Are you thinking about making money by selling ebooks online?
You’re in the right place and at the right time.
The Internet has reshaped the way we do many things.
I remember when we had to spend an outrageous amount of money making distant phone calls.
Our emails were taking forever to reach their destinations.
We would not even dream of a reply.
With the Internet, we can now do things in a better way.
We can now enjoy Video calls by Skype, sending Electronic Mail (Email), shopping from the comfort of our homes using sites like Amazon, and more facilities we never dreamt of then.
Entrepreneurs here have a way of flipping all this internet stuff to their advantage.
They sell their commodities on Amazon, market those products through email, and when it is time to create awareness or host meetings, skype.
When it comes to the Internet and entrepreneurship, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Writers have to go through those book publishing companies with additional administrative staff.
The books have to get to the printing press and the final distribution to bookstores to reach customers.
These processes are hectic, and it is a chapter I don’t want to open.
Fortunately, all these can use a PC.
Because of this, you don’t need to worry about the cost associated with printing and warehousing books that may or may not be marketable.
Table of Contents
What are Ebooks?
Ebooks are simply books that are published digitally. They can be accessed and read electronically online or offline.
It is a book composed in or converted to digital format for display on a computer screen or handheld device.
Apart from being accessible electronically, for a digital copy of a book to be named an ebook, there are a few more characteristics it needs to have.
Here are two;
- Ebooks are non-editable:
As an ebook author, you have the absolute right to your book despite its availability electronically.
Unless you pass on the immediate right to edit or make changes to the book, no other person can alter any segment of your book.
The best way to make sure your book is not altered by other people without your permission is by getting your book published in an uneditable format.
- Ebooks are reflowable
What does reflowable mean? Reflowable means that text is able to adapt its layout to the screen it is being viewed from.
Reflowable ebooks can be viewed from a computer screen, tablet or mobile phone screen.
For an ebook to be genuinely certified, it must be responsive to your screen and fit into it. It shouldn’t come at the expense of the text formatting or the position of the objects in the book.
Ebook Formats
Let’s talk about the Ebook format. There are several E-book formats available.
Multitudes of devices and platforms control E-books.
To get the most out of your Ebook, you should publish in the format your readers can view on their respective devices.
PDF (.pdf) Format
The abbreviation stands for portable document format.
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As I mentioned earlier, this isn’t fit to be called an E-book in the technical sense, but it is one because many people prefer to use it.
TXT (.txt) Format
TXT Format is the plain text file format
. Other than essential texts, no other object (images or graphs) is supported.
This format usually comes without any font styling.
EPUB (.epub) Format
This in full stands for the Electronic Publication format.
Although Kindle devices don’t support it, it remains the most supported across different devices.
MOBI (.mobi) Format
This Mobipocket format was the former kindle format and was then the kindle launching extension.
Due to its popularity, some low-end devices are still supporting it even after its official discontinuation.
AZW (.azw) & AZW3 (.azw3) Format
These are the current Kindle format and are the substitute for Mobipocket.
Mobi upgrades come with DRM protection that ensures the books are only readable using Kindle devices in a technical sense.
When the Kindle fire technique was adopted, AZW was substituted for a better AZW3 format which supports Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).
Another name for the AZW3 format is KF8 (Kindle Format 8)
How to Make Money Selling EBooks
Having a basic understanding of what EBooks are and their available formats is crucial for you as an entrepreneur.
Now that we have a glimpse of what e-books are let’s see how to turn any tide in our favor.
Below are steps you can follow to start making money selling Ebook copies.
1. Choose a Topic to Write About
One of the crucial and challenging aspects of Ebook writing is choosing and writing on the right topic.
You may want to write on something you think would sell quickly and to many people.
Writing on a different subject matter is a great idea, but here is my recommendation.
It would be best if you consider writing about what you like.
Will you be able to pay money to buy a book that speaks about your particular topic of interest?
If you can, then the chances are that other people can.
With this in mind, you’ve got a topic to write on.
If you are confused about your topic, you should consider checking Amazon’s bestselling books in your area of interest.
You can also check out a books store within your reach to see if you can get any ideas related to want you are researching.
The more value your Book offers to users, the more likeliness of success.
So it’ll be great if you’ll focus on solving a pressing problem.
If you have a blog and are willing to turn your posts into E-book, this is the right time to do it.
2. Write with Quality in Mind
Take as much time as you can to write your Book. Don’t be in a rush to get things done because that may spell doom to its quality.
Use the best of sources as your references.
This way, you’ll find no reason to slash off your Book’s value or its selling price due to quality.
Make the best choice of words while writing.
Remember that proofreading your work to make it error-free is invaluable.
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So, spend as much time and attention as you can in writing while proofreading and editing your Book.
You can also use several tools to make your Book short of errors.
Free tools like Grammarly free would go a long way.
If, however, you need robust functionalities, the premium version of Grammarly would be your best bet.
A couple of other text editing tools out there could help improve your Book’s quality.
You need to check them out and see what works best for you.
In-book styling has a lot to tell about your Book, so make the most out of them to improve your readers’ experiences.
Also, your book title and the cover give your prospects the first impression and tell them about your book context.
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Make sure they sound teasing as well as compelling to your competitors.
Book content is demanding and can be time-consuming.
Luckily you can grab a copy of this book to learn four ways you can “write a book” without actually writing a book.
And if you are writing one, it will also show you a proven step-by-step method to make book writing as easy as ABC.
3. Pick A Good Ebook Publishing Platform
The time for your hard work to pay you off has come.
You should now check out platforms to quickly get your book published and earn huge profits in return.
You may need to research the best electronic book publishing platform with greater potentials.
If you wonder where to start your research or which publisher to consider, check the list below for the best platforms to use when selling ebooks online.
- Self-publishing on your website or blog
- Draft 2 Digital
- Smash Words
- Lulu
- Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)
- Kobo Writing Life
- Apple iBooks
- Nook Press
- Pay Hip
- Google Play
- Blurb
For a detailed guide on how to write and publish a book from start to finish with minimal effort, grab a copy of this book.
4. Promote Your EBook to Improve Sales
To have book-worthy content in place and a deserving publisher to go with, indeed, isn’t the time to take that final sigh of relief.
Now is another critical time when your Book needs you the most; to take it to the front of potential readers.
Some book publishers may take the trouble of promoting your Book, but giving your Book an extra push wouldn’t be a bad idea.
To shout your Book out loud, you need to promote to the right audience.
Although spending money on Ads campaigns will help secure greater reach, you can still get it done by leveraging free outreach methods.
- Are you a blogger or content creator? Then promote your ebook to your audience.
- If you have an email list, promote your book with it, and if you don’t have any, it is never late to start building a list.
- If you have a portfolio site, you should also link to your book sales page.
- Leverage social media platform pages, groups, and your profile to market your Book. Some of the platforms to start with are LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.
- Try out online forums, but make sure you consider threads that are relevant to your Book.
- Leverage YouTube marketing for your book promotion, and although Vimeo seems to be fast behind, there’s untapped potential there.
A great way to market your Ebook is to consider what other authors use to get their books to a broader reader base.
5. Build A Reputation Around Your Book Topic
Although promoting your Book is a significant step you can take in getting known for your hard work and creativity, you deserve way better for all that.
Participate in writing contests, and if you win in most cases, you’ll have an extra cash reward.
It’s also another way of advertising yourself and your Book to the world.
You also secure a broader outreach for your Book.
Should you consider participating in a writing contest both local and international, use a search engine to explore the available options you have.
Many people are making money from their books through contests, so you also can earn extra cash by participating in some.
Conclusion
You may need to write more books and improve on the already published ebooks to earn significantly.
The fact is that the best way for you to make money selling ebooks online is by introducing new items to the market.
E-books will get you to sell multiple books and ginger up your readers to check out your older publications.
If your previous and latest books belong to similar niches, you’ll have no problem promoting to the same sets of people that patronizes your other books.
Hope this will help you realize your potential when publishing books and selling their copies for a passive income.
If you’re a blogger Learn How To Turn Your Blog Into A Book.
I recommend you grab a copy of this book How To Become An Author to learn everything you need to know for a successful book launch as well as 4 different ways to create ebooks without actually writing the books yourself.