Create and Sell eBooks — Top Tips to Creating an EBook that Sells

Create and Sell eBooks — Top Tips to Creating an EBook that Sells

Can you really create a compelling eBook that sells and earns you money? Indeed! If you have the know-how, dedication, and passion, you can definitely create and sell eBooks and make money.

EBooks are often underutilized and overlooked yet they are one of the most successful tactics you can use for content marketing and making money online. EBooks have the power to position brands as market leaders by promoting awareness and sharing. And most importantly, you do not necessarily have to produce them or print them in order to make the most out of them. They are electronic-books and thus one of the most cost-effective and fastest ways of content marketing.

If you want to create and sell eBooks to market your brand, then a successful eBook can definitely help you achieve this objective. A compelling eBook can propel your brand to a whole new level. They can help you bring traffic to your website; generate new leads until they are persuaded to become your customers.

But creating a top-notch, compelling eBook is challenging. You cannot just simply write anything and expect it to sell. You need to build strategy, focus on the design, learn about successful distribution tactics, and pay attention to the analytics to gain maximum benefits from your eBook.

Keep reading to learn how these factors can help you create and sell eBooks successfully.

Strategy Building

This is the planning stage where you think about all the factors you need to before you start with creating your eBook. A successful eBook requires that you plan out the strategy before executing. This step is crucial and this is where you need to begin:

  • Keep Your Strategy Simple

    Regardless of how complicated your topic is – depending on the niche –your take on creating your eBook should be simple. Make the content as accessible as you can. Even if you are writing it for a very relevant audience, take a simple spin and make it more eye-catching for them.

  • At the Right Time…

    You should be aware of the current happenings in the industry that you are operating in. Look what’s happening around and make sure you publish your eBook at the right time – when it is needed the most. Keeping up with the industry trends will help you create and sell eBooksa> at a suitable time.

  • Uniqueness is the Key

    Create something new and interesting. It is very common that the topic you have chosen for your eBook has already been written about. But that’s not going to stop you from making your eBook a success. What is important here is research!

    See what’s already been covered. Keeping an innovative approach can definitely help you cover the same topic in a different and better frame. Always do your homework!

  • Create First, Sell Second

    Compelling eBooks with outstanding content can stand alone and do not require aggressive promotion. Instead of creating a book of low value and putting all your effort on blind promotion, create a book that sells itself. Inform your audience about your industry and how the information you share through your book can empower them.

    Give them a chance to explore through your first-hand experience so that they make an informed decision. Once you are able to create right, you can easily sell what you have created.

Designing

If content is the king, designing is the queen!

You might come across various and weird constraints as far as designing your eBook are concerned. Designing is the second most important factor you must take into consideration once you are done with the strategy. Your design should be digitally optimized, should be succinct and brief, and should contain both graphics and copy, which are compelling enough to attract and keep your readers engaged.

  • Professional, Skimmable Design

    Do not treat your eBook design as if it is a leather-bound tome. Since electronic books offer you to provide as much flexibility as you can to the reader, make sure you make the most out of it. Make the reading experience simple and fun and help them navigate through the book by offering them automatic Table of Contents. Also, simplify reading by adding live links, thumbnail images, headings, and bullet points throughout.

  • Formatting Makes All the Difference

    Create sync in the design – including copy and images.

    Format should be in sync and should ideally follow a theme. Images, colours, design and the even the font – of copy and headers – should be in sync throughout. This gives out a very professional look to your overall book.

  • Include Multiple Mediums

    Just like digital media, eBooks have evolved at the same pace. In fact, a highly interactive, successful eBook is one that includes embedded animations, videos, and swipe-able interactive features.

    It is highly advisable that you include multiple mediums and do not underestimate the importance of doing so. These features will help you create and sell eBooks successfully.

  • Web-Product Design

    Since it’s an eBook, majority of your audience will read it online, i.e. on screen. Thus, it is extremely important that you choose file formats that is easily accessible. Multiple file formats will make it easier for your readers to read your books on reading gadgets and tablets.

Distribution Tactics

There’s no point in creating an eBook if there’s no audience for it. If you publish it online and fail to market and distribute your eBook properly, you won’t be able to create a business impact.

Therefore, it is important to follow the right steps for distribution.

  • Create a Checklist

    Come up with every possible distribution tactics as you can and pre-plan it so that you are prepared and ready to go. The following checklist could come in handy:

    • Landing Page

      What’s the landing page that you have decided for your eBook?

      What are you planning for your landing page –pre-plan the anatomy.

    • Book cover

    • Synopsis/blurb of your eBook

    • Lead cap

    • Things you need to know about setting up your landing page

      Pay attention to the visual content of your eBook and formats for producing it (gif, videos, flat graphics, etc.)

    • Micro-Content

    • When, Where, and How to Promote Your eBook and What Distribution Channels to Use

    • Use all of your social media platforms to promote and drive traffic to sell your eBook.

      Use executive promotion and distribution channels to market your eBook.

      Share and request your followers to share and market the product for you.

    • Considering different types of tracking

    • Marketing information

      Traffic tracking

      Lead tracking

  • Your New Promotional Approach

    Treat the promotion of your eBook like a movie launch. Just like the directors release the teaser trailers, you can release a blog post as a teaser trailer. A movie launch may require an interview on NBC, you can go ahead and conduct an interview with an industry insider. No matter what you do and what approach you use, just make sure that the hype you are creating is real.

  • Cash the Accumulated Favors

    If you have been in the industry for a while, chances are that you have informed industry friends too. It’s time to use these contacts and leverage your relationships to promote your eBook.

    Ask them to help you get the word out about your eBook to capture more audiences and let the people know your book has been launched.

  • “Free EBook” Promotion

    If your main aim is to make money selling eBooks, you may only want to offer a few copies of your eBook for free. This is a part of promotion where the ‘first five or first ten’ subscriber receive your eBook for free. Ask these people to write a review for the book. These people will help you market your book through word of mouth.

    In case you are only promoting your brand and not in the business of selling eBooks for money, then you can make your eBook available for free. If you only want people to learn about your business or how you capture the market as a leader, you don’t want people to pay and learn about it. If you really want to charge something, ask them to subscribe for your newsletter or to provide you with their newsletter.

Analytics

Focus on the end results!

Analytics is important to track everything throughout the ‘create and sell eBooks’ process and to stick to achieving the desired results. In fact, this is the only way to find out which prospects you can directly attribute to the success of your book.

Without analytics, you will only be able to create another piece of unworthy content that may not be able to create the desired impact or give you results. Therefore, it is very important to create a strategy for your analytics. The following information could help you with it:

  • Useful Tools

    Use tools that help you fill in gaps for a successful tracking experience. Don’t hesitate in using information that you have collected. Keep a track of:

    • The platforms where you have been promoting your eBook
    • The response you are getting from these platforms
    • Increasing traffic on your website
    • Increase in the number of leads and converts
    • Comparison to your original planning

    Of course, between what you have planned and what you are getting, there will be a number of people downloading your eBook.

  • Track User Engagement

    Learning about how satisfied or engaged your reader is will further satisfy you because your reader will be marketing your book on your behalf (sometimes, without even realizing it). When you read a good book – regardless of the type –it is very natural to share it with other people. So if you have created a book that is both interesting and compelling enough, you can expect your readers to market it for you just by sharing the word of mouth.

    Thus, it is very important that you keep a track of how your book stands with user interest and engagement with the content. There are various tools available to help you understand how readers are responding and interacting what the content you have provided them. The following are the things you need to know:

    • If people had a hardcopy of your book, what are the areas they would be re-reading or highlighting?
    • Which sections stand out as the most compelling part of the eBook?
    • Which part of the book is the audience most excited about?
    • Who is sharing what about the book on their social media?

    To create and sell eBooks is not going to be a complete journey unless you have tracked it down and are satisfied with the end results.

      What are you planning for your landing page –pre-plan the anatomy.

    • Book cover

    • Synopsis/blurb of your eBook

    • Lead cap

    • Things you need to know about setting up your landing page

      Pay attention to the visual content of your eBook and formats for producing it (gif, videos, flat graphics, etc.)

    • Micro-Content

    • When, Where, and How to Promote Your eBook and What Distribution Channels to Use

    • Use all of your social media platforms to promote and drive traffic to sell your eBook.

      Use executive promotion and distribution channels to market your eBook.

      Share and request your followers to share and market the product for you.

    • Considering different types of tracking

    • Marketing information

      Traffic tracking

      Lead tracking

  • Your New Promotional Approach

    Treat the promotion of your eBook like a movie launch. Just like the directors release the teaser trailers, you can release a blog post as a teaser trailer. A movie launch may require an interview on NBC, you can go ahead and conduct an interview with an industry insider. No matter what you do and what approach you use, just make sure that the hype you are creating is real.

  • Cash the Accumulated Favors

    If you have been in the industry for a while, chances are that you have informed industry friends too. It’s time to use these contacts and leverage your relationships to promote your eBook.

    Ask them to help you get the word out about your eBook to capture more audiences and let the people know your book has been launched.

  • “Free EBook” Promotion

    If your main aim is to make money selling eBooks, you may only want to offer a few copies of your eBook for free. This is a part of promotion where the ‘first five or first ten’ subscriber receive your eBook for free. Ask these people to write a review for the book. These people will help you market your book through word of mouth.

    In case you are only promoting your brand and not in the business of selling eBooks for money, then you can make your eBook available for free. If you only want people to learn about your business or how you capture the market as a leader, you don’t want people to pay and learn about it. If you really want to charge something, ask them to subscribe for your newsletter or to provide you with their newsletter.

Final Word

  • It is an important project to create and sell eBooks, especially if you want to market your brand and take it to another level. Thus, make sure you invest in your resources and pour in your precious time to come up with a copy that sells without aggressive promotion. You will be your own judge here. So look at your work critically to share with people only what they really find worthwhile.