Looking for a way to share and monetize your knowledge and ideas? Selling e-books online could be the way to do it.
It’s very easy to make money selling ebooks and there are many options to share and market the content you create.
In this post, you will find a complete guide on how to make money selling ebooks online.
You’ll learn how to sell eBooks from your own website or on marketplaces like Amazon. And you’ll find tips on how to market your eBooks so you can maximize sales.
Are you ready to learn more? Let’s start.
Why sell ebooks online?
Electronic books are extremely popular and it is estimated that around 21% of all book sales come from digital downloads. The great thing about e-books is that you don’t have to be a best-selling novelist to make your e-book a success.
The eBook market is diverse, so there’s room for books of all shapes and sizes and on just about any subject. The key to successfully selling your ebook is marketing (more on that later), and you don’t have to rely on a well-known publisher to do the marketing for you.
Selling ebooks online is a true entrepreneur and you can handle all aspects of the process yourself, from writing to self-publishing to promotions.
This is what makes e-book creation such a great option for e-commerce businesses.
Selling e-books vs print books
Even today, print books are still the most popular format for readers, however, this does not mean that there are not many benefits to selling e-books instead of print books.
The main benefit is, of course, the cost. It’s much cheaper and easier to create an e-book for desktop publishing than it is to get a printed book.
Likewise, you don’t have to pay overhead like printing and storage like you do with printed books.
Also, the process of creating a book for print is long and complicated and beyond the reach of many hobby writers and small businesses. However, it is more than possible to create your own ebook quickly and cheaply and you can start making sales and seeing returns right away.
Sounds interesting? Read on to learn exactly how to create an ebook that sells.
Create an eBook that sells
Before we can figure out how to distribute your ebooks and start making money, you first need to create your product. Here’s how to create an ebook that is sold online.
Choose an interesting topic
The key to creating an ebook that sells is choosing a topic that will inspire readers to take note and buy your book. You need to think long and hard about the topic of your ebook before you start.
Try to pick a topic that other writers or companies haven’t written about. If you’re writing a nonfiction eBook, your goal should be to add value or teach your readers something they don’t already know. To achieve this, it’s a good idea to draw on personal experiences that set you apart from other writers.
For example, if you’re writing a book on how to start a blog, you should avoid focusing on general advice that can be found through a quick Google search. Instead, go into detail about your own blogging journey and the things you’ve learned, as well as the pitfalls you’ve experienced.
If you’re going the fiction route for your eBook, consider sites like Amazon Kindle to see what types of books are selling well.
For example, dystopian young adult fiction is extremely popular, so you may want to choose that as a starting point for your novel. unique plot ideas and avoid copying the best sellers.
Come up with a great title
Next, you should try to think of a title that will grab the reader’s attention and inspire them to download the book. If you write business books, then titles that include financial figures tend to work well.
For example, if your book is about growing your blog, something like «How I Made $100,000 From My Blog» is likely to get more attention than something like «A Step-by-Step Guide to Blogging.» If you’re out of headline ideas, check out this guide to writing better headlines.
If you are writing fiction, you should try to make your titles catchy and intriguing. There are also tools available to help you create titles for different genres, such as Fancy Name Generators Y Adzing Book Title Generator.
develop the content
Probably one of the hardest parts of selling eBooks online is writing the actual content. It can be time consuming and if you are not an experienced writer it can be a struggle at times. However, don’t let this put you off.
If you want to go down the route of writing the book yourself, create a detailed plan for each section of the book and a timeline for when you want to finish it.
Also, if this is your first time writing a book, don’t overdo it by planning for a very long book. Ebooks can be as long or short as you like, so for your first try, choose a more manageable length.
Also, if you don’t see yourself as a writer, you can also hire a ghost writer to edit the content for you.
It is very easy and quite affordable to hire a ghost writer. Check out freelancing sites like five either up work to connect with writers who have experience working in your niche.
Add high-quality images and visuals
If your ebook is a non-fiction title and goes into great detail on complicated topics, it’s a very good idea to use images whenever possible.
Images and other visual elements, such as charts and tables, can help break up your text and make the information more digestible for the reader. It’s also a great way to add value to your eBook and make it look more professional.
For fiction books, including images is not that common, and apart from adding illustrations that enhance your story, you can probably skip this step.
Note: Do you want to start selling your digital products but don’t know how? Sellf makes it easy for you. Click here to start your free trial period.
Preparing the e-book for sale
Once you’ve created your eBook, there are a few things you need to do to get it ready for sale. Here is everything you need to know.
Format your eBook
Ebook formats vary by book type, but you should always format your eBook in a way that is easy for buyers to read and digest. It’s always a good idea to stick with font sizes of 11 or larger. Anything smaller than this and readers may have a hard time seeing the words correctly.
Select an easy-to-read san serif font like Veranda or Ariel for the main prose and stick with it. Alternatively, you can also use sites like fontjoy to select pairs of professional fonts that can be used for prose and titles. This way, your text is consistent and clear at all times.
Whenever possible, break up large blocks of text into smaller paragraphs and add lists and headings that break up the text to make life easier for the reader.
Edit and correct
Before you even think about finishing your book and publishing it, be sure to edit and proofread it. You should do this at least once, but it’s a good idea to have more than one person review it if possible. You can use tools like Grammarly to help you catch spelling and grammatical errors as well.
Remember that you are selling this product, so it must be of high quality and error free. If your book is plagued with spelling and grammar problems, this it could lead to bad reviews later on, which could have a huge impact on your marketing strategy.
Add brand elements
When preparing your book for publication, be sure to add some branding elements to let people know more about your business and your work.
Consider adding an author page at the beginning or end of the book, and place your company name and logo in strategic places in your books, such as chapter title pages or in headers and footers.
Design an attractive cover
I know they say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but most people still do, which is why it’s important to design your cover. Your cover should be attractive and professional, and contain important information such as the title, the author’s name, and your company name if your eBook is affiliated with an existing business.
You can use online graphic design software like Canva to design your book cover and select from a variety of free and professional templates.
Alternatively, you can hire a graphic designer. Whichever route you choose, make sure your coverage has the following characteristics:
- High quality images and graphics.
- Contrasting text and background colors.
- An eye-catching, easy-to-read title font
Also, make sure all fonts and images you use are suitable for commercial use to avoid copyright issues.
Prepare different types of files.
There are a few different file types that you can use to save your eBook. Depending on the platform you use to sell your books, you may need to have your document available in different file formats. It’s a good idea to save your files in MOBI, ePub, and PDF formats, as this will allow you to publish your books on most major sites, including Amazon.
To do this, first save the file as a PDF, then use sites like CloudConvert to convert PDF to MOBI and ePub formats for free.
How to sell ebooks on your website
One of the easiest ways to make money selling e-books online is to use an e-commerce platform designed to sell digital products.
There are many platforms that will allow you to do this, but our top recommendation is Sellfy. It is an affordable platform and very easy to use. They also charge 0% transaction fees which is a huge plus.
We recommend going for the Starter plan as it allows you to create unlimited products and you get a 14-day free trial. It is the cheapest plan that allows you to sell digital products.
You can use Sellfy to embed your products on a website you already own or create a digital store to sell your eBooks.
Here’s a quick step-by-step guide on how to use Sellfy to sell eBooks.
Step 1: Choose a plan and create your store
To start building your ebook store, go to Sellfy.com, choose your preferred plan and click you begin.
You will then be prompted to create an account and password and fill in a few details about your store. Here you can choose whether you want to embed products on another site or create a Sellfy store. Make your selections and click Start a free 14-day trial. You will then be redirected to your Sellfy account dashboard
Step 2: Add your digital products
Then you can start creating product pages for your ebooks and add them to your store. To do this Products > Digital products in the sidebar and then click Add a new product.
On the new product page, you can drag and drop eBook files to upload or browse them on your computer. You can also add all the information about your ebooks, like a description, title, price, and a product preview. When the product page is complete, click save the product button at the top right of the page.
Step 3: Make changes to your store settings
If you are creating a new store with Sellfy, you will also need to customize your store settings. To do this, click save settings in the sidebar. From this tab, you can customize the look of your store by changing themes and layouts.
You can also redirect your store to a custom domain. If you need to buy a domain, check out this list of the best domain name registrars to buy. We usually use Namecheap for domain registrations.
You can use the Store Settings area to connect PayPal and Stripe to your store. This will allow you to securely accept payments from your customers.
And you can configure other key aspects of your site, like email settings and embed options.
After completing all of the steps above, you should be ready to start promoting your eBooks online and generating sales.
How to sell eBooks on marketplaces like Amazon
Although selling eBooks through your own eCommerce store is the best way to make a profit, many people choose to sell their books on Amazon.
Amazon takes a cut of the sales, but there are benefits to selling on large online marketplaces. The main thing is that you don’t have to generate your own traffic and, in fact, you don’t have to spend as much time on marketing.
If you want to use Amazon to sell your eBooks, it’s best to distribute them through a third-party site like PublishDrive. The result is that you can display your ebooks on many other platforms, not just Amazon.
This is exactly what you need to do.
Step 1 – Create a PublishDrive account and upload your eBooks
First, go to PublishDrive.com, choose a plan and create your account. You will then be presented with the PublishDrive dashboard. Click on Load Book > Load Book.
You will then receive a Create a new title arise. Select Ebook from the drop-down menu and click Create a new ebook title.
Then in the Files section, drag and drop the epub file to upload. You can also upload your cover image.
Step 2 – Fill in your eBooks metadata, creator, and price details
Next, you’ll need to add all the important information about your book, including author details, metadata, pricing, and copyright information.
To do this, simply go through the page, completing the sections step by step.
Step 3: Configure distribution options
Once you have filled in all the details necessary to upload your book, you will be presented with your distribution options.
You have the option of distributing your ebook on a wide range of online marketplaces, including Amazon.
By default, your settings will allow PublishDrive to distribute your eBook to any of the listed sites. If there are sites you don’t want your book distributed on, simply select them to disable next to that particular site in the list.
Step 4: Wait for the book to be approved
Once you’ve completed all the sections, simply hit Publish. Then your book Email will be sent for your review. The review process may take a few business days to complete, but once your book is approved, it will be shipped immediately to whatever site you have selected in the distribution section.
Step 5: Promote your book and track performance with PublishDrive
Once your book has been distributed, you can use your PublishDrive account to promote your book, generate royalty reports, and receive payments from the sites your book appears on.
All of these features can be accessed from the dashboard side navigation bar of your PublishDrive account.
How to market your eBook
Whether you sell your eBook from your own eCommerce site or distribute it on Amazon, there are plenty of ways to market it and improve your sales numbers. Here are just a few of the best ways to promote your ebook online:
- Email marketing campaigns – Email campaigns are a great way to promote your ebook, especially if you already have a well-established email list. Check out this list of some of the best email marketing services that you can use to set up advanced and automated promotional campaigns.
- Contests and quizzes on social networks – Social media is a great place to market digital products like e-books. A fun way to spark interest on social media is to run giveaways and contests. use social media contest apps Like SweepWidget, you can create fun and engaging contests that encourage people to like and share your links to your ebook. You can also give away free copies of your ebook as a prize.
- online quizzes – Another fun way to generate interest online is by creating online polls. You can use a quiz maker to create fun quizzes that engage readers and promote your book at the end.
- Give free eBook excerpts – If you want to encourage more people to buy your book, consider offering the first few chapters as freebies. If your book is engaging and interesting, readers will definitely want to buy the whole book to learn more.
- Run paid ad campaigns – Another great option is to run paid ad campaigns on Google or Facebook. You can target your ads to people who have expressed an interest in your online ebook niche. Paid advertising requires an initial investment, but when used correctly it can provide an excellent return on investment.
How to identify high-performing sales channels
Marketing is all about trial and error, so it’s important to keep a close eye on ebook sales and try to identify sales channels that work to improve your sales in the future.
For example, if you run Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and promote your books using organic search marketing, it’s important to know which is more effective and where you should focus your efforts. Tools like Sellfy have built-in analytics, meaning you can easily see what percentage of your sales is coming from which channels.
It’s also a good idea to use Google Analytics or a paid web analytics tool to track your website’s performance. Based on the insights you gain from your web analytics and sales funnel analysis, you can make key changes to your website and sales channels to increase lead generation and eBook sales over time.
final thoughts
Whether you’re an aspiring author or a business looking to monetize your existing web traffic, selling ebooks online is a great way to earn extra money. We hope the information in this article has helped you learn exactly how to make money selling ebooks online.
If you want to learn more about selling digital products and monetizing your content, check out some of our other guides:
- How to sell audio files online
- How to sell PDF files online
Divulgation: This post contains affiliate links. This means that we may make a small commission if you make a purchase.