My mother has written a book about her feelings and the impact my
brother's death in a car accident had on her.  She has been giving
paper copies of it to people who live in the same town who have lost a
child and people ask for copies to give to other people they know who
have lost a child.  They all say that it helps them as they find out
from reading the book that they are not going crazy.  That they are
not alone.

I am looking to publish the book on the Internet so that it reaches
and helps many more people.

How best should I go about marketing Mum's book on the Net?

Please include in your response the "what to do" as well as "how to do it".

Hello charlie1964~

There are two main routes you could take to market your mother?s
eBook. Probably the best option, as far as largest circulation (and
least hassle), is to find an eBook publisher.

There are a great many eBook publishers on the Internet; here are just
a handful to consider:

? Booklocker: http://www.booklocker.com/getpublished/published.html
? HardShell: http://www.hardshell.com/submissions.php3?PHPSESSID=5236cee756d05d7ae0b01cf8dc16cff6
? Writer?s Exchange: http://www.writers-exchange.com/epublishing/submission.htm

You?ll find *many* more at eBooksnBytes,
http://www.ebooksnbytes.com/publishers.shtml  and ?Mary Wolf's Guide
to Electronic Publishers,? http://my.coredcs.com/~mermaid/epub.html

Each one has a page on their website that explains how to submit a
book for consideration. Usually this is found under "Submissions,"
"Author Information," "Writer's Guidelines," or another section worded
similarly. Each publisher has it's own methods of looking at new
books.

Some eBook publishers work like old-fashioned book publishers; the
author needn?t pay anything, and will receive a royalty on books sold.
Many others, equally as legitimate, charge a fee for setting up the
eBook, and also offer a percentage of the sales to the author.

Another option is to act as your own publisher. In such a case, you?d
need a good website promoting your mother?s book. The easiest way to
make sales would be to have customers place an order through PayPal (
www.paypal.com ); when you receive payment, you?d send the file to the
customer via email. The disadvantage to this is that most eBook
customers expect instant satisfaction; they would like to pay for the
book and receive it immediately. It is possible to set up your website
this way, but the costs would more than likely outweigh the benefits
when selling only one book.

In addition, it?s more difficult to draw traffic to a new website
featuring only one book than it is to draw buyers to an established
eBook site. Nonetheless, if you want to explore the option of selling
the eBook from your own website, here are some good articles to read:

? ?Publishing an eBook? at Computer Bits:
http://www.computerbits.com/archive/2003/0100/ebookpublishing.html
? ?Publishing Your eBook? at iBoost Journal:
http://www.iboost.com/profit/other_revenue_streams/ebooks/tutorial/30020d.htm
? eBook publishing articles at Freelance Writing:
http://www.freelancewriting.com/syndicatedfeatures-ebookpub.html

Of particular interest will be Freelance Writing?s article on
accepting payments online:
http://www.writingcareer.com/syndicate/ebookpub/report7.html

Whichever method of publishing and distribution you choose, you'll
want to give the book enough publicity that folks know it?s there and
will seek it out. Given the topic of you mother?s book, once the eBook
is ready to go, you should contact as many organizations that deal
with grief counseling as possible. Send them a brief press release (no
longer than one page) explaining that the book is now available at
such-and-such a website, for X amount of money. Also give some brief
background about your mother, what the book is about, and how it has
helped others. Quotes from enthusiastic readers always help.

For a good overview of how to write a press release, check out ?Press
Release Tips & Guidelines? at PR Web:
http://www.prweb.com/pressreleasetips.php

Also, send your press release to websites and magazines dealing with
the topic of grief. And don?t forget local newspapers and television
news.

There are lots of other good ways to publicize books (electronic or
traditional); for more tips, check out this Google Answer (?Atypical,
Successful Book Marketing?):
http://www.answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=344722  and
?Self-Publishing Your Way to Internet Success Part 10 Developing Your
Marketing Strategy? at Freelance Writing:
http://www.writingcareer.com/syndicate/ebookpub/report10.html


Kind Regards,
Kriswrite



RESEARCH STRATEGY:
Researcher?s personal knowledge

"how to write a press release"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22how+to+write+a+press+release%22

Charlie, could you please clarify exactly how you would like to
distribute your mother's book?  Are you looking strictly for an
electronic distribution solution (most likely as a file download), or
are you be interested in  distributing the book either on paper or on
a CD as well?

What file format do you have the book in right now?  (.doc,.pdf,
etc.?)  Do you (or someone you know) have the skills and ability to
convert it to other file formats?

Are you concerned about actually marketing and selling the book (for a
profit), or just giving it away to anyone who asks?

It is a .doc at the moment and a friend has Adobe Acrobat and is
putting the scanned pictures together with the Word doc and will then
make a PDF file.

The idea to publish the book came out of a desire of mine to help my
parents to be able to afford to move from the country to nearer a city
given that they are pensioners.  I plan to sell it for profit for Mum.

Have you checked out Lulu.com?  (http://www.Lulu.com)  I believe they
may be the answer for you.  I have purchased several books from them,
and the book quality is quite good.  You also have the option of
selling your book via download as well as on paper.  And, best of all
there's no setup cost, and no minimum print run, so it's probably the
most economical of all the options.

Please check them out and let us know what you think.

Whats the name of the e-book charlie - recently lost my cousin in a
car accident thought it might be helpful to my aunt

Alyice Eldritch has a new e-book up that goes into great depth on
publishing and marketing your own e-book. With a purchase, you even
get one-on-one sessions with Alyice. You can find it at:
http://www.dabblingmum.com. She really helped me.
Terri Pilcher