Still plugging along going through all the accumulation of ebooks on my hard drive. I think I’ve said it before - what a lot of junk I’ve collected! There are some good ones, though, that I downloaded and haven’t look at again until now, so I’m getting them into my listing process. Which brings me to today’s post.

I have a lot of advice from marketers that basically says “just get some books loaded up to eBay… But they don’t get into the actual, physical, online process to make that happen. It isn’t like I can prop the book up onto a chair, take a picture, and be ready to ship it out in the mail. Digital processes will take a lot of work out of that process eventually, but getting there takes some doing.

I did get a video from one of my newsletters that went through some of the actual steps you have to take, but there still were a few things he assumed everyone knew. He showed how to link to a picture in your ad, but he didn’t show how he’d actually put that picture in place on his website for the link - a process that would have left me scratching my head a couple of months ago.

So, here is the step-by-step process I’ve developed for myself. It’s probably redundant and a bit anal, but I’ve found if I don’t have a clear path for what I’ve done and what still needs doing, I get lost.

1. Find the product. I know, this is a “doh” kind of thing. But as I said, I have a bunch of junk to go through. I don’t want to put junk out there - the whole point is to give value and build some credibility. If you buy my book and it stinks, aren’t you going to be leery about buying anything from me again? And why would you sign up for or stay on my list?

2. Make sure I have everything I need in order to sell the product. This includes, of course, the resell rights, but also checking what else is in the package. A picture of the cover of the book is essential (otherwise the eBay listing will have one of those little green cameras - how enticing is that?). If there isn’t a separate image, but the first page has a cover, I copy the picture to my image processor (IrfanView - it’s free) and then save a copy into the file. I also check each piece of information in the file. I seem to have uploaded a bunch with a text note advertising a site I don’t know about, so I’ll remove that file. I check the sales letter, if there is one, and the thank you page, to be sure they don’t promise something not included in the file. I note what kind of rights are included and where they are in the product file (in the book itself, on the sales page, in an included text file), and enter that information in my database. You need to have this if eBay - or the author - questions your rights to sell the product.

Some of the files include a rebranding opportunity. This means they include a small application that will change the pdf file to include my affiliate links or my website. If that is the case, everything needs to be unzipped, then the rebrander utilized. I create a new file so I can put the rebranded product and all the sales material together (without the rebrander and rebrandable copy of the book - I don’t want subsequent users to be able to cover up my rebrand).

3. I have two files I use for the upload process, one for images and one for the zipped folders with the product. I copy the cover image into the images folder, then zip up my product folder and move it into that upload folder. Now I list the exact folder name and image name (ebook.zip, image.jpg) into my database.

 4. Make my thank you page. I’ve already made a template, so all I have to do is fill in the title of the product and the link to the download. It already has the offer of a bonus for signup, the signup box, and an ad for an affiliate product. I might also add another bonus here, if I have one. Copy the .htm name to my database.

5. Upload the products, thank you pages, and images to their appropriate folders on my web server. I use FileZilla as my ftp (a free and extremely simple to use system).

6. Move the products, thank you pages, and images out of the upload file on my computer to the website folder on my computer. I want to be able to see exactly what I have without going back to my server every time. This is probably the redundant part, but it’s helpful to me for building my book listing for TurboLister. And it works a whole lot better than having a pile of scribbled notes around me on my desk. Voice of experience here; I’ve probably wasted weeks looking for that little note I remember writing but can’t find now.

7. Open my sales page template and fill in the sales information for the book. Generally I list the contents page information and a picture of the ecover. Many marketers just copy the sales page that came with the product, and I’ll do that for some of the products. Put a copy of the sales page in the desktop folder for the site.

8. Open TurboLister and open the template for ebooks. The template is prefilled for this being a digital product, no shipping, gallery picture option (the picture that appears next to the listing), and digital delivery information. Then all you have to do is create your sales listing title (using all the keywords/selling words you can), check that the starting price and/or buy it now price are what you want, and then copy your sales information in. Copy the exact sales title to the database. Save the listing to the TurboList upload queue.

9. Open SmartDD. Don’t know if I’ve talked about this before. It’s a program on my website that coordinates with paypal to deliver digital products automatically when paypal says there’s a payment. This is the reason for having the exact sales title; it’s what triggers SmartDD to send the confirmation and download email. So now I need to list the title into the program. I’ve already edited the emails that are to be sent; SmartDD fills in the product name, eBay buyer & item id, etc. Full automation.

10. Schedule the uploads on TurboLister. My goal is to have 10 new products listed each day.

If you’re brand new, this is going to seem overwhelming and impossible to do. Just remember, if you’re setting out to build your eBay eBook business, take one small step at a time. Find some free books with resale rights, or better yet, go to eBay and buy some cheap ones. You can find lots for 99 cents, and you want to start getting feedback anyway. While you’re doing that, check how ebooks are listed and what the vendors are doing that makes you want to buy the book. Making money on eBay is a very popular subject, so you can find some stuff that teaches as well.

As the gurus keep saying, just get started.

“Winners take imperfect action while
losers are still perfecting their plans.”

That comes from one of the marketing emails I received a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, I wrote it down without crediting the author. It has stayed in my mind, probably because it hits so close to home.

I did get my AboutMe page up and in a form that’s okay. I diddled a bit but now have vowed to leave it alone. So now I’m working through some videos about getting a template going for turbolister (if you don’t know what turbolister is, check eBay’s tools).

Here’s a blatent endorsement. Take a look at Easy Profit Auctions. I talk about it a little on the resources page, too, but I’m going to have to add some more to the description. There are hours of videos, a ton of resources and bonuses, and an active, extremely helpful forum. I keep going back to my membership there, because it’s so helpful.

Anyway, back to the losers perfecting thing. I was trying to get my stuff organized to download, but I kept going back to the bonus I was offering for sign-up. It’s a good product, but somewhere along the way the formatting got screwed up. It probably won’t bother that many people - and I know that many of the folks who get it will file it somewhere and never look at it. But it bothered me to put out that kind of product. So my perfecting took up another afternoon (well, that and Animal Planet’s Meerkat Manor marathon). In my own defense, this time I found a good product that I could rebrand. So even though it’s a freebie, if somebody does read it and then goes to the author’s web site and buys something, I’ll make a bit of money.

And that’s supposed to be the whole point.

I don’t know what my problem’s been with getting my about me page done. Reading too much, I suspect. Trying to see what others have done. Trying to figure out how to make a really GOOD page - whatever that is.

I did spend a lot of time looking around at other AboutMe pages on eBay, and I finally figured out that just getting the darn thing up is what’s important, and try to provide something at least a little bit interesting so people would read through and maybe sign up.

Here’s what I ended up with: SmilingPartners AboutMe. It doesn’t have bells and whistles, not even a picture at this point, but I do get that little pretty icon next to my name. And there is a place for people to sign up.

I had some trouble getting it set up at eBay. First off, there’s just the trouble with finding the link to the page to get set up. You can go to another seller’s about me and scroll to the bottom to get the link, but if you don’t know another seller’s id, one with an about me page, your kind of left in the dark. I finally went to the help page, then about me help, then to the bottom of that page.

Then I tried to use their template and inserted the code I needed for my sign up form. Got to the end and clicked the submit button. Nothing. This happened a couple of times. Finally, I figured out to open my nvu html editor, made a page inside a table, and that was successful. Still don’t know what I was doing wrong, but it’s done now, and done before I threw my laptop through the window!

I think I’ve talked about nvu before. It’s a wysiwyg (what you see is what you get) editor for building html pages. It’s free, and if you don’t have an editor, you should get it. Google nvu, download and install it, and then google nvu training or nvu instruction. I know there are all kinds of marketers out there telling you that you don’t need a web page, and you may figure out how to make money without one (just not as much as the rest of us). But you will be surprised how handy it can be to have some familiarity with html and site building. Promise yourself a few hours to at least investigate.

I can finally take AboutMe off my to-do list. Now I’m heading to TurboLister to try to master that. If successful I’ll have a few books actually listed for auction today!

Holy cats! I knew I was behind on posting here, but 11 days? Well, seems I’ve been doing some more of that wringing of hands, putting off the work that still needs doing before I can start to sell stuff.

I need to make my About Me page for eBay. This shouldn’t be a big deal, but for some reason I can’t get my head around it. I need to decide what my allowed 3 links will be, I need to set up another aweber response system (I suspect this is the one my subconscious is avoiding), I need to decide on a header and make the template so all my auctions are identifiable as mine and I can start developing a sort of eBay branding.

I need to load up pages in TurboLister (a free program from eBay to make listing products easier, at least in the long run after you have everything set up). Again, this shouldn’t be that big of a deal either; I think it’s just that I’ll be using a new application and that I have to figure out some new techie stuff. I did finally get some images uploaded for some of the books I want to sell, and that’s a good thing (you wouldn’t think of trying to sell something without a picture, would you?).

But then I figured out that what really has me stymied is that I don’t have a system to keep track of everything. So, after scouring the web to see if there was a piece of software that would do what I needed, I finally figured out that all I needed to do was to set up database to keep track of things.

It’s a pretty simple form really, but I already feel so much more organized that my brain can start working again toward the goal of actually getting these listings going. I set up the database with these headings:

Product Title (copied and pasted from what was actually uploaded to minimize errors).

Book Up -  a simple tick to show that the book has been uploaded to my web site.

Thank you page - again copied and pasted from the uploaded file.

Thank You Up - a tick when it’s uploaded to the web page.

Image - copied and pasted for the correct link.

Image Up - another tick system.

Rights - what kind of rights are attached (rr, mrr, plr) and where the documentation is, i.e., in the product or book, a separate txt file, or on the sales page included with the package.

Turbo - a tick indicates it’s been listed

DD - SmartDD is the digital delivery system I’ll be using. This is another tick system for the upload.

Notes - anything extra I need to see right off. For instance, I have a piece of software, that needs some instructions along with it. I won’t list it until I’ve found or written the manual.

So, now I can see in seconds exactly what chores I have to do to make each book ready. I think that this disorganization had as much to do with my unease and hand-wringing as anything. I see that I have several thank you letters to complete and upload, that the pictures are loaded up and have the correct links, and that I know exactly where the resale rights are, should there be any question.

And so finally, it’s back to work and doing something productive. We’ll talk later.

I have a free ebook for you today that I think anyone doing business on the internet should have on their “must read” list. It isn’t all-inclusive, but it has important information about some of your legal rights and obligations in dealing with resale rights.

This is an interview with an attorney who specializes in internet law, and it covers some of the basic issues you need to know about. You can download the book here. You’ll want to put it someplace you can find it again, because you’ll want to re-read it as you get further involved in resale rights and reselling ebooks.

I was astounded yesterday while browsing through another giveaway site when I came across a book that was using a picture of Johnny Depp from one of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies. I don’t remember the name of the ebook, other than it had something to do with being a pirate on the internet, and when I clicked on the link, it didn’t work.  I’m thinking that the seller got some sort of communication from the Disney company (and you really don’t want to mess with those people) that she couldn’t use the image.

There seems to be a misconception out there that if something’s on the web, it’s free to use. WRONG! If you don’t have specific authorization to use something, you can be sued. And you’ll lose. And if you don’t have your business set up correctly, you can lose everything - your house, your savings, your car. Granted, for things to get that far, you’d have to have done something really egregious, but at the very least you’ll be out the money it costs to hire an attorney to fight the lawsuit.

So, read this report and let it be a starting point for your education about the law and the internet. You don’t have to get a degree in this stuff, but you do need to know the basics and know enough to know when to ask questions.