How to Write a Kindle Book About ANYTHING and Sell It on Amazon!

I would like to let you guys know about my new ebook that was released today: How to Write a Kindle Book About Anything and Sell it on Amazon.

This ebook provides the blueprint for writing a Kindle book based on any subject. It’s a book for non-writers. It’s meant for anyone who has ever even thought about writing a book. It also includes several videos that demonstrate a few of the more technical subject matter. I even recorded a video to promote it. Please take a look!

To purchase the book, click the link below. The first twenty people to purchase the book get $7 off the regular price. Just enter the code “First20″ in the Offer Code field when checking out. Please buy and let me know what you think!

How to Write a Kindle Book About Anything and Sell It!

How to Use Captivate to Build an Elearning Course

I am proud to announce the launch of my new book in the Kindle bookstore titled: How to Use Captivate to Build an Elearning Course!

If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to create an elearning course using Adobe Captivate, this is the book for you! This quick-start guide will get you up and running quickly and efficiently. It shows you everything you need to create system-simulation based elearning. Here are a few things you will learn when you buy this book:

  • Captivate vs. Camtasia: which is the best for your project?
  • How to size your project
  • How to create your own navigation buttons within your course
  • How to use the drawing tools
  • How to record your first screen capture
  • How to use Captivate’s Jump To screen option
  • How to customize the look of your course

and much more…

Captivate is an amazing tool that creates effective and fun elearning. Let this book be your guide to building your very first course from scratch!

Click here to purchase.

Edit Any Web Page in your Browser Just Like a Wiki

So for anyone who has to capture screenshots for any reason, this is an awesome discovery! As an elearning developer, I am always doctoring screen shots in order to change information. I usually capture the screenshot and then pull it into Photoshop to mock it up. But not anymore!

I discovered this tool from Neville at AppSumo.com. I purchased his course titled “Kopywriting Kourse,” which is really great by the way and I highly recommend it. Anyway, he was using this tool to mock up some screens during his course.

Here’s what it does: you drag the link to your bookmark bar and anytime you want to edit a webpage, you just press the button and the entire webpage becomes editable. It has a few limitations but overall it’s pretty amazing. And once you are done editing, just hit Refresh on your webpage and it goes back to normal.

I HIGHLY recommend it!

Edit Any Web Page in your Browser Just Like a Wiki.

Don’t even think about working on another elearning course until you buy this book!

Step away from your computer and put down the mouse!

Sorry if I’m being bossy but I’m just trying to save you some time and help you avoid some SERIOUS frustration!

Building elearning is an awesome gig if you can get it but, like with any other job, there are some things about it that can drive you FREAKING CRAZY!!!

And I’m not talking about little things like a misspelled word or a picture out of place…I’m talking about “Oh crap! I just wasted 40 hours and just lost thousands of dollars” types of things.

The type of things that will make you take your phone off the hook (can you still do that with a home phone?) and change your email address to avoid your extremely angry client!

So at this point you’re probably asking yourself: why should I listen to you John. Sure you’re intelligent and handsome but other than that, what do you have to offer?

Let me drop some knowledge on you my dear, confused friend…

Because I have probably dealt with every problem/bad situation associated with elearning. And somehow I’ve managed to survive, however not without a few scars (and scars are NOT sexy, according to my wife)

I don’t want you to ruin your pretty face with ugly scars so I want to HELP YOU!

I am about to let you in on the successes and failures (oh, there have been alot) I’ve experienced creating elearning.

I want to turn your frown upside down and help you avoid the stupid things I’ve done in the past!

I want to help you become the elearning developer that you daydream about when you’re driving home from work, listening to your Tony Robbins CDs.

And why do I want to do this? Because you’re worth it! (cue cheesy motivational music)!

Plus I just like helping people. It’s my biggest asset/fault :)

So let me stop rambling for a while and let you know a few of the things you’ll learn when you buy this book:

  • The secret to purchasing stock photos. You could waste hundreds of dollars by not learning this secret.

  • The 30-30 tip. Why this can save you hours of expensive production time.

  • How to stress out your learners by not “stressing out” your learners. There needs to be some sense of tension in your courses and I’ll tell you why.

  • The completely FREE audio editing program that works just like those that cost hundreds. It’s easy to use and produces high quality voiceovers.

  • How text-to-speech software could hurt your course. It’s tempting to use but could can actually distract learners!

  • Why it’s important to capture learners attention IMMEDIATELY. If you don’t you could lose them before they even get through the first few screens.

  • The Redundancy Principle and how it applies to elearning. This important principle can make or break your course.

  • How you can use sites like Monster and Careerbuilder to stay on top of the latest elearning technology. These sites are free tools that are updated daily with the most current technology job descriptions.

and much more…

So what should you do now?

Let me tell you my newly enlightened friend…

You should buy 45 Elearning Tips and Tricks from the Kindle bookstore, that’s what you should do!

Click the link below to be whisked there magically by this thing we call the internet!

Click me! Click me!
         
Before you heap praise and affection on me, finish the book and let me know what you think.

And if this book happens to save you a thousand dollars some day, you can just buy me a lottery scratch off or something. I’m bound to hit the big bucks eventually, right?

Sincerely,
John Araiza

P.S.  Check out my other books while you’re at it: How to Create an E-learning Course and 26 Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me About Elearning. They are chocked full of great advice and healthy nutrients!

How Apple Store Seduces You With the Tilt of Its Laptops – Forbes

This is a very interesting article about how Apple “manipulates” it’s customers into interacting with its products. I’ve read about these types of psychological tricks used by retailers but this one really hit close to home!

How Apple Store Seduces You With the Tilt of Its Laptops – Forbes.

Did a man build an elearning course about how to turn a dead cat into a helicopter???

Did I get your attention? Good…that’s what I was trying to do. Currently, there is no elearning course about turning a cat into a helicopter, but there really is a guy who did that to his cat!

Check out the crazy details here.

But I didn’t write this to talk about cats. I’m writing this post to talk about attention grabbing headlines. I have recently been introduced to a guy who works for AppSumo, Neville. He has created several awesome courses and I’ve purchased a few of them. Check out the site here.

He has a copywriting course and he mentions the concept of attention grabbing headlines for the subject of emails. One of his techniques is to combine an odd news headline with your subject. I read about a guy who turned his dead cat into a helicopter and decided to combine that with the term elearning. That’s where I came up for the headline for this post.

I think it’s a very cool concept but I can see how, if in the wrong hands, it might get offensive or just downright dumb. But if you are careful with it, I think it can be a great marketing tool.

So my challenge to you would be to create a few of your own attention grabbing headlines and use them in your next post or article. And please let me know the results!

How to Create an Elearning Course – The Video Series

I’m super excited to announce my new video series (based on the book), How to Create an Elearning Course – LIVE (almost). Check out the introduction video below:

I took everything from my book and turned it into a step by step video tutorial series. I tried to add a little humor to keep in interesting but I still managed to get everything about creating elearning into the videos. I am so proud of this and I’m also excited about the format of the course.

If you want to see the sales page, click this link.

Elearning Tip – People love to practice

Deep down, people realize that in order to get good at anything, they need to practice. For example, all the reading in the world won’t make your golf swing any better. The only way it will get better is to head to the driving range and hit bucket after bucket of balls. Since people understand this concept, it can be easily transferred to your elearning courses.

There is nothing wrong with presenting a few slides of text to your learner to set the stage for the learning and provide context. But once you present the foundation you should make every attempt to allow the learner to practice applying what they just learned. The content doesn’t matter when it comes to practicing. All that matters is that the learner is able to practice developing their skills in a controlled environment.

“Controlled environment” is an important term to remember here. People love to practice but they hate to fail. An elearning course can provide the best of both worlds. You can create a friendly environment where a learner can feel free to practice (and sometimes fail) without ramifications.

For more tips, check out my book “45 Elearning Tips and Tricks” now available in the Kindle bookstore. Or if you are new to elearning and want some advice, try my other book “How To Create an E-learning Course” It’s a blueprint for getting into the field of elearning development.