Need Some "How To" E-Book Ideas In Hungry Markets

[Steven Parker]

I'll be making a progress thread as soon as I get an idea for an e-book to write and sell. If you read my other thread then you'll know that I'm 40 and have hit rock bottom financially and just about every other thing too.

It's a great new opportunity though - to do things right this time.

Anyways, I've sold a few hundred thousand dollar's worth of a "How To Start A Blog" ebook back in 2009 and it sold for a year or so after that (until it got totally outdated).

So I know how to get info and write a good book when I have an idea.

Now I'd like to give myself a 30 day challenge to pick 1 idea, write the book (7 days) and make sales.

I don't have money for marketing so I'll have to go the "free route" (articles, forums, etc.).

Ok...

Ideas? And what advice can you give to find them.

Thanks in advance. I'm slowly getting out of my depression and just need to get working on a simple how-to course to get my brain and blood flowing again.

Thank you all for the wonderful forum. I can't wait to afford the INSIDERS's fee.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Steven Parker]

Wow I just found this interview here - very exciting.

http://www.stansberryradio.com/Jame...To-Go-From-0-40-000-a-Month-Writing-From-Home

I guess I'm just looking to first know where to find ideas.

And also, should I go amazon or not? I sold my blogging book on my own site (and it sold for $75).

 

[pickeringmt]

uhhhhhhhhhh
How To Write and Sell A Few Hundred Thousand Dollars Worth of Ebooks

 

[OnlineGodfather]

So from what you wrote i got this, you made an ebook, were seling it quite good since it seems you made good money, spend all of the money i pressume since you dont have any money for marketing it which i highly doubt since facebook really doesnt need big budgets to test things out and now you are here waiting for someone to gie you ideas for new book to do the same again?

Did i miss something? Am i tottaly wrong?

But here are the ideas that need to get some proper minds to go into(taken from Ryan Allis 1,284 slides):

Energy & Environment: solar, wind, biofules, sustainable city planning,
Health & Wellness: syntehtic biology, brain mapping, optogenetics, personalized medicine, reverse aging, bionic eyesight, low cost sanitation, mindfulness training,
Financial Access: mobile banking, frontier market finance, digital currency, digital wallets,
Food & Water: synthetic food production, vertical farming, agTech, water desalination
Engineering: clean transportation, self-driving cars, robotics, space exploration, 3d printing, nanotechnology, long life batteries, low cost housing,
Computing: quantum computing, converged smartphones, data storage on DNA, artifical intelligence, contact lens smartphones, natural user interfaces, government 2.0, cybersecurity, climate engineering, wearable computers&HUDs, internet of things
Education: cloud education, low cost schooling, leadership training, network building,

Beside that, you can always start writing ebooks on how to make money, fitness, diet, etc.. evergreen niches.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Steven Parker]

uhhhhhhhhhh
How To Write and Sell A Few Hundred Thousand Dollars Worth of Ebooks

1 major reasons: Honesty - I can never lie for money again.

The whole book was a lie. Yes it was GREAT, but I was selfish and full of shit. I started threads in forums all over the place of my blog was making $XX,XXX a month and it stirred a whole lot of buzz.

But it was a lie.

I never had a blog, never even built one up until then.

I was doing a social experiment and before I knew it I was getting a ton of pressure to write and sell a book on how I did it.

Then it gets worse. The book was 150 pages of stuff I just ripped from other marketers.

I still feel terrible about it. For example when it came to writing blog content for SEO, I just bought a bunch of other "guru" ebooks on SEO and content and just rewrote it in my words. I did this for everything in the book.

I could never write a "How To" book with these instructions.

I will never be dishonest again, never. I'm ashamed, lost sleep and karma came back to bite me in the a$$ now. But like I said, it's a new start. I have another chance to learn from my mistakes.

PLEASE DON'T HATE - I'M BEING VERY HONEST HERE AND HAVE PAID MY DUES FOR SUCH BAD KARMA, NOW I'M TRYING TO DO THINGS RIGHT THIS TIME.

 

[tekcraze]

I think you are being too hard on yourself...you provided information that people found valuable enough to exchange money for. If you want to move away from "make money online" type of stuff, that is fine but don't beat yourself up so much about it. There are a lot of scammy things out there in that niche and a lot of people do a lot worse, bringing in many multiples more money.

I do agree that taking other people's content and claiming it as your own was unethical but a lot of the knowledge in the niche is regurgitated anyway so it probably wasnt totally original content. Still no excuse but don't let the past affect your future. Learn from it and move on.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

 

[SeanKelly]

What you've accomplished in the past is impressive, but honestly I think you should look into other opportunities. It seems like everyone nowadays is trying to make their fortunes by writing and selling the next great ebook, white labeling a supplement, or importing from alibaba and selling on amazon. However, even if they do find success it usually comes to an abrupt end when competitors catch on or the current trends change. Build a business that will last and provide you with freedom for years to come. Quick money is not always a good thing.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MattL]

Just a thought...

Like other people have said, e-books are very much a "me-too" business and I think it's safe to say that the market is heavily saturated.....for books written in English...

Have You thought about writing a book in English and then paying someone to translate it to some other language...? Where the market isn't as saturated as it is in English.

You can probably find some cheap freelancers on sites like Odesk, Elance, Freelancer.com or Fiverr...

 

[Lex DeVille]

This is the slowlane and he already said he's rock bottom financially. For that reason I think writing an ebook is a great place to start. As for the topic? I suggest starting with something you know about. How about an ebook on how to write an ebook and fail epically. Or an ebook on how to make a $100k and lose it very fast. Find something you have knowledge of and put a twist on it. Get a little creative.

If you need money then you need to start writing ASAP because it takes 60 days from your first sale to even get money on Amazon. There are plenty of threads in the self-publishing section that will help you with ideas for free marketing, genre selection and more, so get over there and start reading. The questions you're asking have already been answered several times over.

Forget depression because there's no room for it if you want to succeed. Browse the how-to section at Amazon and see what else is selling. Then write something similar. Realize that it will probably take a couple months to build up a semi-full to full-time income, but if you're willing to put in the time and effort the chances are good that you'll be rewarded.

Are ebooks Fastlane? That's debatable, but Self-Publishing is a path to the Fastlane, if you're willing to figure out how to give people what they want.

 

[Lauryn]

Everything @SinisterLex said.

ETA: Google EasyPLR and look up Google Trends. Also look at top nonfiction books on Amazon. What strikes your interests enough to spend hours compiling notes in the bookstore and library?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Jonleehacker]

Find a problem that people are willing to pay to have solved. (hint: Top 100 lists in non-fiction on Amazon). Write a unique/better book showing how to solve that problem, preferably from personal experience. Promote.

 

[pickeringmt]

Dude, a desire to be ethical is great, but it is silly to think that you need to reinvent the wheel to write a how to book

I am sure that your process really wasn't much different than every other author out there.

 

[AllenCrawley]

I think you are being too hard on yourself...you provided information that people found valuable enough to exchange money for.

Uh, no. He made that money in part by being dishonest and outright lying. He should be hard on himself. He's learned a lesson and is better for it.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MJ DeMarco]

The whole book was a lie. Yes it was GREAT, but I was selfish and full of shit. I started threads in forums all over the place of my blog was making $XX,XXX a month and it stirred a whole lot of buzz.
But it was a lie.
I never had a blog, never even built one up until then.

Ahh, relax -- some of the lurkers around here might just call that good marketing.

PLEASE DON'T HATE - I'M BEING VERY HONEST HERE AND HAVE PAID MY DUES FOR SUCH BAD KARMA, NOW I'M TRYING TO DO THINGS RIGHT THIS TIME.

I commend you for that. Thank you for sharing your challenge.

 

[Tlcalis]

I'm doing something similar at the moment here's some ideas

Health information
Nutrition
Herbs
Exercise
Yoga

Business tips
Home Business
Marketing
Sales
How to save money

How to be a better leader
How to be a better manager

Dating
How to have a better marriage

Sex tips

How to improve your communication skills

Public speaking


How to stop smoking

How to fish
Billiards
Racquetball
how to bowl
how to golf
tennis

Dog training
Horse training
How to get your parrot to talk


Gambling
Poker
Graps
Dice Games
How to win at the races
Chess
Bridge

Astrology

Calligraphy

How to cope with alzheimers

Time management

Goal setting

How to study how to do well in school how to cheat in school how to have an easier school/college life


How to have a better memory

How to speedread

How to copywrite

 

[MJ DeMarco]

But it was a lie.
I never had a blog, never even built one up until then.
I was doing a social experiment and before I knew it I was getting a ton of pressure to write and sell a book on how I did it.
Then it gets worse. The book was 150 pages of stuff I just ripped from other marketers.

Perhaps you can write about your awakening? Come clean with what you did? What you learned? How you did it? Why you did it? And why you are now seeking a different path? "How I Fooled The World... And Why I Ended Up the Fool"

Your experience is usually a great basis to write passionately.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[John Page]

Just a thought...

Like other people have said, e-books are very much a "me-too" business and I think it's safe to say that the market is heavily saturated.....for books written in English...

Have You thought about writing a book in English and then paying someone to translate it to some other language...? Where the market isn't as saturated as it is in English.

You can probably find some cheap freelancers on sites like Odesk, Elance, Freelancer.com or Fiverr...

I never thought of such an obvious idea.

I speak and read/write English as a second language. But Spanish is my native language. I'm writing an ebook on physical self-maintenance and now that you mention this, I think I could write it in both (I'll need someone to proofread the English version, I suck at it).

I have no idea if there is a market for ebooks in Spanish though... Will check it out.

I just wanted to thank you for the idea.

 

[chrischapman]

1 major reasons: Honesty - I can never lie for money again.

The whole book was a lie. Yes it was GREAT, but I was selfish and full of shit. I started threads in forums all over the place of my blog was making $XX,XXX a month and it stirred a whole lot of buzz.

But it was a lie.

I never had a blog, never even built one up until then.

I was doing a social experiment and before I knew it I was getting a ton of pressure to write and sell a book on how I did it.

Then it gets worse. The book was 150 pages of stuff I just ripped from other marketers.

I still feel terrible about it. For example when it came to writing blog content for SEO, I just bought a bunch of other "guru" ebooks on SEO and content and just rewrote it in my words. I did this for everything in the book.

I could never write a "How To" book with these instructions.

I will never be dishonest again, never. I'm ashamed, lost sleep and karma came back to bite me in the a$$ now. But like I said, it's a new start. I have another chance to learn from my mistakes.

PLEASE DON'T HATE - I'M BEING VERY HONEST HERE AND HAVE PAID MY DUES FOR SUCH BAD KARMA, NOW I'M TRYING TO DO THINGS RIGHT THIS TIME.

mate, you provided serious value.

people bought your book. some started an online business. im sure you impacted a lot of people (if you made 100000s of dollars) and no doubt, you helped change somebody's life.

if you can change someone's life for the better, then don't feel bad about it. focus on the helping you've done. anyway, no one here can be your fastlance surrogate.

what can you write of value? what do you know a lot about?

 

[chrischapman]

I have no idea if there is a market for ebooks in Spanish though... Will check it out.

if there isn't a market now, there WILL be. english is the market ahead of all other markets on the internet. publishing content in another language - especially a relatively minor language - is a huge boon for your market dominance. [HASHTAG]#entrycommandment[/HASHTAG]

i hope to break into the Spanish market in the next couple of years once I'm more adroit with Spanish after living in South america.

why? There are A LOT of niches that are saturated in English that are virgin territory in Spanish, and this is SO MUCH MORE TRUE for smaller languages which don't now have such a large internet presence.

get in now while it's relatively easy. i know I will shortly - once i can actually use the language in the way i need to lol

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[John Page]

if there isn't a market now, there WILL be. english is the market ahead of all other markets on the internet. publishing content in another language - especially a relatively minor language - is a huge boon for your market dominance. [HASHTAG]#entrycommandment[/HASHTAG]

i hope to break into the Spanish market in the next couple of years once I'm more adroit with Spanish after living in South america.

why? There are A LOT of niches that are saturated in English that are virgin territory in Spanish, and this is SO MUCH MORE TRUE for smaller languages which don't now have such a large internet presence.

get in now while it's relatively easy. i know I will shortly - once i can actually use the language in the way i need to lol

Great! Good luck with your Spanish language endeavors.

 

[chrischapman]

Great! Good luck with your Spanish language endeavors.

haha thanks. writing spanish to make $$ is definitely not my main goal, mainly a byproduct of me learning Spanish. Prinicpally i want to learn it so i can live in a south american country where the lifestyle is great/cheap and people are nice. I don't really like Western culture for various reasons and prefer to live somewhere else than Australia or UK/USA/Canada - theyre all the same imo.

 

[Javier]

Doesn't matter what the book is about, gotta be able to market it. Everything is mega-saturated now. People don't easily shell out cash for online courses like they used to. Don't think Spanish is a piece of cake either and the target audience is much poorer.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Javier]

Ah yeah, like someone else said, don't look for a cashcow ebook, build a lasting presence in something.

 

[Marcel1986]

True... Spanish is saturated and german is saturated with ebooks as well. And most people even offer their ebooks for free. So it will be even harder to make people pay for then

 

[Ing]

What you've accomplished in the past is impressive, but honestly I think you should look into other opportunities. It seems like everyone nowadays is trying to make their fortunes by writing and selling the next great ebook, white labeling a supplement, or importing from alibaba and selling on amazon. However, even if they do find success it usually comes to an abrupt end when competitors catch on or the current trends change. Build a business that will last and provide you with freedom for years to come. Quick money is not always a good thing.

TIMELESS

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.