Create Your Own Budget

Some authors just don't want to know about the business and financial side of marketing and selling their eBook. If you are self-publishing and doing your own marketing then unfortunately this is just one aspect that you will also need to be control of.

Don't panic if you are not "financially inclined." It is very simple to do and manage. Begin by creating a spreadsheet listing your revenue sources and expenses. Start with the following to get you started and you can then adjust your budget according to your specific needs.

Remember that you can avoid many of these expenses by joining a quality self-publishing site where many of these services are provided to you free of charge.

Below Are Some of The Paid Options That You Will Need to Budget For:

1. Cost of your Author Website

2. Website hosting

3. Domain name registration

4. Banners / website graphics

5. Cover design for your eBook

6. Google AdWords campaign

7. Paid Press Release / follow up

8. General Publicity / PR

9. Paid Press Release / follow up to all media

10. eBook Launch

11. Conferences

12. Library marketing

13. Entry fee for writing competitions

14. Postage Ongoing (mail outs)

15. Travel expenses to meetings / launches

16. eBook software

17. FaceBook ad campaign

18. Online advertising

Your Business Requirements for Making Money from the Sales of Your eBook

1. You Will Need to Address Some of The Following Basic Business Details Such As:

2. Do you have a tax number?

3. A registered business name or entity

4. Requirements for GST registration (if in Australia)

5. Accounting / bookkeeping capability for sales and expenses

6. Business contact details

7. Do you have a website set-up or are you going to market via a self-publishing platform?

It is essential that you have your "business affairs" in order prior to starting any marketing campaign or new business venture. That is, don't do all the hard work in creating your eBook or product and then find out that you are not set-up to take care of the business involved.

What if You Already Own a Business?

Then you have taken care of this important step. However, be sure to review your business plan with your accountant if you plan on combining this eBook business with a completely different business.

Some Key Points That You Need to Make Sure You Have Looked at Include:

1. What impact the eBook could have on your existing business

2. What are the legal implications?

3. What are the financial implications?

4. Who in fact does own the rights to the book?

5. What impact it will have on your current role in the business.

6. Do you actually have the time to devote to marketing your eBook?

Pricing Strategy for Your eBook

Your pricing strategy involves determining how you will price your eBook. This is important as you need to price your eBook so that it is competitive with similar eBooks already on the market but still allow you to make a reasonable profit. This pricing issue for eBooks has been the subject of huge debate between publishers and retailers. So you will need to be aware of the minimum and maximum price permitted by some online eBook stores.

When I sold my eBook via Clickbank I was able to make extremely high margins and profit on every eBook. However, this golden period for making such high margins is coming to an end as customers become accustomed to paying lower prices for eBook purchases.

Make sure that you are not pricing yourself out of the market. If your eBook price is too high there will be some readers who just cannot afford to buy your eBook.

The most common question I get asked from my clients and Academy members is "How do you know what price to charge?"

Here Are Some Key Points to Help You:

1. Calculate your costs in the production of your eBook (cover, software etc)

2. Estimate the benefits to consumers for buying your eBook. That is your expert advice and whether or not they can get this unique information elsewhere.

3. Check out your competitors and see what they are charging.

4. Conduct a break-even analysis for your eBook price.

5. Decide on the profit margin you desire and then conduct an analysis of how to achieve that margin.

6. Take into account your administrative costs.

7. Take into account your marketing and sales costs.

8. Do you have to give a portion of the profit to an affiliate or self publishing site?

9. Are you basing your price on a certain number of eBooks being sold? 

Marketing Budget

You will be able to better create the budget for your marketing plan when you have a good idea of the costs involved. You probably have already established a figure of how much you can really spend on marketing your eBook. This is why you conduct your research first as it will identify your target market and define your customer. It will also identify the best marketing strategies to reach your target market.

We have provided many free tools and techniques for marketing your eBook. However, you will still want to devote some money towards paid advertising.

Prioritise your strategies based on where you think you'll get the most exposure and results for your eBook that also fits in with your budget.

Create a list of marketing techniques you will benefit the most from; a list of techniques that may help in a small way; and a list of techniques that will be of little benefit to you. Then assign your budget to those that are a priority. This will help keep you focused on the most beneficial ways to market your eBook.

Find Your Own Mentor

Have a mentor and learn from an existing successful eBook author. Go inside the minds of the most successful eBook authors today to learn their secrets. A great way to find a mentor is to join a self-publishing community. From here you can locate authors that are living within your local area. You may find an author who can mentor you online, via Skype, emails or on the phone.

I have advised clients via all of these means before and have gained great satisfaction in seeing their careers go from novice to published and successful author. This is one reason why I created my very own self-publishing site. Now I can reach a global audience and assist authors of all levels!