How to help your e-book get shared via word-of-mouse

     Wondering how to pull all that off? Here are some tips for executing a successful e-book.

• Present your e-book in a landscape format, rather than the white paper’s typical portrait format. This design choice signals to your readers that the content inside is interesting, unlike a boring old white paper.
• Include interesting graphics and images with the text.
• Consider writing in a lighter, more conversational style than you would in a white paper, marketing brochure, or Web page.
• E-books (as viral marketing tools) should always be free and should never have a registration requirement.
• Think like a publisher by understanding your audience. Consider what market problems your audience has, and develop a topic that appeals to these readers.
• Try to make the e-book easy to read. Keep things fun and interesting.
• Open with a story. Use examples and stories throughout.
• Find a great title that grabs the reader’s attention. Use a subtitle to describe what the e-book will deliver.
• Hire a professional editor to help you through multiple drafts and a proofreader to finalize the copy. Have the e-book professionally designed.
• Put a Creative Commons license on the content so people know they can freely share your copyrighted material.
• Create a landing page from which people can download your e-book. For an example, check out the Pragmatic Marketing, Inc. e-book The Secrets of Market-Driven Leaders: How technology company CEOs create success (and why most fail) by Craig Stull, Phil Myers, and David Meerman Scott.
• Promote the e-book like crazy. Offer it on your Web site with easy-to-find links. If you have a blog, write about it there. Add a link to your employees’ email signatures. Get partners to offer links.
• To drive viral marketing, alert bloggers, analysts, and members of the mainstream media that the e-book is available, and send them a download link. Don’t send the actual PDF document directly unless asked.

     This is a new world for marketers and corporate communicators. Never before has a medium allowed an idea (or a product) to spread instantly to millions of consumers the way that the Web does. E-books are true examples of thought leadership at work, and they hold the potential to influence many thousands of people in ways that traditional marketing cannot.

     E-books are a great way to dip your toes into the word-of-mouse ocean. If you’re a thought leader—a person recognized as having innovative and important ideas—go ahead and write an e-book.

     Source: The New Rules of Viral Marketing (David Meerman Scott) e-book