Overview
How to Launch the **** Out of Your Ebook is an 113 page ebook from Naomi Dunford (of IttyBiz fame) and Dave Navarro (The Launch Coach himself). It’s suitable for beginners, but contains lots of high powered advice for folks like me who already have an ebook or two under their belt.
The price
$97. Definitely on the high side for an ebook … though you’re getting two experts here, and some very in-depth and practicality-focused advice.
What’s included
How to Launch the **** Out of Your Ebook takes a step-by-step approach and covers five modules (the first two are shortish, the other three much more in-depth):
- Module 1: Analysing the Market for Your Ebook
- Module 2: Finding and Wooing Your Ebook Buyers
- Module 3: Setting Up Your Mailing List
- Module 4: Writing Your Ebook
- Module 5: Launching Your Ebook
As well as this, Dave and Naomi include ten worksheets in the ebook and also in separate PDFs and Word documents, to get you thinking and taking action.
There are also three recorded Q&A sessions, each around an hour long, to give you further information and advice, with Dave and Naomi answering questions from early buyers of this ebook.
Good stuff
Overall, I loved this. I was a bit dubious about the price when I bought it, and I was worried it wouldn’t live up to my expectations and to the good things I’d heard (this is pretty much the de facto go-to resource for ebook writers!) … and I was pleasantly relieved. 🙂
Extremely Thorough
I’d had the impression, based on the title, that this ebook was purely focused on the launching process. In fact, Dave and Naomi have loads of help here on actually writing your ebook, and before that, on figuring out a profitable area and building up a receptive audience.
The step-by-step structure of the ebook, and the accompanying worksheets, made it a very comprehensive guide. Throughout the ebook, there are prompts encouraging you to turn to the worksheets, so you can work through this in a very step-by-step manner.
I was also impressed that Dave includes extras like the Q&A calls (based on questions asked by real live readers of this ebook).
Two Experts Spilling Secrets
If you’ve not come across Naomi and Dave before, you may not know how supremely qualified they are to write this ebook.
Naomi Dunford runs the very popular micro-business blog IttyBiz, packed with marketing advice and tips for tiny businesses (the one-person-working-in-a-back-bedroom type). Her first ebook, SEO School, made over $12,000 in a single day – you can read the story on the sales page.
Dave “The Launch Coach” Navarro does consulting and practical work with people launching new products, and is the person to go to for launch advice.
They’re great individually, and I’ve bought a number of information products from each of them. Combined, they make an awesome team.
Encouraging and Practical Advice
Both Dave and Naomi are extremely honest here. They recognise that writing an ebook is a difficult task, and one which often involves the occasional crisis of confidence. I found their advice on outlining and actually writing the ebook itself especially useful – and the fact that you’re getting two people’s thoughts worked really well here.
Dave and Naomi don’t talk down, or go off into breezy abstractions. They write clearly and engagingly, with warmth and humour, and make the task of writing, launching and selling an ebook seem much less daunting.
Bad stuff
There wasn’t much negative to say about this – as I mentioned, I was impressed by how well it stood up to all the good things that I’d heard! My only criticisms are:
Quite Pricy
In fairness, it’d cost you a lot more than $97 to hire Dave or Naomi to go through a fraction of this material with you. (Dave’s current consulting rate is $250/hour, Naomi’s is $500/hour.) However, if you’re new to the ebook-writing world, $97 is a big chunk of cash to put down up front.
A Little Overwhelming
If you followed every step and piece of advice here, you’d be doing a heck of a lot … and probably far more than you actually need if you’re launching a smallish ebook. My ebooks fall into the $10 – $30 ish range, and frankly, creating a bunch of free content and having a huge five day launch and so on would be overkill.
On the other hand, I did find that by implementing just a handful of tips (particularly about getting feedback and lining up reviewers), I saw increased sales. So long as you’re not going to get obsessively Type-A about following everything to the letter, you might as well have slightly more advice than you need.
Verdict
So you’d love to write an ebook and rake in lots of dollars from happy customers. Should you buy this?
I’d say yes … with the caveat that if you’re new to the world of blogs online business, and just dipping your toes in, this is probably a bit much for you right now. Get Kelly Kingman’s The Sticky eBook Formula instead, have a go at one small ebook, then come back to How to Launch the **** Out of Your Ebook at a later stage.
If you’ve got a bit of experience, though, or if you just want all the information you can get at your fingertips in an easily digestible manner, go check out the sales page and see if this is for you (it probably is!)
There’s a 60-day guarantee which means you can buy How to Launch…, try it out for two months, and ask for a no-hassle refund if you feel it isn’t right for you.
Note: I’m a happy affiliate for How to Launch the **** Out of Your Ebook. 🙂
