Prepare Your Author Website for the New Year: Day 4

With your website clutter-free and search engine optimized, it’s time to consider creating your first digital product.

WHY SHOULD AN AUTHOR CREATE A DIGITAL PRODUCT? 

Let’s face it; selling books isn’t always the best way to stay afloat as a writer, especially when you’re starting out. Most of us need more than printed books to pay the bills. The good news is that I have a suggestion for you that won’t have you investing money in inventory or shipping; the digital product.

CREATING A DIGITAL PRODUCT CAN BE SIMPLE.

You could write an ebook. If you can write a 1,500-word blog post and a novel, you can write a 12,000-word (or so) ebook. You can sell these books or even give them away as promotional items to increase your email list or boost sales of your print books.

Not sure you can get an ebook together in a reasonable amount of time? Consider bundling previous blog posts. While this content might not have as high a level of perceived value as would an ebook written with all fresh material, these bundled blogs do tend to sell well with the right promotion. (Contact Sue Campbell, our book launch coach, if you’d like help with your marketing.)

You could create a mini-course. Sure, there might be more of a learning curve here than writing an ebook, but your viewers will likely perceive a course as having a higher value. Video recording equipment can be purchased for reasonable prices these days, and you can even rent the equipment in larger cities. You can create a course on any expertise you have or would like to explore. Do your market research and produce the best product possible. 

You could create a membership product. Bundle content you already have (articles, courses, books, etc.) and sell them via a monthly fee membership site. Keep in mind that you’ll need to deliver unique and quality content on a regular basis.

Of course, you could incorporate all of these ideas, creating the easier products first and building up a catalog of content that you can later utilize for a membership system.

Make sure that whatever product you choose looks professional and provides real value to your ideal reader.

THAT’S IT FOR DAY 4! 

Creating a digital product is just one way to increase your income as an author. In my next post, we’ll examine some other ways to generate income via your website in the new year.

You can build the author career you’ve dreamed of without sacrificing your soul — or your writing time. Inside the Happily Ever Author Club, you’ll get access to workshops and resources on how to find and pitch influencers so you finally get your book into the hands of your ideal readers.