December 2018 was down slightly in the number of jobs I had to complete. There were a total of 22 booked and out of those were 68 articles to be written – also down from November. However, I expected that going into Christmas as I was going to take a short break over the holiday season. Well, that was provided that I was able to complete an extra project I wanted to write and publish before Christmas, if possible.
Drawing From My Experience
There was a project that was gnawing away at me as the end of 2018 approached. I wanted to complete a new eBook title and had a couple of ideas in mind. But they never really got further than that. Then one day in the beginning of December it hit me. I could write an eBook related to podcasting. I just needed some sort of hook to make it interesting.
I did some light research online to see what kind of articles and manuals already existed. I found a few that were clearly content written with affiliate marketing in mind. Essentially, that’s an article that discusses a topic and contains links to products related to the topic. What makes this an affiliate article is that the only products being promoted in the article are those that are providing the author with a commission based on sales from leads generated from the links in the article.
There’s nothing underhanded about this marketing tool. I’ve even written these types of articles for a number of my freelance clients. The downside is that some other great products may not get the exposure they deserve as a result of not being part of a particular affiliate network. Besides, I wanted my eBook to be about a different approach to podcasting and one that did not rely on affiliate links to generate revenue.
So I thought about how I got into podcasting and what was different about my entry into the industry compared to what I was finding online.
I got into podcasting with an expense of under $100. That became the hook I was going to create my eBook around. Once I searched titles and attempted to fit some keywords into it, I had some options. I quickly settled on “How To Start Podcasting – The Beginner’s Guide” and quickly mapped out an outline for the volume.
It Didn’t Take Long To Write
I decided that I wanted this eBook to be close to the length of the last two I had published. They were in the 15,000 word range and I set that as my target. Then I started writing, trying to fit writing sessions around my other commitments. In actual fact, I wrote the entire eBook in just over three sittings and ended up with 12,000+ words.
Then I walked away from it. I had to give my head a break before I went back and proofread the pages and made any corrections. Two days after completing the writing part, I tackled the proofreading part. There were a few things I changed or clarified but for the most part about 95% of the original draft was left as it was. I also only added links to my own projects.
Number 7 And 16
“How To Start Podcasting – The Beginner’s Guide” is my 7th eBook. It also happens to be the 16th manuscript I have self-published since 1987. I have plans for at least two more in 2019 as I really like the direction I have gone with my eBooks. I refer to them as basically being ‘how-to’ volumes and I like writing about different topics in a teaching manner.
That was the biggest job for me during the month and all I need to do now is put some effort into promoting it. I uploaded the finished manuscript to Amazon on December 24 and it went live late that evening. That meant I had met my deadline and was able to just kick back and relax for a couple of days with Brenda doing not much more than snacking and watching DVDs.
The Coming New Year
I expect to be writing a lot for a lot of new and existing clients in 2019. I already have a couple of large jobs coming together just for January. Next month also marks my 5th anniversary as a ghostwriter and I see no end in sight to the amount of work that will be coming my way. I may have thought at first this was going to be a ‘temporary’ job but I was obviously wrong.
Drawing From My Experience
There was a project that was gnawing away at me as the end of 2018 approached. I wanted to complete a new eBook title and had a couple of ideas in mind. But they never really got further than that. Then one day in the beginning of December it hit me. I could write an eBook related to podcasting. I just needed some sort of hook to make it interesting.
I did some light research online to see what kind of articles and manuals already existed. I found a few that were clearly content written with affiliate marketing in mind. Essentially, that’s an article that discusses a topic and contains links to products related to the topic. What makes this an affiliate article is that the only products being promoted in the article are those that are providing the author with a commission based on sales from leads generated from the links in the article.
There’s nothing underhanded about this marketing tool. I’ve even written these types of articles for a number of my freelance clients. The downside is that some other great products may not get the exposure they deserve as a result of not being part of a particular affiliate network. Besides, I wanted my eBook to be about a different approach to podcasting and one that did not rely on affiliate links to generate revenue.
So I thought about how I got into podcasting and what was different about my entry into the industry compared to what I was finding online.
I got into podcasting with an expense of under $100. That became the hook I was going to create my eBook around. Once I searched titles and attempted to fit some keywords into it, I had some options. I quickly settled on “How To Start Podcasting – The Beginner’s Guide” and quickly mapped out an outline for the volume.
It Didn’t Take Long To Write
I decided that I wanted this eBook to be close to the length of the last two I had published. They were in the 15,000 word range and I set that as my target. Then I started writing, trying to fit writing sessions around my other commitments. In actual fact, I wrote the entire eBook in just over three sittings and ended up with 12,000+ words.
Then I walked away from it. I had to give my head a break before I went back and proofread the pages and made any corrections. Two days after completing the writing part, I tackled the proofreading part. There were a few things I changed or clarified but for the most part about 95% of the original draft was left as it was. I also only added links to my own projects.
Number 7 And 16
“How To Start Podcasting – The Beginner’s Guide” is my 7th eBook. It also happens to be the 16th manuscript I have self-published since 1987. I have plans for at least two more in 2019 as I really like the direction I have gone with my eBooks. I refer to them as basically being ‘how-to’ volumes and I like writing about different topics in a teaching manner.
That was the biggest job for me during the month and all I need to do now is put some effort into promoting it. I uploaded the finished manuscript to Amazon on December 24 and it went live late that evening. That meant I had met my deadline and was able to just kick back and relax for a couple of days with Brenda doing not much more than snacking and watching DVDs.
The Coming New Year
I expect to be writing a lot for a lot of new and existing clients in 2019. I already have a couple of large jobs coming together just for January. Next month also marks my 5th anniversary as a ghostwriter and I see no end in sight to the amount of work that will be coming my way. I may have thought at first this was going to be a ‘temporary’ job but I was obviously wrong.
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