An interview with Paul Cunningham
Paul Cunningham has used eBooks to effectively build email lists for his two different blogs, BloggingTeacher.com and ExchangeServerPro.com, to the tune of thousands. He is a moderator for ProBlogger.com forums, writes weekly columns for two tech blogs and provides WordPress design and development services to other bloggers. He was recently featured on TheNetsetter.com’s 50 Netsetters You Should Know About. Paul kindly let me interview him about his strategies and successes using eBooks. — Kelly
How did you get started creating eBooks?
The first eBook I created was my Twitter/WordPress Integration Guide in 2009. At the time, everyone was just starting to connect Twitter to their blogs. It was free, no opt-in or anything, and got a few thousand downloads. That was the simple measure of success I had at the time.
Eventually I needed to either update it or remove it entirely. I decided to take on Dave Navarro’s “product in a weekend” challenge and update it and put it up for sale in May of this year. I promoted it to my list and it sold enough copies to make the weekend worth it and cover my e-junkie fees for the year so you could say it has done its job in that respect.
The second eBook, the Microsoft Exchange 2007 Transition Guide, was a technical guide for the audience of my IT pro blog. I pieced it together from a long series of blog posts I ran and gave it away as an opt-in incentive. Again it has had a few thousand downloads and built a mailing list for me on that blog, which is the most important measure of success there because I now have a list to market subsequent products to for that blog.
What do you like about eBooks vs. other media (audio, video)?
I’ve purchased many eBooks in the past but my biggest problem has always been reading them end to end. I like the eBook format for how-to tutorials and lessons, things that you’re trying to follow along with step by step. But for the conveying of general information I like audio the best as it is something I can listen to during dead time like driving my car. Video is important as well because for me it helps convey information more effectively because of the use of visuals.
I definitely plan to incorporate other media formats into my eBook packages and other products in future, but in a useful way and not as an arbitrary add-on.
What advice would you give people thinking of writing an eBook that they plan to sell?
Start by finding the market. I know sometimes we just want to follow our passions but you set yourself up for disappointment if there are no buyers at the end of that effort.
And don’t subconsciously undercut your eBook’s value by not finishing the job. 80% of the effort gets you a rough product suitable for free giveaway, basically a first draft. Another 10%, more in-depth revising/editing and more visual appeal gets you a good product, and that last 10% which is the hardest is what makes your eBook a real success. I think a lot of people (myself included) stop at the 80% mark for fear of those last steps. The last 10% is a proper launch and marketing effort, as opposed to just sticking it up on your site with a single blog post announcement and hoping for the best.
For more on Paul’s list building strategies, check out his great step-by-step guide: How to Use Free Content to Build a Mailing List and join his list for access to the Blog Maintenance Checklist and Safe WordPress Upgrades
Hi Kelly, thanks for the interview, much appreciated
My pleasure!