Researching is good, a failure to do so is not.

By Brian Holte
Posted Friday, December 31, 2004

When creating an ebook how well do you research the topic before hand?

It’s absolutely crucial that you research what problems your target market is having and what they’re spending money on.

The time to pay attention to detail is here.

If you don’t research how will you know what problems exist in your target market, what their recommending for products to try, pay even closer attention to the dollars involved. Hope fully they’re purchasing pattern will lead into 3 digit numbers.

This is why probing for the information you need you’ll be in a better position to analyze the information to see if it’s a worthwhile project to start, if not junk it.

Case in point, I recently had a young lad email me and explain he was a first time author of a 30 pg ebook targeted at teenagers.

He realized that because his target market is teenagers and teenagers do not purchase as frequently online as adults do that he was in a bit of a bind.

What was he to do?
He’d put a bit of work into his project and knowing what he does now, he has to decide whether to sell or give it away. He needed some positive feedback, nothing to devastating. Instead of targeting students he could alter the ebook towards another target market, a market with money to spend and a hunger for his type of info product. Just a little copying, pasting, and editing.

Praise those accomplishments:
The first thing I did was congratulate him for being a first time author.

Good topic, wrong market for low income earners:
The topic he was covering was actually a good topic, but he realized after the fact that he had probably created a dud for an ebook because of the restrictions imposed on his target market...lack of access to purchasing power.

What would you do in his position?
His question to me was what he should do with the ebook. He had considered giving it away to people as an incentive for them to sign up for his newsletter, or selling the ebook at $5.00 a copy.

Indication of his problems:
I assumed that because he only put a price tag of $5.00 on the book that he was either not comfortable with the content he placed in the ebook OR that he was selling himself short. I would assume the latter.

Summary:

The collection of data, decision time. Once you’ve collected what you think is all the info required via surveys, it is now time for the decision making process

Why researching the right way the first time will save you hair loss and disappointment:

This is why doing a thorough job in the researching part of your work is so important. If he would have put a little more thought into who his target market was he wouldn’t have created a dud for an info product.

Lack of researching is the number one mistake that most new authors make, take your time researching...what’s the rush?

About the Author
Brian is a freelance writer and publisher of The Ebook King Chronicles. Brian’s goal is to give you more ideas for your next project, step by step. (www.theebookking.com)