Comments on: How Long Should an E-book Be?

By: Dave Young

Dave Young — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 02:38:19 +0000

Hi Jenn, I am new to the freelance writing scene. ebooks is an area I am considering focusing on. I have the writing skills, but unfortunately I am so new to the writing circuit I have no idea how or where to market my writing.

My first question was how long should an ebook be, which this site has answered. Now how to market it? Any suggestions?

By: Jennifer Mattern

Jennifer Mattern — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:12:06 +0000

To me, an e-book that short would better serve the client as a freebie — an introduction to a much more comprehensive e-book or report (or course, or something else they’re trying to sell). It’s more a taste than a complete product. E-book buyers want to feel like they’re really getting something for their money. If he’s only charging a dollar or two, 6 pages might not be bad for those buyers. If he’s charging much more, the buyers probably want more. People have certain expectations. I’m all for breaking them from time to time though, so who knows? Maybe it’ll work out well. Either way, I hope you’ll stop back and post a followup to let us know! :)

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:07:50 +0000

Thank you Jennifer, I really appreciate the feedback, and you’ve echoed most my concerns about it. I started off with about 20 pages of information, but he is thrilled with how succint it is. Though the info is unique, I wonder how the consumer will feel about the brevity of the purchase. Thanks again

By: Jennifer Mattern

Jennifer Mattern — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:55:57 +0000

Personally, I wouldn’t buy a six-page e-book. I’d consider it more of a report than an e-book anyway. What concerns me even more is that someone couldn’t handle writing six pages themselves. I get outsourcing e-books — I even write them for clients. But if you want to sell a mere six pages, there would have to be a hell of a strong brand behind it (even if a personal brand — meaning that known personality had better shine through the writing, so it makes sense to write it yourself). More importantly, I’d say it would have to be newsworthy. Anything that short that’s evergreen you can find for free on a blog somewhere. Without knowing the niche or any more information, it’s really difficult to say if six pages is enough to make it a product people are going to want to buy. In general though, I would have to say probably not.

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:47:20 +0000

Hi, I just wrote an E-book based on another person’s research. It’s a How-to-Book, and he asked me to be as concise as possible. I wonder if I’ve gone overboard by making it about 6 pages long. He intends to market and sell this book and I would imagine the length might put people off regardless of the value of the information. Your thoughts?

By: How to make a SHORT ebook that SELLS

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By: Jennifer Mattern

Jennifer Mattern — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 01:36:13 +0000

Good job Misti. :) It’s nice to see someone else demonstrate that you can write an e-book relatively quickly. If two of us could write short e-books within a day, I think most in the challenge will have no problem writing one in 2 weeks. :)

By: Misti

Misti — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:02:17 +0000

As a bit of a case in point, I spent Monday writing a 20-page e-book on dialogue writing, from outline to formatting. (The topic kinda hit me, and I had the time, so I figured I might as well.)

Now, I’m waiting to read all your posts, Jenn, while I let my content cool for me to proofread it.

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