Writing Ebooks - How to Choose a Topic for Your Next Ebook

One of the biggest problems that any non-fiction writer has is to choose a topic for their next eBook. How can you do it and be sure that your reader will want to read it? After all, if your reader is not interested in the topic they are never going to pick up your book to read it. Literally, pick it up in the case of a printed book and theoretically, in the case of an eBook.

It may seem like an insurmountable problem but it really isn't.

The solution is to create a marketing plan for your eBook. Part of that plan will include choosing the topic for your book. There are four main methods you can use to ensure that your book is well received. Each is used for a different purpose and under different conditions.

The first method is used when you are first starting to build an eBook business. It is sometimes referred to erroneously as choosing your niche. However, it is really a matter of mixing niche marketing and micro marketing. It begins by micro-marketing. In other words, you choose a market or product that you wish to write in. Then you begin to compress that market until you have a small topic that you will address. For example, you might choose to sell into the money market and eventually pick a micro-market of building an information marketing business. In internet marketing, this is typically accompanied by identifying a niche or target customer. You then identify a problem your target customer might have and a solution to that problem. This solution becomes your topic.

The next method occurs when you've begun to build your business but you're customer list is still quite small. In this case, you can examine your solution and then determine the next place your customer will have a problem. This becomes your next topic. This method works well if you know your topic well or better still know your target customer. However, it is always possible that you will guess wrong. Your customers may not experience the problem in the same place as you predict. In that case, your customers won't be interested in reading your eBook. You'll have failed.

The third customer based method is to simply ask your customers where they are having problems. What is it that is preventing them from progressing? The solution to that problem becomes the topic for your next eBook or course. This works best if you have a large number of customers and if it is built into your email marketing campaign.

The fourth method is used when you are not building a business using eBooks. Rather it is used when you are building a business out of writing eBooks. These eBooks are typically being sold for the Kindle or iPad platforms using Amazon or the iBookstore. They tend to be independent and your focus is less focused on relationships with your customers. In fact, it's simply an internet version of the traditional book selling industry. In that case, you don't have customers. To make up for that fact, you can use Google to identify potential keywords or questions that your readers will be looking for answers to.

Creating An E-Book Cover - How To Get Your Professional E-Book Cover Designed For Only $5 At Fiverr

A colorful, professional e-book cover will help your new e-book stand out from the competition in the Amazon Kindle E-Book Store. When your e-book stands out, you sell more e-books. When you sell more e-books, you are very happy.

So if you want to be happy, don't skimp on a good e-book cover. Even if you have zero skills designing anything, for as little as $5 you can hire a professional designer on Fiverr to supply you with an e-book cover that will boost your sales quickly.

Fiverr.com is a very popular "micro-job" website featuring gigs encompassing a whole host of services -- writing, reviews, advertising, video, sending Twitter announcements -- but most importantly for you, there are skilled, qualified art designers who are a whiz at cranking out good looking e-book covers. All gigs are for sale for just $5. It's a bargain.

People selling their services on Fiverr -- or offering "gigs" -- briefly tell what they will do for the standard $5 fee. Most explain their offer in less than 50 words. They state what they'll do, how quickly they'll do it, and most add phrases like, "Will make changes to make you happy."

Some have accumulated enough positive reviews that Fiverr allows them to post "Related Gigs" -- these are add-ons or additional related services they can provide you, sometimes for $10 or $20.

If you've ever gotten frustrated dealing with a graphic designer who thinks you're wrong and they're always right, you'll appreciate this.

To hire one of these designers, create a free account at Fiverr.com.

Type "eBook covers" into the search box at the top of the page.

Sort the results by "Ratings." This will give you highly-recommended graphic artists listings. The good ones will prominently display their past work for your review.

Read through the reviews. Stay away from those who have lots of negative reviews.

It's not a bad idea to try someone just starting out. You'll be helping a fellow internet marketer get a foothold and build their portfolio, and you'll only be risking $5 if the project doesn't live up to your expectations. I'm betting, though, that you'll be satisfied.

Pick the "Gig" you like. You can send an email clarifying what work they will, won't or can't do. Once you're certain that you've found a good match, you can "Buy" the gig. You'll be directed to a PayPal checkout page to submit your $5 payment direct to Fiverr. They hold it in an account, and when the gig is completed, the graphic artist gets paid $4. Fiverr keeps $1 of the transaction.

Many of the good graphic artists will request information from you like:

What message are you trying to convey? Who is the target market? Do you want graphics included, or just words typeset on the cover?

You can send in a rough layout of your own. I'd recommend just letting their imagination take over. You can always request minor changes -- center this, change color of that -- although I wouldn't recommend making major changes to wording or switch from simple lettering only to full-blown graphics design at this point.

The e-book cover image is then posted to your Fiverr account dialogue page often that same day -- allowing you easy access to download it and then upload to the website where your e-book is being sold. Just be aware that Fiverr actively discourages direct communications between buyers and sellers, probably to prevent them circumventing the Fiverr system. Accounts can be closed for violations of the website's terms.

Time is money, and spending just 10 minutes finding and hiring a professional graphic arts designer for only $5 on Fiverr is a good way for you to keep more of both!

Point to Point Vs Spoke and Hub? Air Taxi

Boeing it is said took a big gamble in predicting the future of air travel. Instead of going bigger like Airbus and building an aircraft like the A380, the biggest airliner ever built; The Boeing Company decided to go for a more efficient smaller aircraft with better materials and better range. It worked and sales are really going strong for Boeing. The economists in the commercial aviation business were watching the trends and they agreed.

So what is the future of passenger air travel; Airborne Taxi? Point to point, Scrub the spoke and wheel? Is it real or more PR for hopes of revitalizing the aviation sector in the United States? Does it matter, the new deal is point to point which we have seen coming for about five years now. Actually ten if you look at the pre-sort of P-1 and P-2 freight at the Fed Ex Terminals. Pre-sort before it goes to the hub in Memphis means less cost and more profitable flights. It seems now this newest theory is being used everywhere again. Even in container shipments are being moved this way, and there is even a study at the World Bank discussing this issue.

If you can cut out the middleman by way of computerized logistics you can see the benefit. It appears that the computer industry has something to do with organizational theory of the flow of transportation as well. There has been much talk about this and those airlines with smaller hubs or multi-hubs and most like point to point did best in the recession and during the 9-11 downturn. The winners in the airline sector used point to point strategies to stay ahead of their competitors; Jet Blue and South West Airlines among the best examples of this.

Now Air Taxi business is coming into play as an extension of the fractional jet market. After 9-11 we saw a big boost in chartered aircraft for top executives as the lines and hassles created by the TSA were unnerving to say the least. More executives and wealthy families traveling this way provided greater volume and economies of scale and thus spurred on the market when other commercial aviation sectors were hit hard by 9-11. The trend is continuing and we are seeing a whole new wave and revival in commercial aviation. Think on this.

Private Jet Ownership Indeed

Wouldn't you like to own your own private jet? Have you ever thought about it? Many of us have and you know what it is not all that expensive as you might think after all. Private jet ownership is really taking off these days. As a matter of fact manufacturers of business aircraft are quite happy with the market sector and most are completely bullish on their future prospects in the industry.

There is much interest in the private transportation sector and jet aircraft business. Fractional Jet ownership has never been easier. While we are nearing the top of a classic business cycle we see good economic conditions. Business Jet sales and fractional ownership continue to rise; in fact one aircraft manufacturing in a press release stated that they predict; "8,300 business jet purchases worldwide through 2014, valued at more than $131 billion" and are reading themselves now to take advantage of it. No city in America could be more thrilled with that kind of news than Wichita Kansas.

In another recent industry press release it stated; "The industry's most seasoned advisors will convene once again at Strategic Research Institute's 10th Annual Corporate Aircraft Transactions, July 11-12, in New York City, to bring you up-to-date on current issues affecting business aviation today and introduce tools and techniques needed to advance your knowledge in the corporate jet acquisition and financing process." Federal Aviation regulations and Part 135 have changed a bit and seem to be moving towards working with the market place to insure continuation of this private jet trend. Fractional Jet ownership has never been easy. Where would you like to fly today? Think about it.

Private Jet Ownership Indeed

Wouldn't you like to own your own private jet? Have you ever thought about it? Many of us have and you know what it is not all that expensive as you might think after all. Private jet ownership is really taking off these days. As a matter of fact manufacturers of business aircraft are quite happy with the market sector and most are completely bullish on their future prospects in the industry.

There is much interest in the private transportation sector and jet aircraft business. Fractional Jet ownership has never been easier. While we are nearing the top of a classic business cycle we see good economic conditions. Business Jet sales and fractional ownership continue to rise; in fact one aircraft manufacturing in a press release stated that they predict; "8,300 business jet purchases worldwide through 2014, valued at more than $131 billion" and are reading themselves now to take advantage of it. No city in America could be more thrilled with that kind of news than Wichita Kansas.

In another recent industry press release it stated; "The industry's most seasoned advisors will convene once again at Strategic Research Institute's 10th Annual Corporate Aircraft Transactions, July 11-12, in New York City, to bring you up-to-date on current issues affecting business aviation today and introduce tools and techniques needed to advance your knowledge in the corporate jet acquisition and financing process." Federal Aviation regulations and Part 135 have changed a bit and seem to be moving towards working with the market place to insure continuation of this private jet trend. Fractional Jet ownership has never been easy. Where would you like to fly today? Think about it.

A Look at Fractional Jet Ownership

We've all experienced it - the commercial flight. After a mad dash to make it to the airport on time, including the hours allotted for getting through security, where you'll have to take off your shoes, empty your pockets, and prove that your laptop is not a bomb, you sit and wait for a couple hours before they decide to start boarding, and give you the privilege of sitting in the cramped seat that you paid a couple hundred dollars for.

The mega-rich have always had the option of private aircraft available to them. If you're Donald Trump, you can think nothing of equipping yourself with a Boeing 727 that costs probably close to $50 Million (not including the costs of pilots, flight attendants, support staff, insurance, fuel, maintenance, etc.). For others, however, the idea of a private jet has been outside the realm of possibility. An exciting concept in private aviation, however, is allowing private jet travel to make more sense for those who have seriously considered it as a possibility.

Fractional jet ownership is a fairly new concept. It is based on the idea that an individual can purchase a fraction of a plane, and pay management and operation fees to a company that will be responsible for safety, pilot training, hiring of crew, and all those other things that you don't want (or wouldn't know how) to deal with. Fractional ownership can substantially cut the costs of owning your own aircraft.

Fractional jet ownership is provided by a number of companies, including Cessna's CitationShares, Bombardier's Flexjet, and NetJets, the company that started the trend. As consumer interest in fractional jet ownership has increased, so has the competition between these companies. CitationShares and Flexjet are owned by aircraft manufacturers, their respective fleets composed mainly (if not entirely) of the planes they make. NetJets, on the other hand features a broader spectrum of aircraft, and is the industry leader. As such, that's who we'll be focusing on today.

It is true that the fractionals substantially cut the costs related to owning an aircraft. That's not to say that private jet ownership is for everyone, however. The primary target of the fractionals consists of those who have considered owning (or sharing) a jet, but found the arrangements too complicated or expensive to justify, as well as those who are used to first class air travel, but want to make a step up. The fractionals are also an attractive deal for mid-sized companies who need the convenience of a private aircraft without the premium price. According to NetJets's website, purchasing a 1/8 share in a Raytheon Hawker 400XP would set you back $793,750 plus a $10,582 monthly maintenance fee, and an hourly charge of $1,501. That 1/8 share works out to about 100 occupied hours per year. Yeah, it's expensive, but when you consider the price of seven first class tickets from New York to Miami, it suddenly becomes more reasonable. In fact, as a little experiment, I attempted to get the price on such a flight on very short notice. NetJets claims that your plane will be waiting on the tarmac within 6-12 hours notice. With a commercial carrier, I was unable to find a next-day flight, I was unable to find first class seating, and on one airline, I was informed that a return flight wouldn't be available until a week after the date I requested. If short notice flights are commonplace in your life, NetJets offers the solution.

Let's say, however, that you aren't interested in a small aircraft like the 400XP. What if you want something that can fly from New York to London non-stop? Well, just step into one of NetJets's large cabin aircraft. If you are lucky enough to afford these multi-million dollar jets, you will enjoy the highest degree of luxury. The Gulfstream 550, for example, is the latest and greatest in Gulfstream's line of long-haul private aircraft. Aboard, you will find a satellite telephone, video monitors, a DVD entertainment system, data ports, a fax machine, and whatever else you need to run your operations (or enjoy some well-deserved down time) at 30,000 ft. Naturally, the Gulfstream 550 also offers a full service galley, as well as a flight attendant for you and 13 others.

The final frontier in fractional ownership is the Boeing Business Jet (BBJ). If you've ever flown on Boeing's popular line of 737 airliners, you know how big the BBJ is. That's because the BBJ is actually a gutted 737, which is then outfitted with the latest in in-flight luxury. In fact, the BBJ is even available with a boardroom, bedrooms, and a shower. Yeah..... a shower. Nothing says success like the ability to roll out of bed, take a shower, eat a nice breakfast - all while you cut through the air at 528 mph. If the $50,000,000.00 price tag (full price) is a little disturbing, owning a fraction with NetJets can take a large chunk out of it.

Fractional shares start at 1/16 of a share, which can be as low as $369,875 in a Hawker 400XP. That's 50 hours of flying time. For those who don't want the commitment (or the cost) of buying a fraction, NetJets has implemented a lower-cost solution that they call the Marquis Jet Card. The Marquis Jet Card starts at $109,900 for 25 hours in a Cessna Citation V. With the Marquis Jet Card, required notice jumps up to 10 hours, which is still much better than anything the airlines can offer. The card offers the convenience of chartering an aircraft, with the peace of mind that you get from NetJets's safety standards. Other fractional carriers also have prepaid jet cards, so this is a [somewhat] affordable solution for those who don't want to deal with the monthly or upfront costs of ownership.

If you decide that fractional ownership is for you, be warned, you should thoroughly investigate the pilot training, safety procedures, aircraft, and management services that each company offers before making a decision. The big three, NetJets, CitationShares, and Flexjet, offer excellence in each, but some newer fractional start-ups may not be up to snuff. Remember that your security and safety is paramount, and if you feel that it's inadequate with a particular company, take your business elsewhere. If you're serious about making a fractional jet purchase, and live nearby to their operations, don't hesitate to ask for a tour of their aircraft and facilities, they should be more than happy to accommodate you. Many fractional operators hold regular events around the country in which prospective buyers can take a look around the aircraft and the service that they offer.

Fractional jet ownership offers the best of luxury, security, and functionality without the premium total ownership requires. If you've been considering buying or chartering private aircraft, fractional ownership just may be for you.