The last couple of weeks, the universe has offered up some business lessons to me like never before. It seems as if every client consultation, query or contact is a mini lesson in disguise.
No matter what you call it, eg — God, Allah, Jehovah, the Power Superior – I believe the universe serves up lessons. It’s up to us to recognize them for what they are and learn from them. So what am I babbling on about; what does this have to do with the title of this post?
How & Why I Talked a Client Out of Writing an Ebook
Monday afternoon I got a call from a potential client. She’d run across my website while doing some web surfing and inquired about my ebook writing service. She told me that she’s publishing an online magazine for African American women that focuses on finance. This of course includes credit, debt, home loans, etc.
She wanted to write an ebook on how to get out of debt. She told me that she wanted it to be 5-10 pages and wanted to know how much that would cost.
I told her to slow her roll (eg, scale back a bit). The reason is, in my experience, you can’t give anyone any meat in an ebook in 5-10 pages. And when customers order ebooks, they want meat, not fluff. This is why ebooks have such a bad reputation. Most are written by self-published authors who just gloss over a subject.
Why People Buy Ebooks
When customers buy a product, they have likely done some research and reading on the topic beforehand. The reason they’ll buy an ebook is to learn something that they don’t already know. This can rarely be done in 5-10 pages.
I went on to explain that a book on that broad of a topic could easily run a couple of hundred pages. So, I suggested that she produce several mini ebooks, ie, break that topic down into bite-size segments. For example, 3 Ways to Rebuild Your Credit after Bankruptcy. Now, this is an ebook that can easily be written in 25-40 pages that will have some real meat.
After I explained all of this, she decided to hold off, segment her topic more and get back to me.
Why You Shouldn’t Tell Potential Clients What They Want to Hear
So, what was my lesson in all of this? It really wasn’t new, but something I’ve practiced all along that was reinforced. And, that is to never tell clients what they want to hear. Tell them the truth. They’ll thank you for it in the long run — and give you more business.
This particular client had some website editing, newsletter writing and press releases she wants me to start on. All this is in addition to the line of ebooks she plans to produce — thanks to my in-depth consultation (we were on the phone for about half an hour).
When the universe speaks — whether it’s about ebook publishing or self awareness — listen. It often gives powerful messages – if you’re wise enough to listen and heed them.
Thanks for this, I am working on my first ebook at the moment. Great tips.
Cheers
The key there is "Being wise enough to listen". I've been on both sides (and in hindsight, I'm glad I was dumb enough NOT to listen, as the lessons learned most likely saved me huge amounts of agony in the future).
Great tips! Barbara
Good advice to your client. To many people go out and write an ebook that is 10-20pages. I honestly don't know why I would ever buy something that is 10pages long. It just doesn't seem like it could truly provide some in depth content that would be worth a price.
But I thought most ebooks were free, hence the popularity of them. A few backlinks in the pdf ebook as well mentions to the company/company website would be beneficial in terms of increasing popularity online and offline…so I'd recommend them.
I wish more people would heed your advice. I've purchased a handful of really good ebooks that were 10-15 pages but I've read probably hundreds that were mostly crap. I suppose it depends on your topic and the purpose of the ebook but I think in the majority of cases, 5-10 pages is just too short – especially when the author fills it with huge images and narrow margins!
I thought your SEO ebook was AMAZING! It was so inspirational and motivating. It was long but it really needed to be to get everything in there that needed saying. THAT'S the kind of ebook that people should be selling. Meat and no fluff, from beginning to end – and more than 10 pages!
Well I still have a while till I write my first book on robotics, but jopefully one day!
I think the trick is to be conscious about your future plans!
You can’t say now that every e-book is just a piece of crap. Things are going different from book to book, actually. I learned many things using e-books and I don’t even talk about the accessibility to read an electronically book.
Good advice.
I'm, working on ym first ebook at the moment and it is thanks to posts like this that will help me make it much better than it would have been.
@Barbara Ling: You are so right. I've learned TONS from not listening. Although when a message smacks me right in the face, I do try to listen up and not take the hard route.
@Cassie: Glad you enjoyed the SEO ebook. Hope your kiddies stopped fighting long enough for you to finish it!