You've Got To Be Joking!

I don't know about you, but I get a lot of joke stuff
arriving in my email. I've got one buddy in particular
who hardly lets a day go by without sending something.

Sometimes they're side-splittingly hilarious, and other
times they just don't make the grade -- it's a question
of taste I suppose.

Anyway, I was cleaning up my folders in Outlook Express
recently to make some space on my hard disk (I've got a
whopping 20 Gb and I'm already getting low on space --
must be all those MP3's...)

Well, anyway, I knew that my 'Jokes' folder was taking
up a lot of memory (it's full of images, video files
and so on), so I decided that a major cull was needed.

As I went down the list, I had no problem deleting the
turkeys, but it broke my heart to delete the jokes that
could still make me laugh second time around.

And then it hit me. Why not make an ebook full of all
the funniest stuff? That way, I can delete them from
my hard disk and pack them all neatly into a single,
compressed ebook file. And, thus, the idea for "101
Hilarious Jokes To eMail Your Friends" was born.

It was never my intention to actually sell this ebook,
(which is why you'll find it free on the BizzyDays
website). However, it was never my expectation either,
that it would prove to be such a resounding success.

Sure, I knew it would be popular with visitors. After
all a joke collection is always a popular idea and, if
it's free, well hey, all the better.

The point though is, I never fully appreciated just
how much additional traffic this funny little book
could generate. I get at least 100 extra visitors
EVERY DAY thanks to a book that I just put together
to save disk space.

Not bad for two hours of enjoyable 'work'.

So what's the moral of the story?

Well there are three of them:

MORAL# 1:
Free ebooks are a terrific way to promote any online
business. You can read more about that in a previous
article called "Are you using the 4-letter word?" which
is available here:
http://bizzydays.com/reprint_rights/reprint.htm

MORAL# 2:
People like jokes! Humor is always in demand and, yes,
a lot of people are willing to pay for it.

But here's a tip if you plan on selling joke ebooks --
don't make a general "101 Jokes" ebook. It would sell
some copies, but not enough. A far better approach is
to target SPECIFIC audiences.

Instead of '101 Hilarious Jokes To eMail Your Friends'
why not "101 Hilarious Jokes For Expectant Moms",
"101 Hilarious Jokes For Lawyers With A Conscience" or
"101 Hilarious Jokes For Dairy Farmers".

Okay, I admit, that the second title wouldn't have much
of a market :-), but imagine the novelty gift idea value
of the others.

Okay, specialist joke books will take you longer to
compile than general joke books, but think of the fun
you'll have along the way.

Once you've finished compiling an appropriate collection
of jokes for the target market, all you've got to do is
ensure that you aim your promotion at the right people
and, hey presto, you're in the money!

MORAL# 3:
There is an infinite number of ideas for top-selling
ebooks and coming up with those ideas is much easier
than you may think. And, once you know how to pluck
great ideas out of thin air, your success in ebook
publishing is a simple matter of promoting your ebooks
to the right target market.

Have fun!

About the Author

Michael Hopkins is owner of BizzyDays eBook Publications.
Visit now to download original ebooks for FREE at:
http://www.bizzydays.com
This article first appeared in Michael's newsletter 'Ebook Times'.
To subscribe visit: http://www.bizzydays.com/free_newsletter.htm