Make Money Giving Away (Instead of Selling) Your E-Book About the Outdoors

The idea of residual income is what draws many people to write an e-book. It's no secret that e-books are, when done correctly, can be a great source of residual income. There are a million e-books out there about how to write an e-book, how to make money selling e-books, and every other combination; This not one of those articles. In this article you will learn how you can make residual income by GIVING AWAY free e-books about hiking, camping, climbing, and what ever other outdoor topics you cover on your outdoor website or blog.

You could send some time writing a full length e-book about hiking trails in a certain area or a how to climb e-book. The problem with those is, you have to get people to buy them in order for you to make money. I know what you are thinking, how am I supposed to make money with my outdoor e-book if I just give it away?

The simple answer, affiliates.

With affiliates, you can make money simply by sending people to certain retailers. The retailer will pay you for helping them make a sale.

Here's how it works; You write a e-book about all things outdoors, include various affiliate links through out the book, you give the e-book away for free, people then read your e-book and hopefully click on your affiliate links, they buy something via your affiliate link and then you get paid your referral fee.

So, the more e-books you give away, the more opportunity you have to make money.

In this article you will learn; how to get outdoor affiliate links, what the best outdoor affiliate links are, how to incorporate outdoor affiliate links into your e-book, and ideas for promoting your outdoor e-book.

Outdoor E-Books - How to Get Affiliate Links

Finding affiliate links can be as simple as visiting some of the major outdoor product retailers websites. These major retailers, such as REI or Bacl\kcountry.com, usually have a affiliate application on the website. You can certainly go this route and sign up for affiliate status at the different outdoor retailer websites individually, but I recommend and affiliate network such as Commission Junction.

Commission Junction is affiliate portal where you can view, search, and apply for affiliate links all in one spot. The website even tracks your earning from all of your outdoor affiliates. This way you have a one stop destination for all your affiliate needs.

You will first need to create an account with Commission Junction. Once you have completed that step, you will be able to search for affiliate links associated with outdoors. The question is, how do you know which outdoor affiliates to join up with?

Outdoor E-Books - How to Choose Affiliate Links

Choosing affiliate links really depends on the type of outdoor e-book you will be writing. The first step is to research what outdoor affiliates are out there. Sign in to you Commission Junction account and look up "outdoor" advertiser. This will give you a good idea of what types of affiliates are out there for outdoor topics.

You could also consider looking at setting up affiliates with people in the travel section, books, or even electronics. It all depends on what you are writing your e-book about and how many links you want to add to it.

When researching outdoor affiliates, there are a few things you want to look at.

The first thing you are sure to want to look at is the incentive. The incentive is how the affiliate will pay you. Some outdoor affiliates will pay a flat fee, while other may pay a percentage.

Your first instinct might be to sign up for the outdoor affiliates that have the largest incentives. Keep this in mind though; the larger the incentive, the harder it is to sell. Try sticking to one outdoor affiliate that offers a large incentive and then see about adding a few, smaller, outdoor affiliates.

Outdoor E-Books - How to Incorporate Affiliate Links

When creating an outline for your e-book, keep the outdoor affiliates you researched earlier in mind. See if there are any ideas that just jump out at you as a possible way to add affiliate links.

Lets go over an example:

Say you were writing a e-book about getting started in backpacking. One of your chapters might be, "Gear Needed". In your gear list, you could create an affiliate link to each piece of gear on the list. For example:

Overnight Backpacking List

Water Filter - A good water filter is priceless in the backcountry

Water Bottles - When buying water bottles, spend the extra cash on Nalgine bottles. They are practically indestructible and worth the extra few bucks.

In that example you could link both, water filter and Nalgine bottle, to their appropriate spots on an affiliate website such as REI.

Other ideas could include:

Adding reviews of products and linking to them.

Recommend certain products and link to them

Suggest websites and link to them

The ideas are only limited by the affiliates you can find.

Outdoor E-Books - How to Promote Your E-Book

When it comes to promoting your e-book, the sky is the limit. Because you are giving away your e-book, you don't have to worry about trying to sell it. All you have to do to make money with your e-book is get people to read it.

Once you have you e-book posted online, via a web host, you can start linking to it. You can send links in emails, on message boards, in forums, on networking sites, and anywhere else you can think of. Think about the types of websites your potential readers would frequent. Then look for marketing possibilities.