What is an eBook?

An eBook is a digital publication created to be downloaded. eBooks are typically structured in a paragraph form to make them easy to skim through. eBooks are based on ideas, creative and often entertaining. The tone and style of an eBook is casual yet formal, meaning that the content may be dynamic yet professional at the same time. An eBook should be easy to read and straight to point.

And a White Paper?

A White Paper is also a digital publication created for the same purposes, however, where the eBook is concept-based the White Paper is data-based.  White Papers act as data reports, meaning that they may be long, content-heavy and uninteresting to many. White Papers require substantial research and planning. A White Paper is educational and clinical in nature.
eBooks and White Papers are very similar in their purpose, which is boosting your companies credibility as an expert in the industry. They are also a great way to incentivise a call-to-action. Subject is important, focus on identifying and highlighting the needs of readers that may be filled by your company.

The Do’s and Don’ts of writing eBooks and White Papers:

Don’t sell, rather provide value: As tempting as it is to take every opportunity to try and sell your products this may actually count against the credibility of your publication. Not everyone wants to be sold to the whole time, which makes it refreshing to receive content that is fresh and not riddled with promotions.

Plan your work: Planning is especially important in the case of White Papers where the nature of the content is more precise and clinical. A major part of the planning involves research, interviews and case studies. Your publication needs to be justified through substantial evidence, after all we’re trying to build credibility, not lose it.

Create a catchy title: This is especially important for eBooks as a clever title could spark an interest where normally there wouldn’t be any. A great title also makes it easy to identify and share an eBook. Sometimes creating a little controversy might not be a bad idea either.

Design and layout: Careful attention needs to be paid to structure, tone and style. Proper design and layout means the difference between writing an eBook but calling it a White Paper and the other way around. eBooks are paragraph-structured for easy reading. White Papers are text-heavy and may include large amounts of tables and graphs in a report-like structure.
Be creative and entertaining: This applies mainly to eBooks, where the content begs for creativity and flair. Do not, however, break from the structure and tone of the publication. Boost the content with relative illustrations and interesting text.

Encourage sharing: Make the eBook or White Paper as easy as possible to share through the proper use of social media buttons and web syndication. Readers are less reluctant to share content if it’s convenient.

Create a landing page: This makes the distribution of your publications that much more convenient. Include promotional content on the landing page such as ratings, an introduction, social media buttons and testimonials.

Create a valuable exchange: Allow potential leads to download your eBook or White Paper in exchange for their details adding to your database of potential customers. However this technique is not always necessary, for example: Publishing a short eBook for free download may justify exchanging details for a more elaborate one.

Market your work: Make use of social media; don’t be shy to tweet, Facebook or Google plus your latest publication. Promote your eBooks and White Papers through your other content. Tempt potential readers by providing them with a small part of your publication, sometimes something as small as the introduction is enough to tempt anyone.

Throughout the writing process the work and research should be documented consistently. This ensures the publication is precise. This applies especially to White Papers where the document is academic in nature. Every time you create quality content you are providing your users with value. Creating an interesting eBook or handy White Paper, means going that step further in providing quality content to your users. Quality content that trumps your competitors, convinces clients and earns your brand expert credibility.

Previous article in the series: Marketing your Blog; Next article in the series: Writing and Marketing with Case Studies

Got any other tips? Drop a comment or connect with me @JulianKarstel

Julian Karstel is a Digital Marketing Consultant for Sound Idea Digital |@JulianKarstel| Julian@soundidea.co.za | Sound Idea Digital is a full service digital agency |www.soundidea.co.za |