eBook Reader Publishing &
Why You Should Do it Now

The time is here to get in as close to the ground floor as possible on the eBook publishing bandwagon.

Both Amazon Kindle, and Barnes & Noble’s Nook, make it simple to publish your eBooks and eReports.

They take a very small cut of your sales with no charges up front. In the scheme of things, on the net this is an offer you can’t refuse. You will get to market your business via your book, and become a published author, all the while making money. What more could you want?

In the past, self-publishing was too expensive for most average people to do. It could cost thousands. Now, you can essentially do it free, aside from the cost of your time writing the book, which of course was a labor of love anyway, right? I’m kidding, I know writing is hard, and can be like pulling teeth unless you use a system like the 7 Day Ebook, but now publishing doesn’t have to be. You can publish free, on both Kindle and The Nook, rather easily.

You may not realize how publishing traditionally works, but suffice it to say, the “house” gets most of the money, because they take most of the risk. And guess what, you still have to market your book after it’s published. Huge advances, and large royalties, only exist for people who are already famous and already have made a name for themselves. At the most, you can hope to make 50 cents to a buck per book sold, when it’s all said and done.

Now on Kindle and The Nook, you can publish without any publishing costs. You may however still have some costs such as:

• Writing
• Editing
• Formatting
• Cover Art
• Marketing

Even if you don’t pay a writer to write for you, (which you can do, it’s called Ghostwriting) you should highly consider hiring an editor. Even if you don’t hire an editor, do edit your book thoroughly.

Edit the format of your book, with publishing on the Nook and Kindle in mind. You can follow the formatting rules for .html format on Kindle and use it for the Nook too, thus only using one method for both books. Word templates for kindle publishing can also help. If you’re unfamiliar with these methods, remember, time is money, and consider outsourcing to someone with experience.

Outside of the content of your eBook, the cover art is imperative to making sales. People do indeed buy books based on how the cover looks, and the information you provide about the contents of the book.

If you aren’t a graphic designer, consider hiring someone to design your cover art who has done so before, for publishing on Kindle or the Nook. Ask for examples to ensure that you’re getting great work for the cost.

Once you publish your book, your work is not done. Now you will need to market your book. Marketing a book that you’ve published on Kindle or the Nook is easier than marketing eBooks published by other means because people trust Amazon and Barnes & Noble and they will be your payment gateway. You can learn more about marketing your ebook in Kindle Revolutions. As you know, people buy from those they know, like and trust, so part of your marketing issue is solved via the place you’re published.

If you have eBooks already, you should convert them now, get in on the ground floor while it’s still free. There are people selling thousands of books per day, right now via these means, why not you?

 ~ Kim ~
Simple Tech Tips For Marketing 

PS: If the answer to the last question was because you’re still choking on the writing phase, I suggest you pick up a copy of Tiffany Dow’s “Building An Ebook Empire” which includes her other ebook that I think will also really assist you called “How to Write a Great Product When You’re Not a Professional Writer”. Check it out. 

Why Publishing a Kindle and Nook Book
will Help You Grow your Business

Being a published author carries clout but, more importantly, it expands your reach and grows your existing brand and business.If you have any type of business, from a bricks and mortar business, to a strictly online business you likely want to establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Whether you’re a service provider or an Internet Marketer you can publish a book on Kindle or Nook to expand your reach thus growing your business beyond anything your present audience.

Today Kindle eBooks outsell print books and Barnes & Noble’s Nook won’t be far behind the curve if the sale of the Nook is any indicator of the future.

There are many great reasons to get involved but the number one reason is that publishing on these platforms will increase your reach and grow your business.

People can download your books on vacation, at the airport, sitting in the car while their spouse drives, or while waiting in the doctor’s office. PDFs are great when I’m at my desk but when it comes to written word, nothing beats an eBook for on-the-go reading!

You can write it yourself, outsource it, or even use existing eBooks and eReports you’ve written in the past. With some simple formatting, proven templates and updating your old books can be ready to publish within hours.

You can even use public domain content and private label rights content (if used right and made to be original) to publish via eBook on Kindle and / or the Nook. The only limits you have are of your own making because lack of talent will not keep you from publishing on the Kindle or the Nook. It is a very easy platform to work with.

No matter what material you decide to publish, as long as it fits in with your target audience, it will help you become better known, expand your reach, increase your clout, and further establish you as an expert in your niche. Publishing eBooks on these venues can increase your profit by giving you another stream of income if you choose to sell your book instead of give it away free.

While free is a good option, nothing feels better than getting paid for marketing yourself by charging a low fee for the eBook. The low-cost of eBooks makes them an easy purchase for most people while allowing your brand to pay for its own marketing.

You can also create many other opportunities with your eBook by getting clients interested in you in a new way. For instance, by publishing case studies of clients you’ve helped, that also gives tips for people to do it themselves, is a great way to get your foot in the door with a new client.

The client may read your eBook and decide he or she doesn’t want to do it themselves, in spite of your excellent suggestions, and instead wants you to do it. This is a common bridge or filter used to separate your service clients from your information marketing clients in a pain-free way.

It’s not too late to get in on the ground floor of eBook publishing for Kindle and the Nook, but time is passing by quickly and things change lightning fast. This opportunity might not always be free. Want to learn more about Kindle publishing? Check out Kindle Revolutions.

The quick changes happening with article marketing, search engine algorithms and mobile marketing informs us that changes will also happen with eBook publishing, so don’t wait, dust off those dusty ebooks and get started!

~ Kim ~
Simple Tech Tips For Marketing 

~Got Questions? I’ve Got Answers For YOU!~

 Confused about a plugin?

Stumped over a setting?

Curious about a Facebook Page?

Need advice on branding?

Don’t know your widgets from your what’zits?

Whether you’re just getting started or well on your way to becoming a social media rockstar, don’t miss this chance to get your questions answered on a live Q&A webinar!

No gimmicks, no script, just live WordPress & Social Marketing question and answer time! 

Generally held first Wednesday of The Month! (Yes, that’s a #WordPressWednesday too!)

For December, webinar will be 2pm CST (GMT-6) Wednesday 02-01-12.
It will be recorded and emailed to you.

Register Me For The Webinar &
Cool News & Tips Too!

RSVP on Facebook! —> http://just-ask-kim.com/recommends/WPQandA/fb

Don’t forget to bring your questions! Share this with your friends…. they will thank you!

Kimberly

PS: Already a subscriber and have pressing questions but unable to attend? The reminder email you received has a link to a web form to fill out to submit your questions.  I will do my best to get them included in the session!

How do you get ROI on Facebook?
Let Mari Smith show you how
on this Free Webinar

Here’s great news on a Facebook event I’m excited about… because it comes from someone who knows her stuff!

If you’ve been trying to get social media to work for your business, you know that Mari Smith provides some of the best guidance there is for making sense of it all.

And as entrepreneurs and small businesses owners, we are all interested in getting better at Facebook marketing and relationship marketing in a big way.

So, I’m VERY excited to tell you what’s in store for you on Tuesday, January 31st. Mari’s going to be leading one of her informative webinars on Facebook Marketing for 2012 — and you’re invited!

(And she always records them so be sure to register even if you can’t attend!)

With all the recent changes over at Facebook, sometimes it’s tough to stay ahead and use the world’s largest social network to guarantee consistent visibility, engagement and growth for your business.

With all the big changes coming to Facebook this week, including the Timeline “mandatory” launch and Facebook’s potential IPO now is definitely the time to be in the know!

That’s why Mari’s offering this free webinar, to get you up to speed on Facebook Marketing right at the start of the year. It’s all about the best ways to develop a raving fanbase so that they REALLY connect with you and love to buy from you.

Click Here To Register

I recommend you register right away to save your seat on Mari’s first big Facebook event of 2012 before it fills up (because if her previous webinars are any indication, I really think the virtual seats on this one will be overflowing too!) I’ve already signed up, so let’s both start this year off with a big boost to our Facebook marketing for 2012!

Join Now!

I hope to see you on the webinar!

~ Kim ~
Simple Tech Tips For Marketing

PS: I’ll see you live at her webinar on Tuesday… and then again at my (free) WordPress & Social Marketing webinar on Wednesday!

A Step-by-Step SEO Plan
To OutRank The Competition

The SEO Team over at Market Samurai lays out a step-by-step process you can use to give your SEO competition a serious run for it’s money!

If you’re not fortunate enough to already have a copy of MS, now would be a great time to pick up their free 12 day trial and have a look at your competition!

Pay particular attention in this video to how they take the numbers and turn them into very actionable steps. This is something you can use even if you are using tools other than MS to evaluate your SEO numbers.  

 I REALLY like this technique because it does two things:

(1) Lets us look at what it’s taken the competition to get those results

and….

(2) Creates some very actionable steps that any blogger can accomplish with enough persistence.

This is the kinda real-world stuff that lets sites sites truly have a chance of competing.

Are you using Market Samurai yet? If not, grab their free trial and check them out!

What part of SEO do you love to hate or hate to love? Share your thoughts below!

~ Kim ~
Simple Tech Tips for Marketing

PS: If your just getting started with SEO and are a WordPress blogger, a great place to start is with my WordPress SEO 101 course. It’s recorded now and if you pick it up before I get the new fancypants sales page put up you’ll miss the price increase!

Managing Affiliate Links &
Keyword Embedding
With Pretty Link Pro

Management of dozens of affiliate links can be a nightmare for any affiliate and a rather insane one for a blogger!

Between trouble remembering them, visitors stripping off the affiliate IDs, the links being scary, and having to always remember to embed them in our content… most of us wish that the links would just take care of themselves!

Now they can!

Just to recap….

In part 1 of this series, we looked at the trouble with affiliate links and why solutions are badly needed. I highlighted the need for three key elements: link organization, link cloaking and easy link embedding.

In part 2 of this series, we looked at some free WordPress plugins that can be a good jumping-off point for a new blogger. Unfortunately, none of these plugins independently delivered on all three goals.

Then, in part 3, I introduced you to Pretty Link Lite, a fantastic solution for any blogger with a number of attributes that make it useful. This plugin has great organization and offers redirects but no cloaking.

Now, I want to introduce you the a plugin that has been a gem in my toolbox.

Pretty Link Pro!

At the risk of sounding a little hypey… this plugin has been the backbone of my social media and affiliate marketing work for almost two years and has consistently been dependable.

This plugin makes me money!

The honest truth is that there are very few plugins that make me money. This plugin keeps track of my links, makes them memorable and consistently WORKS. (The other plugin I would put in this class is WPSubscribers.)

Pretty Link Pro is a premium upgrade to the free Pretty Link Lite that brings a ton of useful and powerful features that you’re going to love!

Let me take you behind the scenes of this plugin…

Pretty Link Pro Edition

The professional version of Pretty Link plugin brings many of the advanced management tools that a marketer needs to the table!

• Organize Links into Groups
• Automatically Replace Keywords In Your Post With Pretty Links
• Mask aka Cloak Links To Protect Your Affiliate Earnings
• Share a Pretty Link of your post, to your twitter account, automatically on Publish
• More & Improved Social Media Share Buttons on the Pretty Bar
• Configure the PrettyBar to mirror the look and feel of your website
• Setup Pretty Links as Tracking Pixels and track impressions
• Keep users on your site even when being redirected by using the PrettyBar which stays at the top of the page
• PLUS Everything else that Pretty Link Lite does including track clicks!

Plugin Flaws

Because I speak so highly of it, I often get asked where I might fault this plugin. The answer to that is two-fold.

First off, the sales page is weak! Seriously, go have a look! It’s alright, you can poke around but you won’t really understand what a work horse this little plugin is! So you’re going to have to trust me on this one.

Second, this plugin still does not YET have a good in-post editor menu to easily hard-code in your links. Other plugins in the class actually do a respectable job here but PLP is a bit behind.

Fortunately, I’ve been talking with Blair & Paul, the gents behind this plugin (you know I’m often actively involved in the plugins I depend on!) and there is some big upgrades for this plugin currently being coded now… including a solution for in-post work. I’m delighted!

Even without the in post editor box, this plugin is really great (and I just open the PLP link list in another browser tab to get what I need). PLP is still head and shoulders above the competition.

Plus, it’s built by guys who have done a lot for the WordPress GPL community and have a number of fully GPL free plugins they have given to the community to help everyone. These are the kinda folks I love to support and I know you do too.

Summary

If you do affiliate marketing, this plugin is best in its class. I personally couldn’t manage without it and I love the personalization it gives my links!

There’s not too many plugins that I “bet the house on” but this one I will!

PLUS! There’s a special deal going on right now (and only lasts a couple of days) where using coupon code 4FD88E95C3 will get you 20% off of the developer license for Pretty Link Pro! (You can also save 40% on Affiliate Royale Unlimited Edition, a great plugin by the same team, to create your very own affiliate program.)

Thoughts? Comments? Leave your questions below, I look forward to answering them! 

Go check out Pretty Link Pro! 

~ Kim ~ 
Simple Tech Tips For Marketing 

Is Your Blog Top Heavy
With Ads?

In another move to further improve the visitor experience, Google has announced that their algorithm will now penalize sites that run too many ads “above the fold”.

What does that mean?

It means that if you have a website that, when viewed at a normal (not high) quality monitor size, has the content pushed down low on the first part of the site you see when the page loads… you may have a problem.

Check out your site, using Google’s Browser Size tool, to see how your website would look under different screen resolutions. (Pro Tip: I suggest checking it at 1024 x 768 and 1280 x 1024)

Google says this impacts less than 1% of search results. But many heavy marketers are shouting that this affects millions.

It’s true of course that we’ve all hit a site that is “over the top” with ads and often has not just one advertising box but TWO before the article starts.

Me personally, I’m not a fan of embedding a lot of adsense within a post as it makes the user scroll around it… but that’s just me, and what do I know

Google specifically says: “This algorithmic change does not affect sites who place ads above-the-fold to a normal degree, but affects sites that go much further to load the top of the page with ads to an excessive degree or that make it hard to find the actual original content on the page.”

 So it sounds like sites running an ad in the header probably will be unaffected unless they are running a lot of ads elsewhere. Whew!

What is not clarified is whether sites with HUGE header images at the top will be shielded or counted as a false positive. We’ve seen a trend towards reduced header total size and that is probably a good thing in light of this.

Its worth considering that optin boxes sitting under the header probably are going to count as ads (for good reason). This is making me reconsider if I will turn back on the optin box I have coded that sits below the header but above the content (full-width).

I probably will as I run few ads but others might think twice.

As I mentioned in “3 Google SEO Changes That Rattle SEOs and Bloggers Alike!“, Google is really pushing back both on so-called “traditional SEO” and also on micro-niche sites that are adsense trips. But because of this, it’s possible for an unsuspecting blogger to get caught in the middle accidentally if they don’t follow some basic tips.

Does this mean that some people that are using Google’s own product, Adsense, are going to be penalized? Sure does. (And in my opinion for good reason.)

But site owners have a choice of how much they use on their site and where they place them so it’s logical both that some have “gone to far” and that those that have can probably reasonably easy return to a more visitor-friendly level.

Google has to walk the fine line of creating enough advertising clicks via affiliates with keeping a very happy searcher audience. Not an easy thing to do!

(Don’t think there is not some irony however that the search results page on google.com is ad heavy!)

I personally rarely share posts from adsense heavy sites as I just don’t like visiting them or reading them… what about you?

~ Kim ~
Simple Tech Tips For Marketing

Related Posts:

• 3 Google SEO Changes That Rattle SEOs and Bloggers Alike! (Just-Ask-Kim.com)
• Page Layout Algorithm Improvements (Google Webmaster Central Blog)
• How To Deal With Traffic Drop Post-Panda (BasicBlogTips.com)
• Is Google Adsense Right For Your Blog (WeBuildYourBlog.com)
• Another Google Slap that Will Affect Millions (EBrianRose.com)
• Should You Put Ads On Your New Site (WPMU.org)

Should Your Ebook
Be Kindle/Nook Compatible?

So you’ve got your ebook in PDF format… think that’s enough? 

Recently, I was talking with the author of an ebook that I’ve enjoyed and suggested that they include a e-reader compatible version to go with the pdf they released. 

I was met by some confused looks and questions. 

It turns out that most people have heard that kindle (and the kindle app) handle PDF just fine and do not understand that that is a half-truth. 

Let me first explain that while I’m a young technophile I’m also one who’s been dealing with vision loss issues for several months and because of it I’ve become very aware of readability… and eyestrain. 

This topic came up because I was sitting in the doctors office the other day throwing some hate-darts at some PDFs I have on my phone. You see the kindle reader tells me it can read them, but because PDFs are “pictures” you’d need a freakin microscope unlike a regular kindle book where you can make the text larger.

I’m going to reference the Kindle here but the same applies to the Nook e-Reader and is why the ePub document format is more flexible for the end user than the kindle document (The ePub doc can be converted and read on the Kindle but not visa versa most of the time.)

Often when I suggest to an author that they provide their readers/subscribers/customers a e-reader compatible version the first they they do is to pull their PDF up on an iPad and say… “it works, why would I do anything more??”

The Trouble With E-Readers

While the iPad and Kindle Fire are not great devices for anyone with eyestrain issues (eInk screens are vastly easier on the eyes)  these devices are incredibly common today. 

However, what is actually MORE common is smartphones and Kindle classics. Both of which have a smaller formfactor. 

What’s easy to forget is that the iPad has something close to the same screen width as a printed page. An iPad2 offers 9.7 total inches, but if I recall correctly the app itself probably only takes advantage of 7.5 or 8″ which is close enough to a 8.5×11 paper to be sensible. (And the Kindle android Fire on the other hand is only about 7″ wide)

A kindle classic has only about 4.25″ useable. An iphone or android kindle app has 3″ useable (many have less). In your mind reduce the entire size by well over half and consider readability at that point.

You end up having to use your finger to scroll to the right 3-4 times to read the line then back again to get to the next line!

The screen dimensions of my HTC Incredible (android) is about 3 inches by 2 inches and actually larger than some smartphones (though there are some larger).

So why is a PDF a problem?

A pdf in it’s native form is a image (picture) file instead of being text like a Microsoft Word file. A PDF is rather like a photograph of a document. 

So, on a PDF, to make the text bigger, you zoom into the whole document… pushing part of it off of the screen. You can not create line-wrap that adapts the way text does.

This is why epub and kindle formats are a big deal. On a Kindle you can make the characters larger and the word-flow of the book re-arranges itself to fit on the screen (brilliant!). 

Your PDF is just about twice the screen width of my kindle classic and that is at its default font size (and truth is I honestly need something zoomed in a bit).

Your PDF will certainly display just fine on a iPad in (or out) of the Kindle reader application. This is because the screen size is very similar to the optimum size for a PDF. The same is true of using the Kindle application on your computer.

The problem is when you deal with the smaller devices. I’m certainly not the only person online who goes from a PC/laptop to a smartphone with no tablet device in the middle. To assume your customer has a device of that type is still a really big assumption… yet they likely have a smartphone. 

In addition to keeping your customers happy (or at least making them feel you’re trying to adapt to what they want) offering a pre-formatted file they prefer you are going to cut down on plagiarism (It likely won’t help mitigate piracy though, but that’s what good branding is for). 

How Do I Work Around This?

Generally, PDFs help prevent republishing of the included content on the web by making copy-paste a pain in the butt. However, anyone that sets out to “rig” your PDF into working on their small device will first run it through a PDF to text converter. Out pops your beautiful book in a text document which then is MUCH more likely to turn up on some random blog somewhere “just because”. 

Personally, I usually run the PDFs through a PDF to text converter to change it back into raw text and then convert it into a kindle/epub format.  This gives me a rough workaround when ebook authors do not provide me a compatible file.  And this gives me something to read while I’m waiting in the car on someone at the store or sitting in a doctors office or otherwise find myself with time on my hands.

What About Your Ebook?

Many modern successful self-published authors now attentively take care of their fans by providing their books and novels in MANY file types to ensure the reader has what they need for comfort. For example, see Rebecca Woodhead’s highly successful Palaces and Calluses book. 

While digital readers used to be a “techy thing” now more “soccer moms” and other non-tech-types have e-readers than ever before!

While only YOU know if converting your ebook is a good answer for your audience, it’s important that you are aware of the reasons why it might be helpful. Taking care of our fans and ensuring their comfort is more important than ever before! 

And if that isn’t enough, producing these formats opens up two more markets for your book! 

As you prepare your ebook for sale or download, keep these things in mind!

Do you read ebooks? What is your preferred way to read them? Do you use an e-reader? Have you tried the kindle app on your desktop or smartphone? What do you think of the current lifecycle of PDFs? 

Drop me a comment below and let me know!

~ Kim ~
Simple Tech Tips For Marketing

Beware These 
Dangerous Plugins!

When preparing to update WordPress… There are three types of plugins you need to really paid attention too:

Those that tell you they need updates (they’re the easy ones!) The answer is simple here, update them before you upgrade…..

Those premium plugins that are sneaky because they don’t always use the auto update feature.

Be sure you’ve heard from the creator that they are compatible. For example, Popup Dom was not compatible with WP 3.3 at release (but a patch was available soon after) and needed deactivated or the upgrade broke…

and lastly… those plugins that sit there and don’t tell you they need up update but it’s because their developer abandoned them more than a year ago and they’re silently preparing to blow shit up for you.

Plugins with “last updated” dates of 2010 and older are often very dangerous (And 2008 plugins are almost always about to break stuff for sure!)

A little time spent entering the names of your plugins into the WordPress repository -> https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ and checking the last updated (and compatible with what version) details on them will alert you to deactivate them and find alternatives (and prevent costly bills since they won’t then be around to break your site).

Another tip, which I advise in my tutorial on how to upgrade WordPress safely, is to be sure to deactivate (not delete, deactivation preserves settings) your theme and plugins before you upgrade. Then upgrade. Then reactivate your stuff bit by bit so if something blows up you’ll at least KNOW which piece (and your upgrade at least will have run successfully).

Do WordPress upgrades make you nervous? Or have you mastered theme successfully? What “gottchas” would you recommend novice WordPress bloggers pay attention too?

~ Kim ~
Simple Tech Tips for Marketing

Welcome to Episode 003 of
Simple Tech Tips for Marketing

In this episode we talk about SOPA & PIPA, a pair of very important bills currently in the United States Congress.

Below you will find links to subscribe or just click play and enjoy! (Using the “Play in New Window” link is a great way to listen while still surfing the site.)

Important Links from the Podcast:

My prior post explaining SOPA/PIPA:
http://just-ask-kim.com/american-based-businesses-beware/

Where To Take Action:http://americancensorship.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act

http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/112%20HR%203261.pdf

http://www.copyblogger.com/sopa/

http://wordpress.org/news/2012/01/help-stop-sopa-pipa/

[Plugin] http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/stop-sopa-ribbon/

[Plugin] http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/sopa-blackout/

[Plugin] http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/stop-sopa-widget/

(Please give audio a moment to load after clicking play.)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Listen on YouTube | Subscribe on iTunes| RSS Feed