Publishing an ebook can give you the edge in your job search or in your start up business.
Picture yourself applying for a position as a leasing agent for an apartment complex. You let the employer know about the ebook you published on how to reduce the cost of screening new tenants. Or, you have a start-up selling dyed wool globally via the Web. Through your website you make available your free ebook on dyes safe for the environment.
Thanks to digital technology, all that can be done quickly, for peanuts, and promoted as much or as little as you want. The page count could range from 10 to 125 pages. Even the big guns in marketing like Seth Godin have gone totally digital in publishing, distributing, and hawking their books.
You can start by surfing the Web looking for ebooks you can download and analyze for title, format, layout, tone and content such as how the author limits subject matter, and how it is being distributed. For example, marketer Toby Bloomberg has an ebook on social media, which she distributes on the Web, at conferences, and through word of mouth.
Then, decide what kind of ebook you want to publish. You can have it copyrighted through the Library of Congress. If you don't have the skills for the total project, then you can outsource parts of the process. Those might include figuring out the concept, research, ghostwriting, and layout. You can put a help wanted ad on boards such as Craigslist.com, eLance.com, Mediabistro.com, JournalismJobs.com, and CareerBuilder.com.
The next step is promotion. Fortunately there are many free articles on the Web about that. Invest an afternoon to learn the fundamentals, and then try out some of the tactics. Do more of what is effective. Keep experimenting with new publicity approaches.
List the book on all your job search and start up marketing materials. Bring it up in the conversation on job interviews and sales calls. The book could be the tipping point for you. And, yes, if this tactic is useful, start on your next ebook.
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