Some Stats:

Informational text is about 14 font, 1 inch margins, about 320-360 words per page…25-30 lines of text per page.  170 pages. 12 Chapters

Chapter One

The first chapter, Introduction, begins by convincing you that people do still buy ebooks if they solve a specific problem.  They don’t buy ebooks to say they have the ebooks, but they do buy ebooks to solve a specific problem.

The author continues the brief introduction telling you that this edition focuses on how to find topics to write about.  The topics will be problems people want to resolve.  You will learn four methods on how to come up with a good problem to write an ebook about she says.  Then she continues to say after your write your ebook, this ebook, DBO, will then teach you how to market it.

As far as teaching you how to market your new problem solving ebook, the author says she believes in the basics…articles, adwords, etc…what will she teach here that isn’t already available everywhere? She says she’ll add a few twists and secrets and some free traffic generating tips as the one and a half page chapter draws to a close.  Oh, wait, she also tells you that this is not a get rich quick program, it will take some work on the part of the reader…ever heard that before from a marketing ebook?

Chapter Two

The first 317 words of Chapter Two, The Desperate Topic Criteria, can be summed up as follows after removing repetitive sentences, fluff, and references to how children do homework assignments:

Plan your topic/ebook out before you begin to write.  Like the old saying “measure twice, cut once,” don’t pick a topic too quickly or you’ll spend too much time writing and re-writing.

Next is a list of questions for which the answers outline methods for helping you choose a topic.  Much like palm readers , psychics, and astrologists, the first method asks a long list of general questions and if you can’t answer YES to at least one of them, then your problem topic for your new ebook probably doesn’t hit the desperate hot button.  The questions to ponder are basically;

Does the potential problem topic for desperate buyers affect their:  money situation? Business success?  Job or career status?  Appearance (looks)? Health? Relationships? Ability to buy fancy stuff? Avoid dying? Talk to God or some other similar figure?  Follow a life-long dream?  Become an expert in something?

Yup.  That about summarizes the first method.  If your idea for a ebook topic can’t do any of the above, scrap it.

The next big secret method….well, isn’t really anything new…at all.  Over the course of the next FOUR AND A HALF pages the author basically outlines two very elementary keyword research methods.  The idea behind secret method number two (“number two” is fitting here) is that if people aren’t searching online to solve their problem, its probably not a good one…duh.

Three of the four and half page explanation of two basic keyword research tools are screen shots from google, leaving about 500 words to explain this:  Use Google’s keyword tool and don’t forget to look at “similar terms”…if you don’t know how to use Googles free keyword tool, go to google and find the help/instructions, it will be much more helpful then the summary in DBO.

The second commonly understood keyword research tool explained here is is getting some articles on the potential topic and (ezine articles, goarticles, google search) (<-not Im actually giving more info than the author gave here J) and dump them into buildyourwordlist dot com or some other word keyword tool.

The author doesn’t really say much about what to do with your new keyword list, but the bottom line is see if people search for this potential problem before choosing it.

The third magic method is simply give first hand advice along with information.  This actually contradicts a lot of what is said earlier in the fluff sections where the author touts that anyone can come up with lots of desperate ideas using these methods because experience with the problems is not necessary.  Oh well.  She gives an example of another a couple ebooks she wrote previously as having advice (GetCheckingNow dot com)  vs. just information (accessory design book that mainly listed other resources).

The method to “give first hand advice along with information” is stretched to about 322 words…or about the size of a full article.

The next question asks if you can give your product an emotional edge.   If you’ve ever read anything about creating ads, particularly adword ads, this section is the same stuff.  Create a controversy.  Add Emotion.  Take the contrarian view to the popular consensus. Heard all that before?  Umm, the rich jerk comes to mind?  Yes, believe it or not people are still stuffing their ebooks with advice teaching us methods like “create controversy” and “infuse emotion” in the topic.  The next several pages give examples.  All you have to do is search google and look at the ads for examples:  “don’t buy product X until you read this”…”Product X, is it a rip off?”  “Topic X, Learn the Scam”…the author did give an example of a bestselling book I never heard of before…”Why Men Love Bitches” …I thought it was funny.  In any case, you get the jist of this section.

The well-weathered advice continues with “promise Rapid Results” (fix your problem today!), appeal to obsessives (need I only mention Golfers?  She does too, of course), The power of NOW!….a fancy way to say jump on the latest headlines.  Madoff scandal is explained for a few paragraphs as an example of how you can create an ebook to help people choose a broker.

The next FIVE PAGES of DBO basically this:  Research the shortcomings of similar products (potential competitors) by reading reviews on Amazon and searching for reviews on Google.  If everyone says that the book on [potential desperate buyer topic] lacks info on x, feature info on x in your ebook.  Note that many of the ebooks from fellow marketers won’t have Amazon reviews and many of the “reviews” you might find on Google are affiliate sales pitches disguised as reviews.  The author offers the very informative tip (sarcasm) that if the link in the ebook review looks something like http:// ebooks.com/aff/aff=123432 it might be an affiliate link.  Thanks!

Part of the reason this “read Amazon reviews” section is FIVE PAGES is because there are a lot of screen shots, cut-and-paste Amazon review examples,  and how-tos about reading Amazon reviews.  Thanks Again!

Chapter 3-6

Now, after 22 pages of “information”,  we’re into the good stuff.  Those four secret special desperate topic-finding techniques.

Technique One simply says search blogs for popular posts.  Somehow these are supposed to be good “desperate topics” but I don’t really make the connection as to why popular blog posts are any different than any other “popular” web topic.  To make you feel like there is some added value in your purchase, the author set up a dedicated domain for for searching blogs…using Googles handy custom search script…but IM not sure if this is any better than just going to any of the gazillion blog searchers, including Google’s own.

Technique Two starts off with a page and a half of “don’t worry, you can find something to write about” type of stuff.  The author spends a fare amount of text basically convincing you not to worry if you think your ebook won’t sell, it will.  An example giving is the how to get a checking account (again) ebook that she now says is all available for free on the internet but people buy it anyway and the refunds are miniscule.

Of course in order to find these great desperate topics you’ll have to come up with some great keywords derived from a list of very general questions.  Sound familiar?  This time it’s 30 questions.  Answer them all and you’ll have some great keywords!  What was your major?  What jobs have you had?  What businesses have you run? What excites you? What kind of businesses have you failed at? What are your hobbies?  What sports are you good at? What are three {businesses, personal things, college courses} that you always wanted to do but didn’t? Name three things you like to talk about? How have you changed over the past 3 years? Do you live an alternative lifestyle? Etc. etc. etc.

The nice thing (for the author) about this big general lists are that they are bulleted, so they take up a lot of room…further pushing up that value-added page count to the ebook.  This list of questions took up about a page and a quarter!

The next step is over FOURTEEN PAGES long!  Wow, it must be packed with juicy information, right?  That depends.  THIRTEEN of the FOURTEEN pages basically teaches you how to use another popular, free, google marketing tool.  Google Insights.  The author spends about THIRTEEN PAGES explaining screenshots of her search results using Google Insights.  If you’re not familiar, Google insights is a great marketing tool that breaks down search volume geographically, for example.  The bottom line is you can plug in search terms and a time frame and see search trends in volume and locations.  Obviously, this helps determine where to market….anything.  The real bottom line here is that this is a free popular marketing tool and should not take up THIRTEEN pages of a $77 ebook.

OK, so the next step must be something new.  Nope.  Go back to Google keywords and and plug the keywords in there to get more of the same data, along with the competitive data everyone knows you can get from the Google keyword tool.

Next step?  This is an OK tip I’ve used before for various reasons.  Basically find what people are talking about in forms by searching for “potential topic + forum”.  Then read what people are saying.  The author is repeatedly using the boils example here.  She apparently suffers from, and wrote an ebook how to cure, boils.  Problem I have here is that without doing all this common, well-known internet search market research…I know that if you have boils you’re freaking desperate to get rid of them!

On to Technique Three.  Technique three for the most part is listing groups of potential desperate buyers and why they are good targets to write an info product for.  There is an emphasis on the “forever” desperate buyer.  This goes against writing for the latest trend, the big news story, etc…but heck at the end of the day you can write about anything!

For some reason a lot of this section, the first ten pages, is about selling to internet marketers.  It seems out of place, but I guess the point is that IM buyers are desperate buyers.  I would say true, especially the noobs, which there are more of every day!

As a sub section to the IM sub section, the author lists various reasons why there are never enough IM info products.  Why?  Apparently, because:  most internet products are generalized;   Not all IM products are liked by all IMers; Not all IM products are priced for all IMers; AS the internet evolves, there is always new stuff to write about; and Serious IMers never grow weary of learning something new.

OK.  That’s nice info and all, but Im still looking for my $77 worth here.

Next it’s on to explaining who succeeds in selling IM products!  Yay, the value must be in this list!

People who take big risks; Quick Thinkers;  They think in 3-D;  wait a second, what?  OK here is some good information.  What the author means here is that IM info-product authors basically re-hash the same stuff but put their own spin on it.  Look at it a different way.  Combine two ideas into on “super idea”.   OK, thanks for that news flash.  Successful IM sellers also realize the time to act is now; they use common sense; and they’re resilient!

What if you’re not an IM expert but you want to sell IM advice?  The next section explores such a concept.    The answer?  Test an IM product and write about your results.

At this point in the DBO I feel that we are finally getting to the meat of the message.  Too bad we are already at page 65!  The whole concept here is rather simple.  Instead of selling to a general IM audience, teach basic IM to an non-IM client!  Viola!  Or, go to a forum about subject x (sculptors, designers, coaches, dog trainers…) and try and figure out what their beef is and write an info product about that.  Quite frankly, I think the “here is how to promote your non-computer-literate business online” is better.

There is a specific list of the desperate buyer groups (some mentioned above) and a short explanation of why they are desperate buyers.  The important thing about this list is that they are not in a typical computer-savvy industry, they are normally independent..not a large corporation so they can make their own purchase decisions.  They are basically “freelance fields”.  Search on this and you can make your own list.  Graphic artists, beauty product sales, hypnotherapist, jewelry designers,  massage therapist, limo business, models, musicians, personal trainers, photographers, yoga instructor, tax preparers,  etc.

For most of the listings, there is a link or two that will bring your to a forum of some sort related tot hat profession.  Again, something easily found via Google.

Next the author instructs you to choose your IM related specialty you will focus your eBook on.  Another page and a half is wasted listing out every possible IM related subject:  web hosting, blog advertising, creating a youtube video, google adwords, keyword research, etc. etc.

So the idea to this point is to choose a freelance field and pick one or more IM topics to teach them.

Next the author instructs you to choose a “test hook”.    The idea is you will write about how you made x dollars in y time, reached a certain conversion goal, generated x leads in 30 days, etc.

Here is where this whole section blows up.  The next step is to begin your test!  Remember, we are running some marketing test on a freelancer’s product/service and then will write about the results and sell the ebook to that freelance market.

There is a rhetorical question beginning the section: “How am I supposed to write about selling Art if I never sold Art”?   Great question but the answers are bad and leave you hanging…The autor basically says sell via affiliate programs or put out an ad for free marketing services.  How many of those freelance fields have affiliate programs?  Not many.  Its an internet thing.  So, we will pay to place ads to promote the fact that we will give away marketing advice, hope they execute it correctly, hope they get good results, and then compile those results, make a new ebook, and sell it to that same crowd.

It sounds dicey to me.

Technique #4 – finding desperate buyers in YOUR niche.  It seems the author was out of steam by #4 since this is so brief, general, and, well, not very helpful or insightful.  It is centered around finding a good desperate topic within the field you are very familiar with.  Basically there are a couple examples around a few points: 1.)  who needs to know what you know?  Example – it may not always be the customer – a successful salesman should sell to other salesmen.  2.)  Find a “stalling point.”  This is useless.  A couple paragraphs touting how you can make big money with stalling points, and a couple examples of what they are:  A spa owner wants to know how to get more business.  Duh.  Librarians that need to develop library procedures.   3.)  What do newbies want to know about your niche?  This is an obvious one, no examples needed.

Now the author abruptly ends this technique with “Does your response in #2 or #3 meet the Desperate Topic Criteria? If so, move on to the next section, Writing the Desperate Product. And if not, you’ll need to start from the beginning again.”    Thanks.

Chapter Seven: Writing the Desperate Product.  Here the author outlines her choice for four types of ebooks:  The Resource Report, The How-To Report, The Test Results Report, and the How-to info product.

Any IMer with a bit of experience lurking or otherwise has a good idea of what each of these reports is about.  The author continues to use a lot of space rehashing things like proper key word/phrase research when doing research for a resource guide.

The Resource Report:  Dig deep finding resources for a particular niche. Use proper key phrases (primary, secondary, etc) while searching.  Go well beyond the first few SERPs.  If you need researchers, use aiip.org members, much better than elance.  To outline the research report, include an introduction telling people how helpful this is, list each resource and include location, a description of the item, how to use the resource, when to use it, how much is costs, who to contact, what to say when contacting,  etc., and add some extras.  Extras are the useless extra bonus stuff like a pdf report, some articles…find them free on the web.

The How-To Report:

In the first THREE pages of explaining the How-To report, the author basically says 1.) The difference between a desperate how-to report and a regular how-to report is a sense of urgency.  The desperate how-to report will urge the reader to do something physical right away…make a phone call or click a website are given as examples.

Next is the decision to learn about the How-to (if you are not an expert) or hire an expert.  If you’re hiring an expert, the author gives another example of a bad Elance experience (that is somewhat irrelevant) and a list of experts websites such as helpareporter.com, profnet.prnewswire.com,  sources.com, blackexperts.com….you can fish around these sites and come up with a huge list of resources.

The author’s instructions for the outline for the How-to report, like the resource report, starts with the introduction to tell the reader what its about.  Next is to write the step-by-step instructions.  Then, optionally, give a real “in action” example if you’ve done one.

The Test Results Report:

The author dedicates all of a half of page for this one.  Included with the repetitive “Outline to x report” section is this paragraph, which is about all that is given:

“When you’re writing a test results report there are actually two parts. First you’ll run the reader through your experiment. And second you’ll tell them how to do the task, adding in all the necessary do’s, don’ts, and insider tips that you learned.”

Subscription Service Info product

The main thing the author points out here is 1.) be sure you are willing to do the work to keep the information flowing.  2.)  IN the NOW stuff works good like stock tips for current information. 3.)  You can prepare a year’s worth of info in advance then feed it out over time.

The Title

The author suggests your info product title should be short ant to the point.  It should state what problem is being solved.  Not ground-breaking stuff here.

Chapter Eight is about writing sales copy.  The author begins with an urge that you understand the topic before writing a sales page.  Then she goes on to provide sales copy writing “tips” such as Study the Sub-Niche (sort of like the first recommendation, know your topic – but the author is assuming you’re writing about a niche that is a sub niche of some bigger niche);  Discover Why the Reader is Desperate (know the bad consequences of not solving their problem and the upside to solving it, and write about both); Learn the Lingo (obvious one here, if your teaching teens how to text more efficiently you better know your BFFs, OMGs, and PITRs;  Know the Gurus: Study other successful people’s sales letters in the same niche.

Next its time to actual write the sales page.  What is going on here is the author is stuffing another IM sub-niche into this desperate buyers book:  Sales copy writing.  It goes along the lines of many of the free and paid for sales copy how-tos.  Follow this outline:

Lead Headline: You know there problem and you can fix it (leave them curious)

Lead Paragraph:  Talk up the worst of the problem.  What are they having to do, face embarrassment, etc because of this problem?

Additional Headlines:  Make sure they all read like a story since often people skim through them.

Copy:  Flow like a story ending in the price.

Then the order box, followed by a brief rosy paragraph about how nice life would be without the problem.

Finally, sprinkle lots of nice photos throughout the copy that bring emotion to the words…so the reader says yeah that me!  The author suggest istockphoto for stock photography…

Chapter Nine: Promoting your desperate info product.

OK here is were it really gets re-hashed.  For about THIRTY pages the author goes through how-to on the following traffic/SEO methods:

1.)     Be a guest blogger, post your link

2.)    Post your link in authoritative blogs on the subject

3.)    Create and submit articles to EZineArticles

4.)    Submit article to authoritative site (google keyword “submit article”)

5.)    Advertise on USFreeAds

6.)    Use Google AdWords

7.)    Create your own blog, free downloadable or online tool, or other realted site to peddle your info product

Chapter Ten: Case Studies

For THIRTY pages the author outlines the methods in DBO and how they applied to the development of a few of her sites.  There are some general notes on profits and a lot of screen prints showing google rankings.  There is, again, a lot of space dedicated to how key word research was done and how adwords was implemented.  The sites are responsiblecreators.com, ($5-15/day claimed); boilsbegone (not much profit); goodandfastcontent.com ($1,500/month); getcheckingnow.com ($480/month).

Chapter Ten is followed by a FAQ and a one page summary ending.  Nothing all that exciting here.

The bottom line is the book is well written but for $77 there is far too much re-hashed instructions for tools and techniques that are readily available for free.  The only thing here that is what I would consider “meat” is walking through the technique of selling IM topics geared toward free-lancers.  Hardly worth $77 !

Cliff