TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction About Timo Kiander Step #1: Step #2: Step #3: Step #4: Step #5: Step #6: Step #7: Step #8: Step #9: Step #10:

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Lorena Rosalind Patterson
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2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction. 3 About Timo Kiander. 5 Step #1: Read a Book of Your Choice. 6 Step #2: Write an Autoresponder Series. 8 Step #3: Compile All the Messages as One Document. 10 Step #4: Update the Content Where Necessary. 11 Step #5: Write the Intro. 12 Step #6: Write the Final Thoughts. 13 Step #7: Create the Table of Contents. 14 Step #8: Get the Text Proofread. 15 Step #9: Find a Template for Your E-book. 16 Step #10: Create the Cover. 17

3 Step #11: Release the E-book. 18 Final Thoughts. 19 APPENDIX 1: Message Template. 20 APPENDIX 2: E-book Structure Template. 21 APPENDIX 3: Creating a ClickToTweet Button. 22

4 INTRODUCTION I m really into giving my subscribers extra value in the form of content that can t be found on my blog. Things weren t any different when I decided to start (but now deceased) an list about blogging productivity. As I started to brainstorm some ways to provide some extra value to my list, I realized a resource which I hadn t taken advantage of: Books! As my bookshelf (and now my Kindle) is full of books about personal development (and especially about time management), I got an idea which would be cool to implement. This simple idea was to read a book and then apply its lessons to my subscribers who were bloggers in this case. The book I picked was Brian Tracy s Eat that Frog and the idea was to take the lessons and then apply them for that particular group of people (bloggers) in order to improve blogging productivity. I wrote all the 21 lessons for my list, explaining how to apply them in blogging. But very soon I realized something else: It would be really fun to document this whole process and explain how to create an e-book from the work you have already done (ie the s that you have created and sent to your list). So basically that s what this report is all about: How to leverage the content you have already written and turn it into an e-book. 4

5 After you have created the e-book, you can then give it to your list and offer it as a lead magnet on your landing page. Anyway, this report describes this whole process in detail and hopefully it inspires you to implement it as well. Without any further ado, let s get started with this process right away! Cheers, Timo Kiander 5

ABOUT TIMO KIANDER Timo Kiander runs a blog called Productive Superdad, where he teaches busy online entrepreneurs how to save time and become more productive.

6 ABOUT TIMO KIANDER Timo Kiander runs a blog called Productive Superdad, where he teaches busy online entrepreneurs how to save time and become more productive. He also works on web design projects on a freelance basis. Timo is a marathon runner and a triathlete. He s finished 18 marathons to date (and has pretty much lost count of how many half-marathons and triathlons he s completed). He has a family a wife and one son with whom he likes to spend his time. Getting married and being present at his son s birth are two of the most important experiences in his life so far. Timo s a friendly and approachable type of person with a strong sense of humour. He always tries to find the good in everything and is very optimistic in nature. Don t hesitate to connect with him timo@productivesuperdad.com or follow him on 6

7 Step #1: READ A BOOK OF YOUR CHOICE The first step is to pick the book you loved reading, but which you could then teach to your subscribers. In my case I used Brian Tracy s Eat that Frog!, as: It was easy to read It wasn t too thick The lessons were easy to teach to my audience I could apply the lessons rather than teaching them as is I picked a book which had plenty of lessons to be taught. Let me elaborate on the previous bullet points further: Text was simple to read and understand. The font wasn t too small or too big (it was easy to read) The book was 128 pages long (it wasn t too thick) I was already familiar with various time management techniques, so the book was easy to go through and therefore to teach (the lessons were easy to teach to my audience) 7

8 Rather than copying the lessons and telling them as they are, I wanted to explain how to apply this generic time management advice in blogging (I could apply the lessons rather than teaching them as is) Try to choose a book which has enough lessons you want to share. For instance, if this book had only one or two lessons in total, it would have been too thin on the content side. On the other hand, as the book consisted of 21 lessons, I had plenty of content for my autoresponder sequence and later for my e-book (I picked a book which had plenty of lessons to be taught). You can use this same criteria in your situation as well. Remember, the easier the book is to go through, the faster you get to write the s for your list and the faster the e-book is going to be finished. 8

9 Step #2: WRITE AN AUTORESPONDER SERIES Once you have read the book, it s time to start planning your autoresponder series for your list. When I wrote the s based on the book, I kept these principles on my mind: I wanted to cover the essential parts of the lessons. I didn t copy the book s content to my list as is (I would never do that!). Rather, I read the chapters, marked the most important parts of it and then wrote the s by using my own words All the s were scheduled broadcast messages I tried to keep the lessons short. The shorter and more to the point the message was the better At the end of each I included the action steps that I wanted the subscriber to take - based on what they had learned. 9

10 (NOTE: To see how a typical message was constructed, take a look at APPENDIX 1). When I was writing the messages, I found batching to be a very helpful way of creating a lot of content at once. In practice this meant the following: 1 I picked the quietest moment of the day to do the writing (when my wife and kid were sleeping, taking a nap or when they went to the grocery store) 2 Focused on the writing task and nothing else 3 Picked the best location available to do the work. In my case (and since my family was sleeping), I did the writing on the kitchen table 4 I made sure I was rested enough so that I didn t write when I was too tired. In my situation, I did the majority of writing either early in the morning or after waking up frommy afternoon nap. This ensured the most alert state and I was able to focus fully on the writing part. After the mails were written, I proofread and edited them, then sent the material to Fiverr for additional proofreading. Finally, I copied the proofread material to my autoresponder program (Aweber) and scheduled the messages to go out on every Friday - at 2 pm EST (note: You may want to test the optimum time when sending the messages. I guess that in my case earlier in the week would have been better). 10

11 Step #3: COMPILE ALL THE MESSAGES AS ONE DOCUMENT After sending the last lesson to my list, I consolidated the sent messages into one document. I did this without any specific formatting. I made sure that each lesson started from a new page and removed any additional line breaks from the document. This step was just preparation work, so that taking the step #4 would become easier. 11

12 Step #4: UPDATE THE CONTENT WHERE NECESSARY Next I went through the content in my document and changed the text wherever necessary. There were three reasons for doing this: The writing style was originally for my audience (I used the words like you, hi!, cheers) and I didn t want to include them in my e-book I removed the dependencies to a specific point in time, so that the text would become more timeless I also did some other minor changes to the text when necessary (most likely when you return back to something you have written before, you find better ways of saying the same thing). With these changes, the text became more readable and most importantly - I was happy with the end result. 12

13 Step #5: WRITE THE INTRO The next step was to write a small introduction to my e-book. This section was only one page long and its purpose was to introduce the e-book and what it was all about. As an example, you can take a look at the intro of this report to see what it could look like. 13

14 Step #6: WRITE THE FINAL THOUGHTS At the end of my e-book, I also included a Final Thoughts section. This was just a very simple page which thanked my readers for reading the e-book and it included a Tweet button for sharing the info about the book to their followers. You can see a Final Thoughts section at the end of this report and use that as an example in your own e-books if you wish. Also, if you are wondering how the Tweet button was constructed, refer to APPENDIX 3: Creating a ClickToTweet Button, which describes how it s done. 14

15 Step #7: CREATE THE TABLE OF CONTENTS The content for the e-book was now ready, so the next step was to create a Table of Contents (TOC). As I used Word 2013 for creating the e-book, constructing the TOC was really a no-brainer. Refer to this document on how to create the TOC yourself in Word. (Please note: Creating a TOC in Word works nicely if you decide to have your e-book laid out in vertical fashion. However, if you decide to have a horizontal layout (as I normally have for the majority of e-books), I have used PowerPoint instead. I m not aware that PowerPoint can generate a TOC automatically (the same way as Word), so creating one takes some effort.) 15

16 Step #8: GET THE TEXT PROOFREAD Once everything was ready, it was time to go through the text the last time and see if there was anything that needed fixing (by reading the e-book through aloud). In order to truly make the e-book sound good, I sent the text to another proofreader/editor named Sophie Lizard of Creative Chaos. I was really happy with her work and having someone to go through the e-book gave a really nice touch to this project. Please note that you can always have this proofreading and editing done more inexpensively if you wish. If you are on a shoestring budget, you can use someone (like Revlac) on Fiverr to do the work for you. 16

17 Step #9: FIND A TEMPLATE FOR YOUR E-BOOK Once I got the text back from the proofreader, it was time to create the layout for the book. I used GraphicRiver for finding the templates. There are a lot of them there - both for Windows and Mac. 17

18 Step #10: CREATE THE COVER Next step is to get the cover created for your e-book. Like in proofreading, you can take two routes: The inexpensive and the expensive one. The expensive one is to use a service called 99 Designs, where the designers compete with each other over the assignment you give them. You get to choose from various designs made for you and you can eventually pick the designer that delivers the work for you. This option costs at least $299 dollars. The less expensive route is to use Fiverr. I don t have any specific designer to recommend, but you can use a search term like e-book cover on the site and check out the results. I try to sort the results based on the customer reviews and the more positive ones someone gets the better. 18

19 Step #11: RELEASE THE E-BOOK The e-book is now finalized and it s time to publish it. Whenever I write a new e-book or a report, I automatically share it with my subscribers first. I then publish it on my landing page and on my blog. For instance, if I had to replace my current lead magnet with a new one, I d have to take the following steps: 1 Update the e-book cover version to various places on my blog (where ever there is an opt in form) 2 Update the introduction texts accordingly (on those spots on the blog where the e-book s cover is shown) 3 Update my landing page with the e-book cover and update the copy 4 Make sure that anyone who subscribes to my list gets the new e-book as well. For instance, I provide a link to my lead magnet on the welcome message when a person joins my list but also on a separate download page as well. 19

20 FINAL THOUGHTS I hope that you have enjoyed this free e-book! Before you finish this, I still have one request for you: Spread the word about Online Business Productivity by clicking the Tweet button below: Kind Regards, Productive Superdad aka Timo Kiander 20

21 APPENDIX 1: MESSAGE TEMPLATE The title of the lesson as subject line Hi [Subscriber s Name]! The actual content of the lesson Action Steps: Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Cheers, [Your Name] 21

22 APPENDIX 2: E-BOOK STRUCTURE TEMPLATE Cover of the book Table of contents Introduction About [Your Name] Actual contents of the e-book Final Thoughts Appendices 22

23 APPENDIX 3: CREATING A CLICKTOTWEET BUTTON On my Final Thoughts page I give a reader a chance to spread the word about the e-book. The simplest way to do this is to Tweet about it. Instead of having the user go to Twitter and take many manual steps to perform this task, I have integrated the Tweet button on my Final Thoughts page. It s nothing more than an image with a hyperlink and this very link is built using a service called Click To Tweet. To have this same kind of button in your own e-book, take the following steps: 1 Find a nice Tweet button inexpensively. I m using DreamsTime for finding graphics for my e-books and my blog posts 2 Go to Bit.ly and shorten the URL that you want to use in your Tweet message. In my case, I used my landing page URL and shortened it 3 Go to Click To Tweet and write the text you want the readers to promote to their Twitter followers. Add the bit.lyshortened URL next and finally the hash tags at the end of the message. 23

24 When you click Generate Link! button, you get a link which you can then use with your Twitter image (as defined in Step 1) When one of the readers clicks the Tweet button on your e-book, he/she sees the following message (this is naturally just an example): Want to create a home office that rocks? Here is how! OMjrb5 #productivity #timemanagement 24

Guide To Publishing Your. CREATESPACE Book. Sarco2000 Fiverr Book Designer

Guide To Publishing Your. CREATESPACE Book. Sarco2000 Fiverr Book Designer Guide To Publishing Your CREATESPACE Book on Sarco2000 Fiverr Book Designer Copyright 2015 Sarco Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,