27/09/2016

CreateEbooksinHalftheTimeWithTheseEssentialResources

Cometogetherwiththeinoundcommunitfor4dasofinspirationand
education.

LARNMOR

Novemer13,2013//11:00AM

b f m

WrittenGinnMineo|@ginnmineo

HAR

ThefirsttimeIhadtowriteaneook,Iwasscared--reallscared.ure,Ihad
eenwritinglogpostseversingledafortheetterpartofafewmonths,ut
actuallsittingdowntowriteanddesignamultiple-page,downloadaleeook
wasfrightening.WouldIhaveenoughcontent?WouldmdesignlooklikeIused

MicrosoftPaint?Wouldmossliketheeook?Wouldtheresultsfromthe
eookactuallpaoffthetimeIinvestedinit?

Yup,Iwasterrified...uttherereallwasnoreasontoe.I'mgoingtoletouin
onasecrethere:Youarenotthefirstpersonintheworldwhohaseverneeded
tocreateaneook.Infact,therearelotsofresourcesandtemplatesavailaleto

outohelpoucutdownonthetime,effort,andudgetou'regoingtoputinto
oureook.

Theprolem?Theseresourcesandtemplatesarescatteredallovertheinternet,
sothetimeou'resavingonthecontentcreationisusedupinfindingthem.To
makesurethatoureookcreationisaspainlessaspossile,wedecidedto
compiletheseresourcesallinthislogpost.Youshouldhavenoprolem
creatinganeookaftercheckingoutallofthesetemplates,logposts,andfree

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resources.

otakeadeepreathandrelax--we'vegotoucovered.Here'severthingou
needtocreateanawesomeeook.

Getstartedwithafreeeooktemplate.
Ifthinkingaoutdesignmakesougointoasweatorou'reonarealltight
deadlineforaneook,ouetterdownloadoneofthesefivefreeeook
templates.Thatwa,eforeouputaworddownonpaper,ou'vegota

eautifulldesignedlaoutthat'sreadtoadapttoprettmuchanpagelaout
ouwanttohaveinoureook.

Ifoufindthatouwanttweakthelaoutorcolororprettmuchanother
designaspect,oucaneditthetemplatesinothPowerPointandInDesign.IfI
hadhadaflexile,no-hassletemplateackwhenIcreatedmfirsteook,99%
ofmworrieswouldhaveevaporatedonthespot.

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ogoon,downloadourfreeeooktemplateshere.

Wr i t e , w r i t e , w r i t e .
Onceouhaveasettemplate,ou'vegottoactuallwritethething.Awesome,
right?Ifou'reaninoundmarketerwholovestowrite,thatsoundslikeadream
...utifou'reoneofournumers-focusedfriends,thiscouldethepartou're
dreading.

Firstthingsfirst:Youneedaworkingtitle.Thisisaverrough(anddefinitelnot
final)titlethatshouldgiveouadirectiontowrite,andthat'saoutit.Don'ttr
perfectingitjustet--that'llcomelater.

Next,ifou'refeelingaitstuckonwhatoushouldactuallwriteinoureook,
followthetipsoutlinedinthislogpost.Youshouldn'teusingfloweror
jargonlanguage--ourreaders'eeswillglazeoverandtherecouldea
seriouspossiilitofnappage.Ifou'rehavingtroulemakingourwritingsound
down-to-earth,trreadingitaloudandmendingpartsthatsoundfunk.

Afterou'realldonewritingthecopoftheeook,ou'vegottoturnour
workingtitleintoafinalized,kick-asstitle.Thattitlecouldethemakeorreak
ofsomeonedownloadingoureook,somakesureou'vedoneourdue
diligencecomingupwithit.Ifouneedhelp,checkoutthissimpleformulafor
thinkingofamazingtitles.

Installcustomfonts.
Ifou'regoingtoedistriutingoureookinaPDFformat(whichoushould,
mostofthetime),oushoulddefiniteltrtosprucethingsupwithcustomfonts.
Thoughasmalldetailofoureookdesign,customfontscanmakeaig
differenceinhowoureookisperceived.Peoplerecognizethefontsthe've
seentheirwholelife:FontslikeArialorTimesNewRomanaren'tgoingtolook
freshcomparedtoacustomfont.

Trchoosingtwodifferenttpefacesforoureook:oneforheadersandonefor
odcop.Ofcourse,therearelotsoffreefontsoutthereoucantr--check

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outthisposttosee28gorgeousfontsoucantr.Then,ifouwanthelp
installingfonts,here'saquickstep--steptowalkouthroughtheprocess.

upportourwrittencontentwith
astracticons.
Oka,nowourtextisprettmuchset--it'seenwrittenanddesigned--sonow
it'stimeforoutostartaddinginvisualstomakeourcontentmorescannale
andeastounderstand.

Withastractconcepts,usingiconstoconveourideaisagreatidea.ince
iconsaren'tasrealistic,oucanusetheminwasthatjustwon'tworkforstock
photos.Forexample,checkouttheimageonthislandingpage--it'sasetof
icons.Anactualphotoofaneditorialcalendar(mostlikelaphotoofxcelpulled
uponourcomputer)isn'tthatengaging...utthoseiconsare.

oifou'relookingtospiceourastractconceptswithasetoffreeicons,look
nofurther:Hereare135freeiconsoucanuseinourmarketing.

Addstockphotostohelpsupporttherest
o f o u r t ex t .
Forthepartsofoureookthataren'tquitethatastract,stockphotos(thenoncheesvariet)caneagreatadditiontovisualltellourstor.Wanttoknow
howoushouldandshouldn'teusingstockphotos?Checkoutthislidehare
thatfocusesontheiggestdosanddon'tsforusingstockphotos.Then,just
makesureou'renotdoingthosedon'ts.Deal?

utwait...aren'tweforgettingsomethinghere?tockphotoscaneexpensive-notanexpenseeverosswantstoapprove.nterourfreestockphoto
collections,featuringgeneral,usiness-themed,andholidastockphotos.
Check'emout,download'em,anduse'emwheneverandwhereverouwant-includingwithinoureookorevenonoureook'saccompaninglanding
page.eriousl,gowild.

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L i n k t o i n t e r n a l a n d ex t e r n a l c o n t e n t
usingUTMparameters.
Iliketothinkofeooksasrealllonglogpoststhatgroupsectionsinto
chapters.Oviousl,that'saversimplifiedversionofaneook,utthinkingthat
wamakesmethinkmoreaouttheeookreaderexperience.Whenpeople
readontheircomputers,theirreadinghaitsdon'tnecessarilchange--the
wanttoclicklinks,scan,andmaeevenjumptoadditionalsections.

ooushouldmakeiteasforpeopletodojustthatlinkingtoexternal
contentlikeourlogpostsorevenlinkingtoothersectionsintheeook.Allof
thatshouldeeastodoinourPDFsoftware.

Ifouwanttotracktoseewhichexternallinkspeopleareclickingon,esureto
addUTMparameterstotheendofthoseURL(here'saquicktutorialincase
ouwanttoknowhow).Unfortunatel,ou'renotgoingtoealetotrackclicks
oninternallinksasthoseinternaldocumentlinksaren'tconnectedtoour
wesiteanaltics,utthestillhelpmakeourcontenteasiertoread.

M a ke t h e c o n t e n t s h a r e a l e .
esidesclickingaroundonlinkstolearnmoreinformation,peoplehaveecome
soaccustomedtosharingancontenttheenjothroughsocialmedia--and
ouwantoureooktoeoneofthosesupersharealepiecesofcontent.

Howdoougetpeopletoshareoureook,ouask?Yougottagetrightupin
theirfaceandaskforit.Usesocialmediashareuttonsoneverpageinour
eook--thatwa,ifpeoplefindsomethingthewouldliketosharewithinthe
eook,thedon'tevenhavetoleavethepagetopostit.

Ifouareusingthefreeeooktemplates,shareuttonsarealreadintegrated
intothem--oujustneedtolinkupthoseuttons.Ifoudon'thaveshare
uttonsinoureookalreadorwanttospruceupthoseshareuttonsinthe
template,checkoutonesectionofthefreeiconsdownloadcalled"social
icons."Then,hperlinkthoseiconsaccordingtotheaoveinstructionsand
ou'regoodtogo!

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Wo r k r e a d e r s d o w n o u r m a r ke t i n g
funnel.
Oka,ou'reeookisaout80%doneatthispoint.Likeanotherpieceof
contentoucreate,oureookshouldhaveacall-to-action(CTA)attheend-utitshouldleadtoapieceofcontentthatwillringreadersfurtherdownour
marketingfunnel.Thismeansthatifsomeonehasdownloadedoureook,
the'realreadalead--soou'vegottotrtoconvertthemtoecomecloser
andclosertoecomingacustomer.

ThisCTAcouldleadtoaproductdemo,trial,freeconsultation,orevena
collectionofcasestudies.Regardlessofwhatou'regoingtolinkto,justknow
thattheCTAattheendofaneookshouldleadtocontentthatwillhelp
someoneecomeacustomerofourcompan.

TogetpeopletoclickonthatCTA,ouneedtomakesureitsgotalloftheke
componentsofaclickaleCTA.Tomakesureou'renotmissinganthingduring
thedesignprocess,herearesomeCTAtemplatesoucandownloadand
ahandchecklistoucanfollowwhencustomizingthoseCTAtemplates.

Giveitagoodol'edit.
Last,andcertainlnotleast,ouhavetogiveourwholeeookanedit--oth
forcopanddesign.Oviousl,ouwanttomakesuregrammar,spelling,and
formattingareallconsistentandourojectsarealignedandcolor-coordinated
...utthat'sjustscratchingthesurfaceofediting.

Whetheroudecidetoself-edit(whichIstronglsuggestnotdoing)orenlistthe
helpofacoworkertogiveittheeditingitdeserves,oucanusetheultimate
editingchecklisttomakesureou'resendingoutpolishedandqualitcontent
intothisworld.Attheverleast,ou'llsaveourselfafacepalmdowntheroad
whenourealizeanegregiouserrorfellthroughthecracksecausetheeook
wasneveredited.

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Andthat'saoutit!Withalloftheseresources,oushouldewellonourwato
creatinganeookthatourleadslove--andconverton.

Doouhaveaneookcreationtips?hareourswithusinthecomments
elow.

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Previousl:

Nextup:

Don'tRegretYourWesiteRedesign:TheResourcesYouNeedto
DoItRight
TheContentConundrum:veroneWantsQualit,utNood
WantstoPa

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