One of the strategies I encourage attendees of my workshops or programmes to adopt is the creation of audio tutorials, special reports, white papers or e-books which they can use on their business blog or website to attract people to register for their ezine or newsletter.

E-books continue to be a popular marketing tool to attract more leads and more clients as the investment you need to create them is minimal - you can use Word or PowerPoint (or the equivalent if you are using a Mac) to create the document and then use a PDF creator to create the copy you make available on your website or business blog.

Many people decide to create their e-book themselves without employing a designer to format the final version and create a professional layout and that’s not a problem.

 However if you are going to layout and format your ebook yourself here are five keys to remember to ensure that your e-book will look professional and be on-brand:

1. Colourful Pages - use colour sparingly when formatting your e-book. Absolutely make sure that the colours you use connect with your corporate brand so that it looks consistent.However your readers will not thank you when you have lots of colour in your e-book, and even worse if whole of the background of your ebook in a solid colour. Many people print e-books and they don’t like the expense or time that it takes to print a document in colour.
2. Let Your Copy Breath - as we continue to be bombarded with information, increasingly as readers and consumers of information we scan information.

   Format your e-book so that it is easy on the eye with lots of white space, perhaps using ‘call outs’ to focus your e-book readers on key points you want to make or quotes and use bulleted lists to help your copy breath.

3. Add Page Numbers - as your e-book streams off the printer, it’s easy for the pages to get muddled up.

   An often forgotten tip is the adding of page numbers to the header or footer of your e-book, making it easy for your reader to put them back in order when they drop the pages of your e-book.

4. Check Your Links - one of the benefits of writing an ebook versus a traditional book is that you can easily create active links to web pages in your e-book.Many e-book authors use this as an opportunity to include links to pages on their website or business blog for more information or even to affiliate programmes they participate in that provide resources and products or programmes the readers of their ebook will find of benefit.

   If you do decide to create links in your e-book, before you publish it online, be sure to check that the links still work to maximise the opportunity of people being able to click through to your links and eliminate the customer service emails you will receive from readers of your e-book advising you that your links in your e-book do not work.

5. Promote Your Brand - if your e-book is printed and then people come back to review it in several months or even years time, are you confident that they will know how to find you if they want to connect with you the ebook author for more information, advice or tips?

   Don’t forget to add your web address to the footer of your e-book and in the back pages of your e-book, use the opportunity to provide people with information on how to find our more about your programmes, products or services.

Apply these tips and your e-book will look professional and on-brand. Of course the copy in your e-book needs to be top class, expressing your expertise and thought leadership in your field. But remember that people often judge a book by it’s cover. Don’t let your e-book, special report or white paper readers be put off reading the quality content due to poor formatting of your e-book.

What tips do you have for others for formating e-books so they are professional and on-brand?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

If you are an e-book author or an author of a traditional book, don’t forget to check out the details of the forthcoming workshop taking place in Dublin on the 7 June 2008, hosted by Font Literary Agency about Online Marketing, Publicity and Promotion for your book or e-book. Readers of Biz Growth News and my Biz Growth Community can register to access a discount - you can find all the details here.

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If you are writing articles online on your website or business blog, I am sure there are times that you want to link definitions of some of the words that you include in your articles.

Like many people you might be using Wikipedia, however despite their coverage of many terms and definitions, and their editing and approval policy, many people are concerned about how robust the definitions are.

On the other hand the Encylopaedia Britiannica has a reputation spanning back to 1768 when it was first published in Scotland - back then in three separate volumes. You might even recall growing up if you a a Gen X’er or Baby Boomer some friends who were lucky enough to have a set of Encylopaedia Britannica in their home study.

Well if you are a web publisher or a blogger, you can now apply for complementary access to their programme called WebShare, where you can link from your articles on line to the definition on Encyclopaedia Britannica.

You can apply for a free pass - be aware that this is a manual process as all applications will be approved and it took 5 working days for my account to be approved.

This is tremendous value as you can purchase the 32 volume Britannica, which has 65,000 articles and 44 million words, for US$1,400 or you can access it on the web for US$70 per year - and if you apply through the Webshare programme you can have FREE access for 12 months.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica Webshare programme has been supported by Shel Holtz who has been guiding the Encylopaedia Britannica team about how best to connect to bloggers about the programme. Encyclopaedia Britannica has even set up a Twitter account.

Not everyone has been complementary about the launch of the programme, however I do think it is worth considering if you are a web publisher or blogger.

Some suggestions I would have for Enclyclopaedia Britannica to further enhance the programme:

• Advise people at the time of registration that it may take a week for the account to be approved - in todays high speed world, that seemed so long to wait I had forgotten I had applied for access
• Review your website structure - it takes a while for the pages on Encyclopaedia Britannica to load and the frames for scrolling are definately not user friendly for those of us used to quick and easy access to information online
• Update your definitions especially relating to Web 2.0 - you have made the service available to bloggers and many of us may be writing articles about Web 2. I could not find definitions online authored by Encyclopaedia Britannica relating to word searches for social media, podcasting, widget - to name but a few. It seems to me that it would have been an astute online editor that would have ensured that definitions were available for these - and perhaps they might have collaborated with Wikipedia to come up with these terms.

However in summary a great programme to have access to and definatley one worth applying for registration if you are a web publisher or blogger.

And to support users, Encylopaedia Britannica has created a video about how to link your article online to the definition on Webshare. You can view it here:

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Last month I celebrated (very quietly - in fact blink and it passed) 18 years of marriage!

One of the things that we all receive as a wonderful gift when getting married is the gift of parents in law and brothers and sisters in law. But how often have you thought that you chose your loved one but not their family.

So how would it be if your mother in law were your friend? In fact your mother in law may already be your friend. But if you are not enjoying the best of relatonships, I’ve got the answer for you.

Today is the book launch of  ‘The Daughter-in-Law Rules:101 Surefire Ways to Manage (and Make Friends with) Your Mother-in-Law!’.

Talented Jazz Musician and Composer Sally Shields is author of a new book called ‘The Daughter In Law Rules’.

To celebrate the book launch today, 6 May 2008, if you purchase the book at Amazon you can also access a number of gifts at no cost from friends of Sally. 101 to be exact - the same number of tips as are in her book.

And for my male readers - this is NOT the book to buy your wife as a present for Mothers Day in the US next week - you have been warned. I am not saying it’s not a great book, just that the mother to your children may not appreciate it in the spirit it was given! A wonderful bunch of flowers, a dinner in fancy restaurant or a day without the kids bickering would be much more welcome (just in case my husband is reading this).

Purchase your copy of ‘The Daughter in Law Rules’ TODAY ONLY (6 May 2008) and you can have access to the 101 gifts from relationship advice experts and success coaches from around the world, as well as 1-800-Flowers.com with a unique promotional code created specifically for this book.

In addition, 15% of the proceeds of this book go to the charity ‘Much Love’.

I definitely recommend you visit Sally’s website - it’s a very engaging design. And take a look here  at how she is using the social media platform of YouTube.com to share her video with tips from The DIL Rules book - and yes she composed and plays the background music herself - how’s that for talent!

And don’t forget that if you would like to know more about how you can create, promote and market your book online with social media, you can join me at the forthcoming workshop in Dublin for authors - check details here for how you can avail of a special discount as a reader of Biz Growth News.

UPDATE AS AT 11 MAY 2008

Please note that the comments on this post are closed due to some disputes relating to this book and I do not plan to engage in any email or online conversation about the publishing of this book or it’s contents.

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Are you authoring your business book or novel or perhaps you are writing your book at this time and are wondering how you can reach more potential readers through low cost strategies?

Then you won’t want to miss the live event being hosted by  Font Literary Agency who are based in Dublin.

Here are the event details - make sure that you read on to find details of how you can access a discount as a member of the Biz Growth Community as I am one of the speakers.

EVENT: Reaching Readers: Online Publicity And Promotion for Writers And Books

LOCATION: Dublin

DATE: Saturday, June 7th 2008

TIME:  9.30am to 5pm

INVESTMENT: €140 per person for members of the Biz Growth Community (Regular Price €165 per person) - just let them know you read Biz Growth News.

AGENDA 

09.15:  Registration

09.30:  Reaching Readers: Why Writers Need Publicity 

11.00:  Becoming A Household Name: The Author as Brand

13.30:  Writing for the Web

16.00: The Virtual Book Tour

17.00:  Finish

Book your place at the Online Marketing, Publicity And Promotion Workshop for authors today.

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You might recall that Sheri McConnell joined us a couple of weeks ago for our Biz Growth Live call.

Last week she hosted a global event with her organisation The National Association of Women Writers (NAWW).

If you are writing your business book or perhaps even a novel, I certainly recommend that you head on over to the web page for the event, as by submitting your name and email address you will get FREE access to a 20 page workbook and audio’s of the seminars:

• Secrets to Getting Celebrity Endorsements: How To Get Fabulous Celebrity Endorsements for Your Business, Your Book and Your Products
• Standing Ovation: How to Own the Platform
• Hire Your Very Own Journal Keeper for Expanding Your Creative Voice
• Copyright And Your Creativity
• Creating Your Memoir
• Creativity on Call-Become a More Productive Writer.

So if you are an aspiring author or working on a book project, make sure that you head on over to the NAWW global telesummit and download the resources.

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