What’s an ebook?

It’s a book that you read at home, on your computer, or PDA. You can download them from the internet for free or order them online. Some are scanned in books while others are retyped by volunteers using OCR (optical character recognition). The digital text sometimes needs to be proofread for typos before being posted.

Since they’re in electronic form, you can easily search for keywords or do a text-to-speech function so the computer will read it to you. You can print out pages if you want to read them on paper instead of your monitor. Some are available in HTML (web page) format, but not all publishers allow that.

An ebook is basically a long-form sales letter that you can sell on your website or through Amazon Kindle.

It’s important to understand that most ebook sales are actually coming from the front end of the ebook which means people are buying it before receiving any of the bonuses. So what does this mean? It means you need to make sure you have a killer ebook and not just a bunch of fluff and bonuses.

It’s also important to note that ebook writing services are one of the hardest things you will ever do so if you can’t write well what makes you think people are going to want to read your ebook?

8 Simple Steps

But don’t worry, if you follow these 8 simple steps your ebook will be a smashing success:

• Write down your ebook idea and make sure it’s something people want and need.
• Spend the next week writing out exactly what you’re going to write about in your ebook. You don’t have to get too detailed, but you should know all of the main points that you’re going to hit on.
• Spend the next 2 weeks writing out your ebook. You don’t have to get too detailed, but you should spend a good amount of time on this because people will judge you by the quality of your ebook.
• Do research for the ebook and make sure that everything is accurate before publishing it (if you’re selling it on Amazon Kindle you have to follow their ebook guidelines so make sure you check them out).
• Make sure your ebook looks nice. Spend some money having a professional ebook cover designed and lay the ebook out so that it’s easy to read.
• You need to have some sort of between 5-10% of the ebook devoted to bonuses. People love free stuff so make sure you have a few ebooks, videos, audios, or anything else that will add value for people in your ebook.
• Spend at least half of the ebook talking about how people can get more information on the subject from your ebook writing services
• Make sure there is a call to action at the end of your ebook. People read ebooks for information but they also buy them if there is a clear call to action so make sure you have one.

10 Steps to Writing and Publishing Your First eBook

Last time, I talked about how to write an eBook. Now that I have your interest, let’s look at the steps involved in publishing and marketing your first eBook.

Title

Your book needs a good title if it is going to sell well. A great title captures attention and gets people excited enough to click on the book. It should give them a sense of what the book is about and if it’s right for them – tone, topic, and type – without giving away too much in case they decide not to buy.

Look Inside

The inside of your book is extremely important because that’s where you’re going to hook your readers. Readers need to feel a connection with your writing, characters and the story in order to want to finish it. If you’re not confident about your writing abilities, consider hiring an editor before publishing your book. This will help to ensure that there are no major errors that can take away from the quality of your work or cause readers to lose interest because they couldn’t understand it.

Back Cover

Your book needs a back cover that is going to interest people and persuade them to buy your eBook. This includes a brief synopsis of the story, a look at the main characters, what they’re going through and why you should read this book – all in a few sentences without giving away the entire plot. You also need a great author photo, one that will tell the world who you are and make your audience want to be friends!

Createspace

Createspace is a subsidiary of Amazon and they print your eBook for you on-demand as people order it from their site or from other online bookstores that have partnered with Createspace. You can now publish a paperback, hardcover, or softcover books through their Createspace Direct program.

Amazon

Since Createspace works with Amazon, you should have your book up on their site first before sending it to other online retailers because Amazon has the largest market share online for eBook sales. By putting your eBook on Amazon first, you’re increasing your chances of selling more eBooks because they have the most traffic.

Other Online Retailers

After your book is up on Amazon, then it’s time to start sending it out to other online retailers that sell eBooks. Some of the major sites you should consider are Sony, Barnes & Noble, and Apple iBookstore. If you’re serious about making sales, make sure your eBook is available at as many online retailers as possible.

Your Website

If you’re serious about selling eBooks, then I recommend that you create a website (or blog) to sell them on. A good percentage of your traffic is going to come from search engines and it can be very difficult for readers to find you via an online retailer’s website. Your website is your personal landing page for prospective buyers; it’s essential that you make it easy for people to find, understand and buy your eBook online.

Email List

One of the most powerful ways to sell eBooks or anything else is through email marketing. You can then send out promotional emails about your new book to your email subscribers. It’s important to write great subject lines because that will be what encourages people to open your emails and click on the link to buy your book.

Social Media

Once you have your website up, start posting updates about your eBook launch (and future books) on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google +, and any other social networks that you use. Another great way to market your eBook is by joining other people’s email lists and cross-promoting with them; this could include other authors who write in the same genre as you, podcasters, and bloggers.

Book Trailers

If you’re not familiar with the term ‘book trailers’, they are basically short videos that promote eBooks, especially for young adults and other fiction genres. These book trailers can be shared on YouTube or uploaded to your website or landing pages in order to get more people interested in buying the eBook.