, a digital product is never complete: it evolves with the feedback from consumers and developments, just like a piece of software requires regular updates.

Supplemental evidence of the popularity of eBooks is in the eBook reader sales: for instance very recently, Kindle, the ubiquitous eReader from Amazon got sold out-millions of them!

What to write about, how to go about writing it and most importantly how to sell your products, is what you should start thinking about if you wish to succeed in this lucrative market.

Ebook Marketing Strategy: Best Selling Ebook Topics

What makes an eBook Author Sell? Marketing ebooks.

The answer is in answering the need, which is a truism of all sales. It is very hard to sell a steak to a vegetarian and Eskimos don't need ice.

So what does a reader want? To answer that question is a huge part of the selling solution.

Genre is also a part of the need. Each genre is a target market in itself. As with steaks and ice, it is an up hill battle to sell a love romance to a male.

The good news is there is a huge target market in all genres.

Buyers of books go through a sequential process when buying, which is all driven by not wanting to pay for something they DON'T want. That's why so many readers read by authors. What they are really doing is trying to find another author they TRUST.

Familiarity with an author is the first driver of sales. The dilemma happens when they finally read an author out.

When forced to find a new trusted author, readers take very little notice of personal reviews. What my mother or brother raves about does little for me. We have totally different tastes.

Readers do take notice of new books that are selling in big numbers, working on the assumption that all of the people buying can't be wrong.

Here is how it goes.

After finding out about a new hot author the reader does what the old saying says not to - they judge the book by its cover. To have a poor cover kills book sales.

Next, the prospective book buyer turns to see how many books this author has written. A shelf full of titles builds initial trust; again, everyone can't be wrong.

The fear is that they may spend half a day reading only to be disappointed instead of ENTERTAINED (a reader's need). Yet if they find the entertainment they want then that author will sell them every book on their shelf. What they are really doing is not book buying but buying an author.

Next, readers turn to the synopsis. If this is not well done, goodbye to many book sales. Then we turn to, "about the author", which if not engaging will also kill sales.

Now it is time to read a sample, usually the beginning. How many people looking for a new author spend a lot of time on this step? The motivation again is fear-based as they don't want to waste time and buy something that will not fulfil their NEED - an author they are entertained by.

To address this problem I use a gifted narrator to read 70 pages, free of charge, as a "try before you buy" sales strategy. The advantage of listening to a MP3 is being able to do something else simultaneously. And most buyers purchase well before finishing the audio as they want to read, not "listen", to a book. They know quite soon whether or not they have found the new author they want.

Have you heard of the 10,000 hour or seven year rule? Most authors need that amount of time to make it. Many write a million words before being published. (My web site has less than half that.)

Another observation I have made is that best-selling authors have vast life experience. They are able to draw from this internal well, which is the best source to produce quality writing.

The wonderful thing about the shift to ebooks is that an eBook is forever, whereas paper books only have a print-run life.

Marketing in the forest of ebooks makes it hard to find your special tree. Ebooks have time on their side and the quote on my book "Dream Bouncing" is only true in an eBook world. "A GREAT NARRATIVE WILL ALWAYS MAKE ROOM FOR ITSELF." Quality work will, in the end, always rise to the top.

A huge advantage to books sold online is that sales will come over time. eBook writers report wild fluctuations in sales numbers. Sales will nearly dry up then months later take off again.

In conclusion, if you want more sales build a bigger shelf of work. If it is within your ability, change genres. A buyer may like your well-published shelf but not like all the kinds of books on it.