Today, my new ebook, “Discover Your New Job Online,” goes on sale at Lifehack. While I’d love it if you purchased a copy or passed the news along to someone else interested, this post is really about how I got to this point: what happened to get the ebook ready to go and the decisions that were made about how it is sold.

In many ways, getting an ebook ready to launch isn’t so different than preparing for a book launch — but in many ways, it’s quite different. The time line can be a lot shorter and what a publisher may or may not do for you can vary greatly.

The Publishing Process

My ebook is exactly the second ebook that Lifehack has brought out. The editor-in-chief of Lifehack, Dustin Wax, has been working on adding an ebook store to the blog for quite a while. The ebook store had a soft launch last month, with Dustin’s ebook, Back to Basics Productivity. Last summer, we decided that I would put together an ebook about how to hunt for a job online — a topic I had written about for Lifehack in the past. We agreed on a length, a due date and a general idea of what the ebook would contain.

I wrote up my manuscript. Having written full-length manuscripts for print, there are a couple of key differences that I noticed. First of all, when you’re dealing with a printed book, there are some standard lengths expected. With an ebook, you can pick a word count out of thin air. I was also able to include far more links, lists and other formats for information beyond the simple paragraphs that print publisher expect (they put lists in as illustrations or figures, typically).

Once I finished writing, I shipped it off to Dustin. He edited it, caught all my typos and generally improved the manuscript. Once I signed off on the edits, it went off to a designer. Because the designer was working on what is essentially a template for all Lifehack ebooks to come, it took a little while to get it ready to go. There was another round of review — think of it as the proofs that a writer receives when working with a printer.

The Selling Process

Having a finished ebook didn’t mean that we were ready to sell. Since Lifehack is only starting to offer ebooks for sale, some infrastructure had to be built before those sales could start happening and some decisions had to be made about how ebooks would be sold.

There are a lot of different ways that an ebook publisher can handle the infrastructure end of things. Some go with custom-built ecommerce sites, others use tools to modify existing website. For my ebook that I released here, Market Your Freelance Writing in 31 Days, I chose E-Junkie because it’s very easy to set up. Lifehack took a similar approach.

Lifehack also chose to set up an affiliate program for the ebooks sold through the site. If you aren’t familiar with affiliate programs, here’s a basic explanation: when you sign up for the program, you’ll receive a special link. As long as you use that special link when talking about the product — here, we’re talking about a specific ebook — you get a cut of the proceeds for anyone that buys the ebook after clicking on that link. That means that you could post a review of the ebook on your blog and if your readers buy it based on that review, you get a certain percentage.

Personally, I think affiliate programs are an excellent choice — but not all ebook publishers agree. Managing an affiliate program requires more time and effort than simply offering an ebook for sale. It also means that the publisher doesn’t make as much money on each copy of the ebook. The trade-off is that, for most products, affiliate programs can drive up sales.

Once all the details were in place, we set a launch date and I set out to build up some buzz ahead of time. In this case, because I’ve written about employment topics in the past, I have some connections among bloggers who routinely cover the topic. I sent out emails, offering review copies and guest posts. Another standard way to promote ebooks is offer a giveaway of once copy — but when you’re working with a publisher, you may not have that option.

Some ebook publishers will take steps to build up buzz themselves, just like some print publishers will have a publicist work with an author. Just the same, though, some publishers don’t do a lot of marketing, relying on a writer’s platform to build sales. Lifehack is a special case because the site already has excellent readership in place, simplifying marketing plans.

The Final Product

All of that culminates in a page offering an ebook for sale. It’s not quite the lengthy process required for a publisher to bring a book to market, but it’s also not quite the same thing as bringing out your own ebook. Got any questions about ebook publishing? Please share them in the comments.

First of all, I’m getting some great information from the survey I asked you to fill out on Friday. If possible, though, I’d like to get a few more responses. So, if you’ve filled out the survey, thanks! If you haven’t, I’d really appreciate if you could click here and take the survey. So far, I’m seeing that there’s a pretty big variety in the sort of resources everyone wants, as well as the type of information — that’s cool because I’d like to cover all of it eventually. But I’m going to prioritize the topics that have been getting more votes.

Second, I’m really excited: I contributed a few pieces to Wise Bread’s money saving book 10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget. It’s full of all sorts of personal finance information — from a whole list of incredible writers. I hope you’ll take a few minutes and check it out. (Note: The book comes out on May 18th.)

Third, I’m offering a class on the marketing side of my business (as opposed to the writing side). It’s in person, in Colorado, at the end of May. More information on that is available at Hyper Modern Consulting’s class page.

I’m working on some projects to help freelance writers, and I’ve reached the point where I need some more information before I can move forward. I’ve put together a short survey — just three questions — and I’d really appreciate it if you could spend a minute on answering those questions. Click here to take survey.

I’ve been contributing posts to WiseBread for a while now. A couple of those posts have made it into a book: 10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget.

The book is drawn from the best WiseBread posts on how to live, eat, shop and have fun on a small budget. 10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget officially launches on May 18, although you can pre-order it now. There’s a bonus for getting your order in early: if you email in your receipt to WiseBread, you can land a free copy of 108 Tips to Raise Your Fuel Economy.

You may notice that there have been a few small changes around this site. Most importantly, there are some new links along the right hand side: while they may appear to be ads, they’re actually links to several of my other projects.

• Working Your Way Around the World is my book on on building a mobile career or business, due out later this year from Duffie Books.
• Hyper Modern Consulting is one of the ways I’m working on expanding my writing business, by providing content marketing services.
• Hyper Modern Writing is a blog project I’m working on, focusing on improving writing for the web.
• Solo Mode offers t-shirts and unique fashion news.
• Twitter is one of my favorite places to network with people.
• My work appears on a number of other sites, and I make a point of adding links to my Friendfeed.

Keep any eye out here — I’ve got a couple of other projects in the works, which will be showing here in the near future.

Today is Ada Lovelace Day. If you aren’t familiar with the name, Ada Lovelace was the first computer programmer — ever. In the 1840s, Lovelace wrote programs for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine (the first computer). Ada Lovelace Day is meant to commemorate her contributions to technology, as well as offer an opportunity to recognize women in technology.

I wanted to take a moment to recognize the women that have helped me to find my way to where I am today: I know that I could not operate my business or work with even half of my clients without the technology that I rely on heavily. I’ve learned so much from women I’ve had the opportunity to connect with online, from how to use tools like Twitter to how to connect with clients. I’ve had a hard time deciding just who I wanted to write about.

But in the end, my decision was easy. My grandmothers, between the two of them, influenced the way I view and use technology more than any other people I know. One of my grandmothers made the switch from paper records to PC to handle the books she kept for her business and my grandfather. I remember her sitting at one of those beige machines, complete with a black screen and green letters when I was working on learning how to read. Twenty years ago, she was already a computer whiz.

My other grandmother was just as much of an early adopter. When I was discovering the wonder of email in middle school, she laughed and told me that she had given email up in 1991. I thought it was a joke at the time, but when she retired from her position at Iowa State University’s library in 1991, my grandmother had been dealing with email for years.

I’ve never worried that I wouldn’t be able to figure out some piece of technology, never been scared to try out something new. I don’t know where I would be without the mindset that I inherited from my grandmothers, but I bet it wouldn’t be nearly so far.

I know others are taking time today to talk about women in technology — you can find out more about Ada Lovelace Day on the findingada site.

You may have noticed the new shop on the sidebar. I’m experimenting a bit with making this site self-sufficient, without adding advertising. For right now, most of the shop’s offerings are t-shirts, but I’m also working on a few other projects that I think y’all will find useful.

Please let me know what you think.

I have an article in the current issue of WOW! Women on Writing about freelance invoicing. The article just went live and is located here.

I’ve made another t-shirt just for writers:

This is a bigger version of the actual design:

Click on the shirt to purchase it, and yes, it does come in a more manly version.