E-Books are big
business on the Internet these days. If you are not familiar with e-books,
they are simply books (usually less content than a printed book) that are
available for immediate download after purchase from a website. E-books are
great because they are easy to create, free to distribute and have a high
profit margin.
We see them everywhere. They come
from our schools, churches, neighborhood association, and travel
agents. Some we toss, some we read. You probably can name at least
three newsletters you frequently set aside, knowing you could come
up with better stuff than that. Why not try? If you like to write
and can do a little page layout, the newsletter business may work
for you. Your newsletters don't need to contain elaborate graphics
or a lot of color, but must be made up of clear, well written
articles containing valuable information to your readers. Examples
of compelling material includes information that will help readers
in the following ways:
Quality of life improvement
Strengthen personal and professional relationships
Improve job performance
Facilitate financial growth
When writing articles, write copy that will catch attention from
the very first line, and always include answers to the following
questions:
Who is involved?
What is happening?
Where will it, or did it happen?
Why is this important?
Why did it happen?
How did it take place, or how am I expected to respond?
Layout is as important as the writing. You want your newsletter
to have an easy to read format with a natural flow to it. Articles
should be arranged in such a way that the reader's eye is drawn to
where it needs to be. To produce a nice layout, use common layout
software programs like PageMaker or Quark Xpress. If you don't have
the experience or budget for the software, do a traditional paste up
and take it to a printer.
You can independently produce a newsletter, then market it
through your own website
and with direct mail. Or instead, you might prefer to do newsletters
for corporations and
small businesses. Since organizations will likely want to see a
portfolio or samples, you
could volunteer to do a newsletter for a local non-profit agency.
That way you not only
have a sample, but a solid reference if needed. Another benefit of
producing newsletters
for companies is that you can have all printer costs billed directly
to the client, saving
you from having to pay the money upfront.
With minimal start-up costs, you could earn great money. If you
produce 6 newsletters a
month, and each newsletter takes 15 hours to produce, at $25 per
hour, you would bring
home $2250 per month working just part-time before subtracting
minimal reoccurring
expenses.
