Saturday, January 30, 2010

How to Write for eHow (The Ultimate Guide)

Title: How to Write for eHow (The Ultimate Guide)
Written by: Janet Ford
http://www.howtoehow.com
Price: $19.99
Rating: 3/5 Stars

I want to talk about something a little different today.

Janet Ford has a fine book. She makes a lot of money, and if you look hard enough in the book you'll find all the things she promises. My problem with "the ultimate guide" is that it really isn't the ultimate guide. It's a few simple tricks packaged in a bloated book-of-promises.

I feel like it's time for an intervention.

Janet's book actually came really early on in the eBook market, so it's not really fair that I pick on her. Having said that, I'm going to do it anyways. Her book is very typical of what's been getting under my skin about these eBooks, and that is this - they're all just copying eachother!

Every book has a giant one page website about how munch money they make, and how if you buy their book you will also make said bundle of money. That's all well and good, but it's been done a million times. I don't care about all these promises of wealth, I just want some honest advice! Don't set your website up with a special code to make it look like you just updated it and I happened to find it in time to take advantage of this limited offer.

I'd write more about How to Write for eHow The Ultimate Guide but it's the same as all the other ones. Just see any other review I've done. Same thing, different author. I just wish everyone would stop seeing a successful marketing strategy and cloning it. There's so much room for innovation! Get risky! Try something new!!

Have I read too many eBooks? Is this a symptom of overexposure? Maybe I'm alone on this, but I don't think it would be too hard to write a reasonable book that doesn't talk down to you like an infomercial. I just want an eHow book that feels like a real book, not a pdf file you have to talk me into downloading.
 
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