It’s obvious to me – and, many of our readers – that at some stage, I am going to need to develop an eProduct (that’s AJC-speak for an ‘electronically delivered product) or series of products and turn the eBooks that I have developed so far into the ‘bonus materials’ and/or ‘teasers’ (to get people to cough up their e-mail addresses).
What I need to decide now is the order that I am going to do the following:
1. Develop the more expensive (to purchase) eProduct/s, and
2. Develop Stage 3 of my new ’secret system’ (well, ’secret’ until I dump it out in the open right here … tomorrow!).
There might be a way to do both: have an eLance contractor develop the new eProduct for me, while I take care of getting the new site up and running … but, that will cost – and, I need to decide if I should do that or try and follow the same process that others are likely to follow when they try all of this ‘on for size’ i.e. do it myself …
One of the considerations, therefore, is whether a ghostwriter can do the job; so, let’s ask a writer (!); Diane, who happens to also be one of my 7 Millionaires … In Training! (on my sister site: http://7m7y.com where we are just a few months into a 7 year ‘grand social experiment’ in millionaire-making), says:
Technically, I can write your book, Adrian. I think you need to look for a writer who can write a book that sells.
One area of blogs that I have been following for the past year are those of professional writers online…it does seem to be a natural place for them to be. Ask for writing samples from your ‘ghost writers’ – hopefully of things that have been published elsewhere, too.
Here are a few links to blogs that may be educational in your endeavor (sometimes it’s also more educational to click on links within writers’ blogs; this is how I found the first one today):
http://www.ehow.com/members/mrs75-articles.html
The second one has several articles that the freelance writer wrote about the field of freelance writing.
I really like the tip about asking for ‘PUBLISHED writing samples’ … because, as Diane says, “I think you need to look for a writer who can write a book that sells” and it took me a minute for that to sink in and what I think she meant to add was “… to publishers”?!
My thoughts were that I would write my own ‘books’ to be published in the physical world … I had toyed with the ‘ghostwriter’ idea for this, but I would prefer to do it myself – if I have sufficient talent … from an ‘authenticity’ and ethical standpoint.
The exception might be if I wanted to write a ‘fiction/parable-style’ book (I do, at least for my first ‘manifesto’) and had trouble with the more literary aspects of character/plot development … then I might go the ‘ghost/co-writer route’.
But, for a more ‘beefy’ eBook/eCourse – cobbled together from my existing blog posts – and, designed to be sold purely online for $30+, I would have no qualms asking a more ‘technical writer’-style ‘ghostwriter’ to assist me.
What do you think? What does everybody think?
5 responses so far ↓
Diane // November 4, 2008 at 12:25 am |
Good point about needing a writer who can sell your book to a publisher, but I was thinking of one who can sell it to the end-market, the reader. First things first, eh? Good point!
Debbie // November 4, 2008 at 12:36 am |
In my opinion & experience it’s the topic/subject matter that sells the book or “eproduct”- and of course, how well it’s marketed – not the writing of the product itself. (the sales letter is far more important in terms of quality writing than the product itself…)
The reader has no idea how great or … not great the writing of the book is until after they buy it. If it’s of reasonable quality – no one will complain as long as the content they’re after is there.
AJC // November 4, 2008 at 3:08 am |
@ Debbie – True; from a personal point of view, though, I wouldn’t be happy if I produced something that was merely ’saleable’ … also, I think that some people would still feel cheated if they got ‘gold’ but they paid $49.99 for 5 pages.
Diane // November 4, 2008 at 7:16 pm |
Maybe I’m not the average reader, but I read a lot and before I read someone’s book, I check out the middle, parts of the end, the cover write-ups, the bio, and what others say about it (sampling for the most part).
I look for readability and – in the case of one where the person is professing to be an expert of some kind – what their credentials are and what others who have read it seem to think of both the writing and the advice.
A poorly written book to me – particularly in the business world (where I would categorize something dealing with finance) – would signal an unorganized thinker. His/her results would not be considered typical or reproducible (which is what I think you’re going for, Adrian, to create the “process” and thereby prove that your resuts are reproducible under some set conditions, which hopefully are fairly typical or achievable by most people, or at least most of your target audience, which may be a select part of the population.
I agree about $49.99 for 5 pages. Even 5 pages may make some feel that they have been gypped (i.e., cheated), needing more details to feel that they have spent their time (=money) well.
There is another blog – written by the “well-fed writer” himself, who comes from the marketing/publicity side of business and apparently has the ability to make a living writing. He has an interesting story (and wrote some e-books to share what he did, too, for other writers to learn and follow). Here’s the link for his blog: http://www.wellfedwriter.com/blog/?p=31
AJC // November 4, 2008 at 7:48 pm |
@ Diane – Thanks for the comments and the link!