So how do you find people who are willing to pay for information? What is that hungry niche market?

That's actually two questions. But you can't get the answer to the first without knowing the second. According to Wikapedia niche marketing is: the process of finding small but potentially profitable market segments and designing custom-made products for them.

Niche marketing is a process. You find small but potentially profitable segments. Then you design products for them.

A process is not immediate. It's not overnight. It doesn't come on the wings of a dove. It is work, it takes time and it is profitable. It is NOT an idea that you have first. It is research first, idea second.

Had I understood that concept when I first started I would not have written one of my e-books. It took me 3 months to write it. I developed a web page and never sold a thing. Do not make that mistake. Learn from mine!

Research for the beginner is a painstaking process. It doesn't take hours but it does take confidence. You will find your market. There are plenty out there. Don't get discouraged by a disappointment. It is only a disappointment and not the end of your e-book career.

First you research. Make a list of all of the things that interest you or that is a problem for you or a problem for your Aunt Jane, Uncle Charles or best friend/neighbor. Make a list of all of the things you'd love to know more about. Make that list at least 30 items.

A good rule of thumb is that people will pay for information that will help them make more money (or get out of debt), look/feel better (from a problem they already have) or help to solve any other problem they already have. The trend here is that the person already has a problem and they need to solve it.

People are not likely to pay for information that will prevent a problem. I heard one Internet Marketer say that only 20% of people will pay to prevent a problem. Go after the other 80% - it's much more profitable.

There are great search tools on the Internet to find a target market and determine if people are paying. Start at Amazon and click under books. Search the NY Times Best Seller lists for topics that may interest you. These topics already interest John. Q. Public.

Then take your list of 30 or so topics you develop and go to http://www.inventory.overture.com. Input search words about those topics. This tool will tell you how many people used that keyword in the past month on Yahoo! You can then multiply that number by 2.5 to 3 to get the actual search number across Yahoo! and Google (the two biggest engines).

Once you have a topic that is returning numbers between 750-1000 on the Overture tool you will look down the list of other keywords that Overture returns. If some of the top topics include the word "fr*e" - such as "fr*e crochet patterns" then people are most likely not paying for this information. Move on.

Narrow your field to three topics that you can either write about with a bit of research or about which you want to learn more. Then head off to Google and search for those topics. Check out your competition. What are they selling? Are they selling or giving away the information?

You can also check out the number of products people are paying for at PayPal. Go to the bottom of the page and click on shops. Search for similar products to the e-book you want to produce. The number sign after the name of the product is the number sold through PayPal since the owner of that product started taking Paypal.

Can you produce a product that is better, answers more questions and gives a different solution? That is your niche!

Very important: Know what questions your market is asking.

Go to Yahoo! and search in the Groups category for people who need your information. Find out what questions they are asking. Visit forums in your target market or use a flycatcher page.

Produce a product that answers those questions and you won't be selling - they will be buying what they asked for!
About the Author

Gail Morris is an e-book author and owner of YourEZBooks where she teaches others to write e-books. Her free newsletters provides guidelines and valuable information about research, writing, publishing and marketing e-books. Visit her website to receive a free report and jump start your business - today!