Delivering ebooks

Since there are different ways in which your ebook can be viewed, there are various means of delivery. Whatever primary delivery method you select, also choose one or more back up systems of delivery should your main system fail or become inaccessible to customers.

For authors working exclusively with online resellers like Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble or 1stBooks, those companies handle payment transactions, content protection and delivery to the customer and the author collects royalties on each sale. Working with ebook resellers is covered in another article.

Although it may seem obvious to you how a customer will place an order from your web site, others may not see what they need to do. You must take visitors by the hand and lead them through the entire ordering process.

Instructions on your order page should be understandable to a reader with eighth grade comprehension skills because this is about the national average.

It’s also important to get the customer to click the "buy" or "purchase" button within no more than three clicks of their learning of the ebook offer. According to studies of online purchasing habits, get the prospects to the shopping cart fast, otherwise, you will lose sales.

Always provide customers several options for ordering. In addition to the "purchase now" link to your shopping cart or reseller’s cart, include your toll free order line, your fax line and your mailing address.

You know what an ebook is, but how many of your visitors know, and why should they care? You cannot assume that visitors to your web site will know what an ebook is, whether they are safe, whether their computer can read them, or any of a number of questions.

When selling your ebooks through the online resellers of digital content, these sites usually include instructions for downloading and reading ebooks. Reseller sites also attract repeat customers who have some previous experience of what an ebook is.

Like the reseller sites, your web page should include information about what is required for downloading and reading of ebooks. For instance, you might include statements like these:

How will your customers get your ebooks? The steps you have to arrange include the purchase transaction, credit card verification and download or unlocking the ebook file.

I tried several methods of automating ebook payment and delivery and found the following steps to require the lowest cost per sale and the least amount of involvement on my part, once everything was set up. Here are the steps:

Set up an account with ClickBank. You have the option to make your ebook available to their network of thousands of affiliate Web sites.
Set up an autoresponder account with GetResponse.com. Attach the ebook (as a password protected file) to an email message with the password to unlock the file.
(Optional) Create automated follow-ups that provide useful tips for the ebook purchased and upsell additional related products.
Create a page on your site that “sells” your ebook and links to your ClickBank provided sales link.
Create a “Thank You For Your Order” page on your site which tells customers to email the autoresponder previously set up in step 2.
Rotate or change the “Thank You” pages and the passwords at least once a week to prevent customers from sending their friends directly to your download instructions.

Using the above system, the autoresponder automatically delivers an email with the ebook attached and your subsequent follow-up message(s). If you are reading the ebook version of this book, you are most likely ordering through links set up by the above method. You probably are already receiving automated follow-ups.

It took me a few days to get this system completed but it has resulted in creating free time for marketing and promotion. You will almost always be more profitable when you do not have to be involved in the daily operations of handling transactions and delivering ebooks.

Delivering Ebooks