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Is there a better way to create ebooks online?

Is there a better way to create ebooks online?

A Review of Designrr’s Agency Plan

Strange to be writing “a better way to create ebooks online” so shortly after posting a scintillating review of Designrr but a few short months ago. Particularly when you consider the speed with which you can have a customized ebook. It literally took minutes to create my first ebook, 15 Keep-it-Simple Tips for B2B Networkers . I don’t even want to think about the hours/days/months putting together my other books and ebooks.

So that initial review was based largely on three things. The speed with which you could create ebooks. The quality of those ebooks. Finally, the ridiculous $27 to buy the standard version of Designrr. Talk about a no-brainer.

Was Designrr perfect? No, but you shouldn’t expect perfect. Just value. And the incredible value made me want to take it up a notch and purchase Designrr’s Agency Plan. Especially after I was able to create some ebooks for clients and charge more than double the cost of the Agency Plan.

Making better ebooks

You may have heard the expression “more is less”? That doesn’t apply when comparing Designrr Standard vs. Designrr Agency. You have more templates to choose from, bigger photo library, more cover designs (a lot more), etc. Yet the more that helps the most has to do with the number of formats that you can create an ebook from.

With Designrr standard, you are limited to blogs and copy and pasting text as well as importing one-time from Facebook groups. With Designrr’s Agency Plan, you can import your text from MS Word documents and PDFs, as well as unlimited imports from Facebook groups.

Importing from PDFs is a huge benefit. The book I mentioned in the previous blog, Recipes for the Roommate-Impaired, was written in 1992. I stored it on a floppy and by that I mean 5-inch floppy. That left me nothing but the hard copy to convert a book I spent an entire year on into an electronic format.

That left two options: scan it or re-type. I chose to rescan. With the PDF from the scan, I could create a Kindle version of Recipes for the Roommate-Impaired. I could not do that with Designrr’s Standard.

So Designrr’s Agency Plan does make it easier to get text into the document.

Working with the text remains a challenge. You have to use the backspace button rather than the delete. The version of your document you upload better be as close to final as possible. It’s probably not as bad as I’m making it sound. It’s just not as convenient to edit text as Word.

Other features for making better ebooks

The extras in Designrr’s Agency Plan are subtle but do go a long way toward creating more professional ebooks. For example, you can create ebooks with two columns instead of one. So your ebook can look more like an ebook than a Word document you saved as a PDF.

You wouldn’t think page numbers and a table of contents would be such a big deal in a 20-30 page ebook. Surprisingly, it does matter to the reader. After all, who wants to be scrolling down or page up/page downing all the time?

Creating the TOC is another feature that can be a little difficult to work with. It would be nice if it would automatically update. You have to manually do it and it takes some time using Designrr to feel comfortable with how to do it. CONFESSION: I have looked up how to do this in the help section more than a few times. Yet that’s actually another positive about all Designrr plans. It’s pretty easy to find an answer or get a response from tech support.

Some additional features for creating better ebooks

Again, if you’re looking to create more of an ebook as opposed to a PDF, you have a few options that help in that endeavor. One is the 3D cover creator.

Like the name implies, you can create a 3D cover, which looks kind of cool. Designrr has a tool that enables you to create the 3D image and then it’s just a matter of replacing the image you started with. You would like to think it might be a bit easier than that. Still, it’s not that difficult and gives your ebook a bit more of a professional appearance.

You could say the same for the flip-book feature that’s in the Agency Plan but not the Standard. To be honest, this feature is a bit of a letdown. You can create the flipbook but you can only view it by its unique url. Here’s an example of a book I created for a client.

As you can see, the flipbook looks kind of cool. But when you try to download it, you lose the flipbook effect. Is it the end of the world? No. But it is a minor drawback to a very cool feature.

Creating ebooks with video

This is or isn’t a big depending on the intent of the video. If it’s a lead magnet, this feature adds a lot. Especially to an “About the Author” section where the video can talk to the reader. How cool is that?

Send in the clones

Copying. That’s probably the least sexy but biggest upgrade from Standard to Agency. You can clone an ebook and edit as a separate document. This is a huge development whether it’s a lead magnet or you’re creating ebooks to sell on Amazon. Much like the website, ebooks are working documents. There’s always a change or upgrade you would like to make or that typo that snuck through. Cloning enables you to keep the previous iteration and create a next version to edit.

Last but not least: Kindle-ready

You cannot understate this fact. Once you create your ebook, Designrr enables you to save it in .mobi format. That’s the format to upload Kindle books to Amazon. So, if you have text to create an ebook in less than an hour you can get that book ready for sale in far less time like that.

Again, I will reference my three book publishing experiences. Recipes for the Roommate-Impaired, a self-published paperback, took 18 months to complete. My first ebook, 25 Ways to go from Stepfather to StepDad, took six months.  Finally, creating my next ebook, 15 Keep-It-Simple Tips for B2B Networkers took less than an hour.

About creating ebooks online in less than 10 minutes

There is a little salesmanship to the claim of creating an ebook in less than 10 minutes. Yes, construction of the first version of the book will take that long. And there’s the large assumption that you have the existing content. But let’s presume you do and you want to create an ebook that’s not more than 10 pages. You can create it in under five minutes.

But…

Actually, there are a lot of buts to this and it has nothing to do with Designrr as a product. While you may have five posts on a related topic, you will need to create a little cohesion between each post for the ebook. That will take a little time.

You may want to sprinkle in some images with your blog posts. Those images will not transfer seamlessly from the blog post. So you will need to finesse those in a bit there. Maybe mess around with sizes, etc.

You will also want a call-to-action for your ebook/lead magnet. Yes, that could simply be “give us a call” or “check out our website”, but you will want to put some thought into.

Then, there’s editing/proofreading. Even with previously published content, you will want a second set of eyes—preferably skilled eyes—to review your ebook. It’s not uncommon for typos and grammatical mistakes to occur in a blog post. Those take on a greater significance in an ebook or lead magnet that’s positioned to show you as a subject matter expert.

Finally, as a writer, we are perfectionists. You do want to make sure all the proverbial i’s are dotted and t’s crossed. So you will piece together your ebook, review it , have somebody else review it, and then do it again yourself. Maybe even a time or two more. And all that takes some time.

With that said, Designrr makes creating an ebook online an incredibly fast way to put together an ebook/lead magnet. And it’s not an overstatement to say you can have a finished product in less than a day. Even in less than a morning.

Conclusion: Creating ebooks has never been easier

Once you get accustomed to using Designrr, you develop a confidence that you can create a quality ebook without being a graphic designer. As long as you can navigate a template. And if you can successfully create an ebook using Designrr’s standard plan, you can create an even better ebook using the Agency plan.

So what’s the real difference between Standard and Agency? The former will help you create an ebook. The latter can do that and win you clients to write ebooks for them. Simple as that..

Check out this video where I demonstrate the cool things about Designrr Agency.

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Cats in the Cradle vs. Leader of the Band

For most people, this one is a no-brainer. Cats in the Cradle, the Harry Chapin classic, rules over any other “Call Your Dad” song. Except in Movember. Then it’s all Leader of the Band by Dan Fogelberg.

Before I explain why, let’s define “Call Your Dad” songs. Those are the songs you hear on the radio and it makes you want to phone your Dad that second—usually because you haven’t in a while or there’s some sort of conflict that the two of you haven’t resolved.

So why Leader of the Band?

While Cats in the Cradle talks about all the times a father misses in their children’s lives due to work, Leader of the Band goes a bit deeper. In addition to the whole “too busy” theme, It delves into sons trying to be like our fathers but never quite getting there–at least in our eyes–and then being okay with it.

Yet that’s not why this song rings truer in Movember than other “Call Your Dad” songs. It has more to do with the fact that Dan Fogelberg died of prostate cancer at age 56.

He was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in 2004. Could his life had been extended with early detection? Without knowing much more than what Wikipedia provides, it’s difficult to say. But with the advances made in recent years—thanks, in part, to funds contributed by the Movember Foundation—I feel comfortable in saying there would have been more music.

Even if Dan Fogelberg or Harry Chapin aren’t your cup of tea, we need those songs in our lives. The ones that touch our hearts, embrace our souls. It’s why we need to donate to Movember to help ensure the next Fogelberg doesn’t leave before his song should be over.

To donate to my Movember campaign, click here.

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Author! Author! e-book/lead magnets sharpen your marketing silver bullets

Author! Author! e-book/lead magnets sharpen your marketing silver bullets

Do you have a blog with at least five entries? Then you have the makings for an e-book/lead magnet that can open the door to dozens of marketing opportunities, helping you convert visitors and welcoming new prospects.

Door #1: A Lead Generator for your Website

First and foremost, having an e-book/lead magnet on the home page of your website or on a landing page gives you a way to capture contact info from visitors. Sure, they may be kicking tires. But in a world where people are bombarded with e-mail, you know somebody who bothers to share theirs is serious at best, curious at the least in what you offer.

Door #2: What you can do with your new title—Author—and new title—the eBook

The number of ways you can promote your business with even a short 5-10-page e-book abound. Let’s the count the ways:

  • Press release announcing publishing of your book
  • A noteworthy addition to your LinkedIn profile, both as a new position and part of your summary
  • A handy follow-up to prospect meetings (e.g. “Good meeting with you yesterday. For your perusal, here’s a copy of my book”).
  • Additional follow-up for people who have specific questions. So, instead of sending them to your blog, you send a copy of your book.
  • Social media fodder. Periodically mention your e-book on social media posts. One great strategy is to posts selected text from the book and then offer a free download.
  • Enhancing your profile for speaking engagements. There’s just something about adding author to your title that makes you more appealing as a speaker. If paid and unpaid speaking engagements are part of your marketing plan, having a book, even a short e-book, is a must.
  • Pitching you/your company to the press. Again, there’s an added oomph to your pitch to contribute an article or be a source if you can say “Your expertise and author of ‘Greater Book on your Expertise’.”
  • A regular feature of your e-newsletter (e.g. “Download a free copy of “Name of your Book”).
  • An addition to your e-mail signature, image with a link on it preferred.

Hopefully, you get the idea. If you have enough related content, you could even sell your book of blogs on Amazon. Again, something about saying, “Check out my book on Amazon” that gets people’s attention.

Door #3 – How much, Monty?

You can have an e-book for your business for under $500—even as little as $300 if you have five blogs you’re comfortable featuring that don’t require editing. Of course, there are some other things you might want to add—including some help with incorporating your e-book into your marketing strategy.

If you would like to see what a lead magnet/eBook for your business could look like, please drop us an e-mail with a link to your blog.