Ebooks are a common and easy way for consultants, and experts to promote their services, build up their reputation as an expert in their field, and generate an additional income stream. The problem is, most consultants are not experienced writers, and without the help of outsourcing their project, most of them would not even consider creating an ebook.



Outsourcing, or hiring a ghost writer to write the ebook for the consultant will save them time, and in most cases, produce a more professional product than the consultant could ever create for themselves. However, the waters can be a bit choppy for the consultant new to creating ebooks and ghost writing. Following this simple secret should keep the boat from rocking too much in the waters of the ghost writing ocean.

Be sure to avoid the bait and switch if the consultant is using an online outsource clearinghouse such as scriptlance or other clearing house site. The way these clearing houses work, is a merchant, or buyer who wants to have an ebook written, places a project online describing the ebook and the details (number of pages, subject matter, etc.) Bidders, or contractors, who are located world-wide, will then bid on the project and place their bids in the buyer's project area. The buyer then looks over the bids, and selects a contractor, or writer based on whatever the criteria that is important to the buyer.

For the any buyer whose main audience is U.S. based, their requirements will typically include having the ebook written in common U.S. English. If it isn't, then it should be a requirement because buyers come from all over the world, and their command of spoken U.S. English isn't always as high as a buyer of an ebook project might like it to be.

In order to see what the contractor, or writer's style is like, it is a good idea to get a sample of their writing. Instead of using samples they provide. Have them write an article based on the project specifications. Include, topic, length, format (a how to, a narrative, etc.) and maybe keyword density. The buyer should be prepared to pay the writer for the sample, as they are doing work for you. Another benefit of having them write a sample article is that you can use the article to promote the ebook that is being written, so it would be best to have them write the sample article on the same topic as the ebook.

The bait and switch comes in after the buyer receives the sample article. What some writers do, is they have someone else write the sample article for them. This other individual usually has the credentials that the merchant is looking for and will usually do a very good job on the sample article. They will also offer to do the job at a very reasonable price, and in most cases, will tend to win the project.

Once the project begins, or very soon after the project begins, the style of writing suddenly changes and reads as if it is a bad translation into English. What happened is the project winner has switched writers on the buyer, and has used a cheaper writer who's command of the English language isn't as good. So what is a buyer to do?

A buyer can choose to terminate the project if the quality of the content doesn't improve immediately. They can then re-bid the project and choose a different writer. Or a buyer can choose to continue having the project completed and then do the rewrites and editing themselves. The second option is usually chosen by buyers who have a lot of time on their hands, are very familiar with the subject of the ebook, and like to write, but have difficulty coming up with an ebook structure. Most buyers will tend to choose the first option as the reason they are outsourcing their ebook in the first place is they don't know the subject and don't have much time.

The best way to not get caught in the bait and switch is to avoid it all together. Buyers should put very explicit instructions in their projects that whoever writes the sample article is the writer that will be expected to complete the project. The buyer will be selected on a large part based on the article and a change in the writer gives the buyer absolute right to cancel the project without payment.

Make it clear that the writer should bid on the project based on this criteria. This should screen out writers who practice the bait and switch techniques.

It is important for the buyer to have the writer send them the results on at the minimum, a weekly basis for longer projects, and every few days for shorter projects. That way, the buyer can catch errors much earlier in the project and have them corrected before the project is complete. This type of communication also promotes good will between the buyer and the writer, and will usually shorten the overall project time.

Entering the world of ebook publishing can be exciting and also open up many doors for the merchant or consultant. Navigating through the pitfalls isn't so difficult as one might think, and avoiding them will certainly make your ebook project much more enjoyable and profitable. There are many sites you can visit that have more information about ebooks and web content such as http://allwebcontent.com and http://specialistebooks.com . Visit these sites today to begin educating yourself about how consultants and merchants can use ebooks to help build their businesses.

Copyright 2006 B Hopkins