So you have an ebook and you are wanting folks to know it's there. What do you do? Well I've been an author for several years now and have written articles, courses, and ebooks on subjects like architectural and mechanical drafting, humor, church history and government, bible version comparisons, charity, etc. I've been around the bush a couple of times. And of those times over the years, I've dealt with numerous techniques of marketing and researching to find out what people are interested in for subject matter. Problem is that I feel there must be more ways to communicate with readers for more ideas.
I believe I've come across an idea that a handy tool in research. Being an author, of course I have my ebooks in as many directories as I can. Just recently I opened my own ebook directory where I advertise my various titles along with other authors works. The one thing I hadn't tried was to create a message board or forum and attach it to my ebook directory. With this method I can invite visitors and authors of the books listed on my directory to discuss the books themselves and even get ideas for future ebooks.
I already know this method works because interactions on my support board for the drafting lessons, I periodically ask my students on the board what they think of different subjects and ask them what they would like to see next in a course. Many gladly respond with their own ideas and thoughts. Matter of fact they are pleased to be a part of the process.
One of those conversations went as follows and originally wasn't aimed at research. This particular student was just asking a question about one of the lessons:
Me - Thanks. Would you believe by the way that you are the first in 2 years that actually let me know they found the window missing??? Now what does that tell us?
Student: Tim, Yow! I'm not even gonna venture a guess!
Me - Man, you are right on top of it. Continue to enjoy. Hey, help me out with something, will ya? I have a few projects in the works. If you don't mind, which do you think would be the most popular or interesting?
The projects I have on the drawing board right now are:
1. Creating construction drawings for a strawbale home
2. Converting a barn into a home
3. Mechanical drawing on a drafting board
4. Machine Shop Drafting 101
5. Industrial drafting 101
6. Survey and Topographical Drafting 101
7. Creating construction drawings for an earthship
Student - These are some very interesting ideas! If I were to pick from your list, I'd probably go in this order:
1. Survey and Topographical Drafting 101
2. Industrial drafting 101
3. Machine Shop Drafting 101
These for the possible future earning potential for students, but for me personally, I'd like:
1. Creating construction drawings for an earthship
2. Converting a barn into a home
3. Creating construction drawings for a strawbale home
That's because of my "Mother Earth News" way of thinking, I do believe!
Then another student joined into the conversation with the following:
Other Student - I would like to see these choices from your list, in no particular order...
mech drawing on a drafting board
machine shop 101
industrial drafting 101
survey/topo draft 101
also if you may consider input... i would like to see a few 101's directed toward indust mech sytems, electrical, boiler plants/chiller plants, hvac etc... just my $.02....ya get what ya pay for...lol
Anyway, I thought I'd share this tidbit with you. Just by including the public in suggesting topics can give you a wealth of information.
The forum I mentioned in this article is located at http://receivedtext.org/forum/ and is wide open to use if you would like to try the same method. The drafting lessons the students I quoted were taking is at http://houseplandrafting101.net
No comments:
Post a Comment