How to Make Money Printing and Publishing Your Own Little Booklets

The saying that great things come in small packages holds true for booklet publishing. Many people who go into publishing think they have to publish a whole book, which can be a very time-consuming and expensive undertaking. Booklet publishing is a much simpler way to test the publishing waters and may be more profitable in some circumstances.

When you publish a booklet, you share valuable needed information with a reader that he is willing to pay for. The booklets that do the best either offer hard-to-find information or a totally new spin on old information that the reader can't find for free. Booklets range in price from $2.95 to $9.95 so they are an impulse purchase.

Instructions

1. Pick and research your topic. Some topics have more profit potential than others. Weight loss and home businesses are two of the more profitable broad topics but you can make money in many niches. Know your audience and how you'll reach them before writing.

2. Write your booklet. Compile all of your gathered knowledge into an information-packed 12 to 32 pages. Booklets of this type are often called "special reports." Be sure you aren't writing fluff. It all has to be meat to be worth someone's money.

3. Print your booklet. Since booklets are all about information and not aesthetics, you can use desktop publishing to print and staple your booklets at home. If you plan to have your booklets professionally printed, have them printed in bulk through an offset printer like gotprint.com.

4. Set up a website and a shopping cart through e-junkie.com1 to process orders. Be sure to add shipping and handling charges. This is especially important with lower priced ebooks if you want to make a profit. With higher priced ebooks, it's personal preference. You'll make more profit with shipping and handling added onto every booklet, but you may sell more higher priced booklets if you cover shipping yourself.

5. Advertise. Drive traffic to your order page through online grassroots marketing efforts such as social networking via Twitter and Facebook and participation in forums related to your booklet topic. Advertise in online newsletters that cater to your audience, or in the classified ads section of print publications.

Tips & Warnings

• Some booklet publishers prefer to publish only an ebook. This cuts out all materials and shipping costs and raises profit. If you use a company like e-junkie.com, you can automate the entire process so the only things you have to focus on are writing, publishing, and marketing.

• Once you've successfully done a booklet, you might want to try a larger information product. You can create booklets to give away as free e-books to build consumer trust and raise sales of your larger information product.

• Some people add shipping and handling into the cost of the ebook to give one flat rate. For example, instead of saying $2.95 plus $2.00 shipping and handling, they'd just say the booklet costs $4.95. This ends up netting you the same profit while allowing the buyer to feel they're getting a bargain and "free" shipping. Experiment both ways to see which way readers respond better to your booklet.

• Determine all production costs, including mailers and postage, before pricing your booklet to ensure that you turn a profit.

• Though companies like gotprint.com offer fantastic deals in bulk, they may offer fancier printing than you need. You may be able to save money and still end up with an attractive booklet using your local office supply store's printing and binding services.

References

• E-junkie
• Gotprint.com