Create an ebook to sell online is a good way to sell your knowledge and expertise to others to attract business but it could also become a full-time profitable career.

An ebook is an electronic book with digital pages that can be viewed and read on a mobile device, computer or ebook reader just like a normal book. They can be created and published in pdf format for distribution for free or at a price on your website.

Reasons why you would create an ebook?

If you are an expert in your field, i.e. yoga, pilates, nutrition, baker or an expert at computer repair and maintenance then that knowledge is useful to others.

You can blog about it on your website but your visitors may find it more useful if your blog posts were combined together into one simple document they can download, keep and refer to.

The best way to explain an ebook is to show a few examples.

Hubspot – Free ebook How to Use LinkedIn for Business

This free ebook shows you how to set up your profile, build a network, be active in groups and generate leads.

The book is full of screen shots and is broken down into relevant sections. This ebook is quite old but it is still a document that can be found on Google. It is easily downloaded without having to sign up to Hubspot.

LinkedIn – Content Marketing Tactical Plan

This is a very useful document and well worth downloading and reading as it offers lots of tips on managing your LinkedIn content.

An in-depth detailed document about creating a tactical content plan for your LinkedIn marketing to gain new customers.

Letters to Barbara – Instagram Explained

Here Barbara has created an ebook to sell online. The ebook Instagram Explained is selling for €7.00 and if you search Instagram ebook her link pops up, so it is great SEO too.

I have no doubt this ebook is worth €7.00, it took him 2 months to create. There is a lot of content covered in this book and will help you grow your Instagram tribe of followers.

Choose right topic

If you are active on social media then you will be able to identify those topics or issues that will help people the most.

People will buy a product that will help them, so keep this in mind when choosing what to write about. If you are in Marketing, then you will know the most common areas your customers struggle with and that will be the content of your ebook.

Choose the right ebook tools

Choose the platform i.e. Word, Canva, Indesign or Powerpoint. You will also need graphics for your ebook and you can get those from Canva or Envato Market Place.

You may also need Adobe as the document will be saved in PDF format. If the book is for kindle readers it will be saved as AZW and for smart phones the format will be EPUB for smooth flow.

Create an eye catching ebook cover

Create a nice cover for your ebook that is compelling, modern and branded if you are making more than one, brand them with your logo. Ebook covers can be created and sourced in Canva.

ebooks for book publishers

This guide is for those creating ebooks for their websites. If you want to publish with a book publisher then there will be other technical specifications laid out by the publisher. See book publishers guidelines for ebooks.

Accessibility – meeting criteria for disabled readers

Designing the book for visually impaired would mean consideration for the font colours, font size, font spacing and the graphics throughout the book. Accessibility needs to be considered for most types of books so it is worth doing some extra research.

Here is a free pdg guide to accessibility for readers

Ebooks to generate sales leads

We can write ebooks to sell online or we can write ebooks for SEO and to generate sales leads for out businesses.

If you plan to create more than one ebook then it would be beneficial to write your first ebook and use it as a template for further books.

Some ideas for books could be guides to, cases studies, product information, new research, reports (there is even an ebook on ebook ideas).

Structure of the book:

• Introduction
• Table of contents
• Content
• Appendix

Throughout the book you will want to add quotes and graphics to break up the written paragraphs. Also make good use of key words and phrases throughout the book.

And finally, proof read!! Do not publish a book with spelling and grammar mistakes.

Launch and promote your ebook

Your book will be saved in pdf format if you are selling it on the website. Add the ebook to WooCommerce if you are using WooCommerce and sell it as a download. I recommend creating a stand alone page to sell you ebook and then track views and orders.

Get feedback. I would request feedback so you can make improvements for your second ebook.