How to Sell eBooks Online in Simple Steps
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Annually into starting my first site I understood two thingsI loved writing and I’d made approximately zero bucks from it. So I decided to self-publish a publication.
However, I did not simply compile old blog articles into a book to sell on my site. I took the time to understand the ins and out of writing an eBook and selling it on the internet, and I tried to be as strategic as possible.
I used ideas from authors who self-published before me personally and innovated some of my own marketing strategies. Some worked while some flopped.
But in the 3 years since I self-published my eBook, I’ve earned more than 40,000 in passive income.
Selling eBooks is not simple money and it is not for everyone. But in the event that you already earn money as a freelance author or are searching for different ways to make money blogging, then publishing an eBook is a superb way to expand your company.
Who Should Write and Sell eBooks?
Writing an eBook is a great way to make money blogging or try a new way to make some income.
You do not need to be a professional writer, have perfect grammar, or have any publishing experience to Generate money selling eBooks, but there are a few criteria to consider:
- You are a subject matter specialist. For nonfiction eBooks, you don’t have to be a writing expert, but you need to be an expert in whatever subject you’re writing about. Fiction writers should be extremely knowledgeable in their genre.
- You have a whole lot to say. If you self-publish, you can create your books as long or short as you would like. That said, people are not going to be pleased if your book is the length of a blog post. If you plan to sell your book, it ought to be at least 20,000 words for nonfiction. Fiction eBooks should be approximately 40,000 to 50,000 words.
- You can keep focus. Instead, if your book has 30,000 words that take you on multiple disconnected tangents, you haven’t entertained or helped your readers. You have to have the ability to maintain a clear and helpful focus to create a publication that creates an impact. And for fiction books, you will need to make certain that you’ve got a solid plot that readers can easily follow.
- You’ve got a small amount of cash to invest in the project. Self-publishing is cheap but generally, it’s not free. You will want to budget at least a couple hundred bucks for the project even in the event that you plan to give away your book at no cost.
If this sounds reasonable, then your business may be ready to gain from a self-published eBook.

How to Write and Design eBooks
The very first portion of earning money from eBooks would be to create one, but you need to determine what type of eBook you are creating. There are two sorts: eBooks which you give away for free or ones that people purchase upfront.
Those which you give away for free are normally a bonus you offer to lure a person to register to your own email list so you can sell them a higher-priced product or service later.
This doesn’t have to be a thousand-dollar item. Dana Shultz of Minimalist Baker does so, providing a free eBook featuring 20 of her most popular recipes. It allows new readers to instantly see what they can expect from her website and prime them to buy her full-length cookbook.
The eBooks which people purchase upfront are typically held to a higher standard. The reader is likely very interested in the subject or a successful reader, and you are going to need to set a lot more work into this type of book.
It is your responsibility to select which sort of book you need to write based on what your end goals are. If your objective is promoting a high-priced course or service, then offering a free publication is a great way to acquire your intended audience in your email list. If you’re searching to make a profit out of eBooks, then your strategy will be to produce high quality books that keep viewers coming back.
1. Set a budget
Decide how much you want — or can afford — to invest in your own eBook. You can spend anywhere from a few hundred dollars up to thousands of bucks to write, print, and launch your eBook, so determine what you can invest and still remain profitable.
When you decide your budget you will find two expenses that you ought to prioritize over others: editing and cover design. As soon as you have those covered, the remainder of your budget could be spent on other things.
Every good book requires a good editor, but you may also need a proofreader. If you’re on a small budget, you can look for an editor that will do both.
Even in the event that you’ve written an original and innovative book with perfect backup, you’ll also need a high quality book cover.
If you have cash left in your budget, you can spend it on things like ads, formatting, and other book-related expenses.
2. Research and select a subject.
Everybody would like to begin here, but it must come second. Since a book is an investment of time and money, you need to understand your budget and do your research before selecting your topic.
If you are a fiction writer, find out more about the genre you intend to write to learn what readers are buying, the tropes they enjoy, and read reviews of similar books. This can allow you to figure out how you’re able to meet or exceed reader expectations or make something which seems lacking in that genre.
If you plan to write nonfiction, you should also do a comparison of their subject to a best-sellers. Nevertheless, it’s equally important to think about exactly what you want to sell beyond the book. This will help position you as a specialist when selling that item or service.
3. Write the book
It seems easy, but this is where most people who consider writing a book become overwhelmed. It is intimidating to consider writing an whole book, and lots of writers get stuck at this step.
It doesn’t have to be like that, however. Rough drafts are considered rough because of this. Write the publication the very best you can based on your outline, however do not overthink it. You’ll have plenty of time to fix the publication once it gets to your editor.
4. Fact check, self-edit, and hire an editor
Now’s the time where your publication goes from good to good. Prior to sending it to a professional editor, make sure you do some self-editing and fact-checking before putting the manuscript in someone else’s hands.
After it has been edited, make certain that you read through it to verify that it reads the way you want, what’s correct, and also for fiction novels, the plot is consistent and has no holes.
5. Format the publication
There are lots of formats your book will need to maintain for various platforms. If you’d like readers to have access to it in an eReader, you’ll require a Mobi variant for Kindle and also an ePub variant for all other devices.
You can hire the formatting out of your publication or, if you’re planning to write many novels, invest in formatting software like Scrivener or Vellum.

6. Design a cover
When your book is free you’ll get away with designing your own cover with a free online cover maker or utilizing a free online design program like Canva. But if you want people to purchase your book, you’ll most likely want to employ a graphic designer to create an attractive cover.
If you don’t have the funds for a graphic designer, then don’t worry. You can get an affordable cover in 100 Covers or Fiverr or pay a bit more for more options at 99Designs.
7. Find beta readers
Beta readers are individuals in your target audience who read your publication and supply feedback before the book is available on the market so that you may create some final edits or adjustments. These subscribers will also leave reviews on the publication, which can help with pre-sale numbers and gains.
If you’ve got an audience from your blog or social networking platforms, it needs to be simple to attract beta readers with the supply of a free publication. If you are starting from scratch and do not have a viewer or platform, you can provide to provide beta readers a gift card or some other reward once they submit feedback and an overview.
How to Sell eBooks Online
Now comes the interesting part — promoting your eBook. There are several measures you will need to walk through to ensure that your book is seen and bought by readers.
8. Decide on a selling platform
The best place to sell eBooks on the internet depends on your targets. Most authors will either opt to market their own books on Amazon or in their own websites. If you are a fiction writer or just starting out, obtaining eyes in your books is much more important than earning 100% of their earnings. Given that, enrolling your book in Amazon’s KDP Select program is probably your best option.
When you choose to enroll your publication in KDP Select, you consent to create the electronic format of the book available only through Amazon. KDP Select will receive your book in front of tens of thousands of subscribers subscribed to Kindle Unlimited and provide you access to extra monetization and promotional tools.
But if you are a nonfiction author or you have already built a large audience, you may earn more by figuring out how to sell eBooks on your own site. You might even use an e-commerce extension such as Shopify or Easy Digital Downloads.
9. Price your publication
You don’t need to charge a lot for your book to generate a nice supplemental income. If you sell five books a day, you’ll earn $315 a month. If you write a sequel or follow-up to that book that also sells five a day, that’s $630 per month.
Following a few years of composing, you could easily have 15 novels. If they are all cleanly written with fantastic covers, then you can expect to earn almost $5,000 per month on publication sales.
As an alternative, you could reach the same goal if you sold your publication in your website for $11, paying only a $0.50 cent transaction fee and selling one daily.
10. Promote your book
At any time you conduct a bargain in your book, you can pay to have it listed in a daily deals newsletter like the ones sent from BookBub or Bargain Booksy. You might even get the word out about your publication by being a guest author on sites, reaching out to book authors, creating a book campaign on Instagram, or being researched on podcasts that are relevant.
Ads on Facebook or Amazon are also excellent ways to market your book; just make certain to keep your audience as targeted as possible.
11. Partner with affiliates
You can receive more new eyes on your book by incentivizing other authors and content creators to discuss your book with their audience. You can provide them a portion of your earnings or give them a fixed number of books to give away for their audiences.
The advertising platform you choose should have an choice to make affiliate links to make it simple to monitor who earned what. Amazon has this option because do e-commerce platforms like SendOwl.
12. Offer a freebie for leads
A great way to do so is to offer you a relevant free supply like a brief training or a bonus chapter in exchange for your reader’s e mail address.
It’s possible to use an email marketing service such as ConvertKit or even MailChimp to create landing pages to shop and send downloads while people sign up.
Marketing Your Own eBook Is an Ongoing Process
If your goal is to make money selling eBooks, you will need to continue advertising your book long term. Keep running ads, registering affiliates, providing interviews, and taking other activities that spread the word about your book.
And while advertising never finishes, it’s much less costly to sell a book to a present fan than find a new one. Expand your business and keep viewers coming back by writing more books, producing products, and giving readers who like your job more choices to purchase from you.
Writing an eBook has been the best move I have ever taken for my business, but only because I followed each step intentionally. It takes a whole lot of time and effort to do it that way, but the benefits are worth it.