Back in early 2010, I found myself in an interesting position. I wanted to help people write, create and launch ebooks but my knowledge was mostly theoretical. So, I decided to write and launch my first ebook, and the Sticky Ebook Formula was born.

Over the year and change since then, I have learned so much more about the ebook landscape and the ways in which publishing your ideas helps shape your business and attract your right customers. I heard from people that the Sticky Ebook Formula really helped them, which was enormously gratifying. I launched two ebook-writing boot camps, which inspired the launch of my third product, Engaging Ecourses.

Am I making tens of thousands of dollars each month from sales of one ebook? No.

(I will say that as of this writing, I’ve grossed over $8,000 directly from my eBook, and that’s only part of the benefits.)

Would I choose to do it again if I had the chance? Absolutely.

Among other things (like income and publicity), launching the Sticky Ebook Formula was an invaluable lesson in online business. But something’s been bugging me. Over the last four months or so, every time I received an email that I’d sold a copy of the Sticky Ebook Formula, I felt, not quite guilt, but dissatisfaction. I realized I had so much more I wanted to say about ebooks! I wanted to pick up where I left off and create the comprehensive ebook publishing toolkit.

Then I met Pamela Wilson of Big Brand System at SXSW, with the seed of this idea in the back of my mind. As we talked about our respective projects, it turned out that Pamela had developed a solution to a problem so many ebook creators face: how to get a professional-looking design on a shoestring budget. Pamela had used OpenOffice — a free, open source word processing program available for both Mac and PC — to create classy ebook templates. These templates could be customized with just a small learning curve on how to edit styles and settings.

Pamela and I both feel strongly that ebooks should have not only great content but excellent design to match. We knew, from being marketers of products ourselves, that the bar for content in every medium is rising. Now at last we had tools that could help those of us on a DIY budget create remarkable, professional-looking ebooks. I had been waiting for someone like her to come along and create this piece.

And so Ebook Evolution was born.

We decided to take Pamela’s great-looking templates and add a new ebook from me that would add marketing and sales to the equation.

Creating and launching an ebook has brought me so much visibility and many new opportunities in addition to significant cash flow. But I didn’t do it all “the right way.” It turns out, of course, there is no such thing as the “right way,” but there’s a lot I can tell you about what’s worked for me. I wanted to provide a practical guide for getting an ebook out there and sold, using trust instead of hype.

This week I’m finishing the launch guide portion of Ebook Evolution, to support people who are starting small, but thinking big. I know I will have more to say about the brave new world of ebooks down the road. For now, I want those who read the Ebook Evolution launch guide to feel equipped to launch on your own terms, on your own timeline and with the least stress possible.

Click here to find out exactly how Ebook Evolution can make your eBook dreams a reality.

The Sticky eBook Formula turned one year old in March. It has sold over 350 copies in the past 12 months. Most of those were around the time of my launch, but I still sell around 10 copies per month. I’m sure some experts would decry that as a terribly low number, but it’s a small but welcome bonus revenue stream.

I used to think of a digital product as rather simplistic process: make something, market it. Rinse, repeat. But over the last two years I’ve come to see that there are more nuanced phases of the process that, when understood, not only help you manage your time and resources so you don’t feel crazed, but help keep your product selling long after the initial flurry of excitement. Not all of these stages are required — if you create something and people can buy it, you have launched a product. But I offer these phases as a guide to a longer, healthier, fuller realization of the life of your product.

Phases in the Life of a Product

• Ideation – If you can, start with some market research by paying attention to which of your blog posts have the most comments or which newsletter articles get the most clicks. When I launched my ebook, I had no market to research. I started with my main desire: to help people create ebooks worth reading.
• Creation – Making the thing is the most gratifying and often most difficult. I realized that it’s important to let your initial idea morph and evolve. I thought at first I was writing the definitive, encyclopedic ebook on ebooks, but I let myself scale back to focus on the creative process and positioning which were more fun for me than the technical side of ebook creation.
• Production – Getting the written content into right format (or producing audio or video) is where a lot of people get stuck. I was lucky to have a great designer friend, Steven Blumenthal, take charge of the layout and design. I did hire a proofreader to find all the little typos I couldn’t see anymore because I’d read it so many times.
• Launch Prep – This was awkward the first time I did it, I really had no clue what to do. I asked a few blogger friends to take a look and several posted reviews of my ebook. I eventually created ads and promotional resources for my affiliates, though very late in the game. This phase is also about pitching guest posts (something I didn’t do the first time) and writing your own launch posts and email blasts.
• Pre-Launch – For this phase I did one Q&A call to build up some interest and add names to my email list. If I did it again, I would have released a sneak peek of the first two chapters as a teaser the week before launch. It’s all about building some buzz and adding names to the email list in this stage. I held a pre-sale for my tiny list, offering the ebook at below-launch sale price.
• Launch – On launch day, I shouted it from every social media platform I had access to, including forums. This brought in a few power reviewers and helped me hit and surpass my goal of selling 50 copies. This is where special bonuses and a deadline give people an incentive to buy now.
• Post-launch – I completely botched post-launch. In retrospect I would have followed up with buyers with a simple auto-responder sequence or other check-ins like Q&A calls. This is really to make sure there’s no buyer’s remorse and your ebook doesn’t end up on the digital nightstand. I would have also planned better follow ups for participants in the ebook boot camp I launched several months later to help them keep their momentum.
• Passive Marketing – I didn’t even contemplate this stage until a conversation with Charlie Gilkey opened my eyes, though I was offering new sign ups to my email list the sample chapters by way of auto-responder, there wasn’t any incentive like a coupon to help encourage sales. Carefully consider the design of your ads that will appear on affiliates’ websites after launch to make sure the benefit is clear and include a link in your email signature.
• Reincarnation. Of course your expertise evolves over time and a reincarnation, or re-launch, will give you the opportunity to deepen and create an even more valuable offering. For it’s next act, the Sticky eBook Formula will be updated and expanded in a big way, and in June it will become available as part of a complete toolkit for creating and launching an ebook. Watch this space!

I have two brilliant friends who have thriving service-based businesses that they market almost entirely online. They both dream of creating and launching digital products like an ebook or ecourse but neither of them have, each for different reasons.

Rachel is a go-getting self-promoter. She guest posts regularly and has a thriving Facebook presence. She works in short, intense bursts and loves selling her services. But she just can’t seem make the time to sit down and create something to sell to the many people who need her expertise.

Tristan loves creating, in his own words he could create a product a week. While he is active on social media and blogs regularly, he feels most comfortable having tailored, one-on-one sales conversations. The idea of selling a product feels cheesy and inauthentic, too cookie cutter.

Which type are you?

Most people that I’ve worked with find themselves in Rachel’s camp or Tristan’s. For instance, my friend Aine and I are split along a similar axis. I could network and promote until the cows came home, and Aine excels at spending entire days writing one book after another. The trick is to find balance because we need both the introspective, intensely creative time and a strong self-promotion muscle.

If you’re a Rachel: You are operating with the belief that to create something will necessarily be hard and time consuming. You may go stir crazy sitting for hours at your desk. Here are some ideas for the Rachels of the world:

• Use audio or video. They less time to refine and produce than an ebook. For example, host a virtual summit of people with complementary expertises and interview them.
• Use transcription to write. Start with recordings of teleclasses or sessions with clients (change identifying details to protect privacy in the final edit).
• Get a sounding board. It’s important for this social type to be in conversation about her ideas. Enlist a buddy to be a brainstorming and accountability partner through the creation process.
• Shrink the project. More isn’t always better, as hard as it is to create something it’s as hard for people to make the time to consume it. Laser-focus your solutions to people’s problems, what is the smallest package you could use to deliver information?
• Define success. It’s hard to make time for a vague “something” that has an indefinite timeline or scope. What is the target dollar amount? How many products would you need to sell at each price point to reach your goal? Look at other products in your niche at each price point and get a feel for how much stuff you actually need to create.

If you’re a Tristan: it’s a matter of overcoming the feeling that sales is pushy.

• Remember people want and need your expertise. I argued with Tristan that so many people need the knowledge he has and can’t afford to work with him on a one-on-one basis. People need his advice and he has an obligation to package it for different price points.
• Sell in your own style. The super-long, hard-sell sales page is quickly becoming extinct and you can create a perfectly fine short one. There are many other ways to get your product in front of people who want and need solutions you can provide — guest posts, a “shop” on your site, as an offer you make to others’ audiences. Get creative and find what feels right.
• Build a team of affiliates. Affiliates are the secret-weapon of the reluctant marketer, Tristan could empower his affiliates to market on his behalf.
• Find a partner. The right JV can be a wonderful thing and I want to do a lot more of them. Find someone whose audience overlaps with yours, whose services and expertise are complementary and whose work and professional style you admire. Even if both of you are Tristans, it’s a relief and motivator to have a sounding board and someone to share the work with.

David Meerman Scott, marketing guru and author of World Wide Rave, believes strongly that you should give away your eBook for free, without requiring so much as an email address. Naomi Dunford of IttyBiz, marketing guru and co-author of How To Launch the S*** Out of Your eBook made $12,000+ in a day with the launch of a $37 eBook (hint: she tells you how to, too).

So what’s the answer?

The answer, as always, depends on who your market is and on who you are.

David wants to be recognized as a thought leader on viral marketing by C-level executives (CEOs, etc.). Naomi needed to pay her rent and had valuable, useful information to teach her loyal readers (ittybiz owners) in her irreverent way. David’s approach is a more global outreach, Naomi’s is laser-targeted.

David’s approach still leads to sales, albeit in an indirect way. By spreading his ideas far and wide he becomes a trusted expert on his niche, corporate marketing and PR.

Which approach makes the most sense for you and your goals? I’d love to know.