It’s been months in the making and now I’m down to the final two weeks before I release my ebook on international volunteering. I’m not exactly ready to launch the thing just yet, but a looming trip to Haiti means that if I don’t get it done and out there soon, I probably won’t be able to do it for months.

So with the pressure on I am working frantically here in Kuala Lumpur on all of those little jobs that seem to add up to a big job. I have a couple of friends proofreading the first draft while I continue to add a few more interviews and bits of information, I’m wracking my brain for a decent title, I’m attempting to come up with a passable design using my limited Photoshop skills, I’m trying to figure out a price and way to distribute it, and I’m trying my best to come up with marketing ideas and gain support from friends out there in Internetland to help create a buzz when it goes live.

As always, I’m turning to you guys for some advice and ideas.

Creative Stuff

My ebook needs a name! If you have been a reader of my blog for any length of time you will know that coming up with catchy titles for my posts isn’t my strong point and coming up with a good title is an even huger pain in the ass. The best I have so far is ‘The International Volunteering Handbook’. Concise, to the point but no points for flare or creativity. As for some sort of catchy tag line, I haven’t got any ideas. If there are any wordsmiths out there with an idea, I would love to hear it. I will pay you with endless amounts of gratitude and a free copy of a yet-to-be-titled ebook, written by me.

I’m a bit of a design junkie who has never quite made the transition to computers as a medium. I could whip up a cool design with paint on paper but ask me to do something with Photoshop and I will be left swearing at the computer screen because I can’t make it do what I want it to. I’m not sure if I want to invest in a design or just go it alone but if anyone has recommendations for PDF designers I would love to hear them. As it stands, Openoffice allows me to convert my documents to a PDF file and I think I have figured out which fonts I want and how to make things go where I want them to. I could do ok with this stuff on my own but the design freak in me wants to take things a step further.

Also, can anyone recommend software similar to this that will allow me to make an image that looks like a ‘real’ book for free or cheap?

Pricing

The whole idea for this ebook came about because I want to raise $10,000 for a good cause. The plan was to sell it for about $10 with 100% of the proceeds going to Hands On Disaster Response. Since that idea was born, the ebook has grown into something a lot longer and more involved than I had originally intended and it has eaten up a lot of my time at the expense of working on my websites. I have also just decided to head to Haiti to work with the organisation there and dropped an assload of money on plane tickets to get me there. With all that in mind, I’m thinking of going 50/50 with half of the revenue going to Hands On and half to the “Get Kirsty to Haiti Fund”, at least for the foreseeable future. I’m also thinking of upping the price to $14 based on the awesomeness of it.

How does all of this sound to you? Are the people who expressed interest in the ebook when the idea was $10 with 100% to charity still interested or does that change things? Do you think going 50/50 will put people off? Do you think web people will still help promote it, even though I won’t have an affiliate program? Is the price too high/too low for a 50+ page, straight-talking ebook with a bunch of interviews, a list of free a cheap volunteering opportunities, reviews of pay-to-see-the-listing type websites and a candid look at paying to volunteer among other things?

Marketing

I’m not much for marketing and self-promotion. I got made redundant from a job as a travel agent because I suck at sales and I can’t stand people and websites that are blatantly trying to sell me something. It seems like ebooks inspire people to put out those long, garish, one-page websites like this, this and this and I’m not sure I can bring myself to do one, even though they must work or why would people make them? Do you think a post on my blog about my ebook along with an image and blurb in the sidebar leading to that post is enough or should I go the whole hog and create a sales-y website and point people to that instead?

I’m also going to attempt to create a bit of a buzz when I launch the ebook and have gotten in touch with about 20 bloggers I really like who have expressed interest in reviewing the ebook or allowing me to write a guest post about international volunteering on their site with a link back to the ebook page. That’s pretty much all I’ve got. Other ideas would be appreciated.

Distribution

I plan on using E-Junkie to get the ebook out there. I’ve seen it used by loads of other people with ebooks and it seems easy. The only downside I can see is that it can only accept Paypal as payment. If Hands On get behind this a bit and let their volunteers know about it, I imagine many of them would want to pay with a creditcard. I’m not too sure how to deal with this except to have Hands On set something up on their website to accept payments. They said they would be willing to do this when 100% of the proceeds would be going to them but I’m not sure what the take on this would be with half going to me. I will email to find out but, in the meantime, can anyone suggest an ebook distribution site that allows Paypal and creditcards?

So that’s where I am with the ebook. I’m heading to bed now with lots of ideas in my head and two work-filled, Starbucks-sipping days ahead of me. I want to bang as many details out as I can in the next couple of days and get it done so I can spend at least a week marketing it before I head to Haiti.

Ideas? Comments? Ideas? Questions? Ideas?

Having a product for sale is a completely new thing for me and I’m excited to see where this goes and will share what I learn alog the way.

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One of the things on my life list is to raise $10,000 for a good cause and I have been thinking a lot about this goal recently. I’m in Indonesia at the moment working with a fantastic organisation and I would love to be able to throw some funds their way. I could do some crazy bike ride and look for sponsors, or canvas friends and family, or something along those lines but I’m not sure that’s the way. It seems like ebooks go over well and I think I have a few things to write about so maybe writing a short ebook is a good plan.

My idea bis to sell the book for $10 each. Well, not really sell it but give it away to people who make a minimum donation to a charity. I would set up an account through Just Giving or another similar online donation site and when I receive a donation above the specified amount, I will send out the book. My hope would be that if people are impressed either by the book or the cause they might give a bit more than the minimum, but that’s not something I would count on. So at $10 a book I would have to get 1,000 people to give the minimum donation to reach my goal. It seems like a huge number but not an impossible one, especially since I don’t really have a time limit in mind.
I think there are a lot of ebooks out there for sale and there are some for free so I’m not sure where mine would fit into the equation. I’m sort of in the early planning stages right now and I’m wondering if you guys think this is a good idea. People seem really interested in the type of lifestyle I’m living by earning money online so, while I don’t claim to be an expert, I do think that some people would be interested in knowing how I’ve managed to get where I am. Maybe a book that’s partly a guide on how I make money and part a motivational type book would go over well? Or something else?

Do you think this would be something people would be interested in enough to give $10 or more to charity? What sort of things would you like to see me write about? What would compel you to donate $10 to a good cause in exchange for an ebook?Would this be something you think the blogging community would pick up on and help me promote? Would you?

Any ideas and suggestions would be welcome!

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