Are you looking for a way to make a little extra money? You can create and sell your own eBook (electronic book) on Amazon.com. With just a few minutes of work you can have a professionally formatted eBook that you can sell for as much as you want. All you need is a good web browser and a spare phone line. This post will give you step-by-step instructions on how to create your own eBook. You can sell the eBook on Amazon or your own site and when you’re ready you can quit.
1. Select A Topic
The first step is to select a topic for your book. You can create a guide on just about any subject but it’s best to pick a niche. For example, if you’re an affiliate marketer for luxury beauty products you can create an eBook about how to sell them online.
A luxury niche is a good choice because there is already a large audience for products in that category. If your aim is to create a sustainable source of passive income then consider topics that are already popular and trending such as digital marketing or social media. This way you can tap into a large audience already looking for information on your chosen topic.
2. Find Similar Content
If you’re fortunate enough to have a sizable audience, consider using those sites to your advantage. Look through the blog posts on your chosen topic to see which ones are doing the best and choose several of those to include in your work. Alternatively, you can use the Amazon keyword tool (for free) to find existing books on your topic and find out what the competition is doing. In both cases, this is where you come in. You’ll be using content from others to complement your own efforts (a good practice when creating content for SEO purposes).
3. Write The Introduction
The introduction is a short piece of text that will appear on the screen (or in some cases, be on a page) when a person opens up your eBook. You’ll want to write this piece to convince the reader to continue with your eBook. For example, if your aim is to create a resource for digital marketers then consider writing something like this:
“If you’re looking for a guide to digital marketing for beauty product companies, then you’ve come to the right place. We’ve collated a massive amount of research from across the web into one place and we’ve made it easy to navigate. We’ve taken out all the complex jargons and replaced them with plain english so that even newbies can follow the information. As a beauty product entrepreneur who’s been there and done that, I can tell you that not enough marketers are using SEO for their clients’ products. If you’re looking for an easy-to-follow guide that will get you results, then get your hands on this eBook.”
4. Craft An Outline
An outline is a document that will help you visualize the structure of your eBook. You can use Microsoft Word’s built-in outline tool or a similar tool (there are a number of free tools online) to create an outline for your book. This is a crucial step since you’ll be using the outline to figure out what content goes where later on. If you’ve ever written a novel, then you know how crucial this step is. It can’t be stressed enough how important it is to follow this step precisely so that your eBook is presented in the best possible way. For the sake of this tutorial, I’ll be using the built-in outline tool in Microsoft Word but the principle is the same regardless of the word processor you use.
The main purpose of the outline is to help you figure out the structure of your content. In a nutshell, you’ll be doing the following:
- breaking down the content into specific chunks
- arranging those chunks in an order that makes sense
- determining the dominant tone (that is, the overall emotional impact of your content)
- setting the scene (that is, providing important context)
- identifying key points
- making sure all the information is there and that it’s accurate
For example, you might start with an introduction that sets the scene and explains the objectives of your book. Then you could have sections on the different types of marketing mix that can be used to promote your products.
5. Write The Body (Chapters)
Chapters are the meat of your eBook. These are the sections that will contain the bulk of the content. They will typically be made up of a number of sub-chapters (steps or actions). The sub-chapters will contain the details that support the information presented in the chapter. For example, if you’re writing about the steps to launch a new product line you might have a sub-chapter for PR, a sub-chapter for marketing, a sub-chapter for sales, and a sub-chapter for after-sales. Each sub-chapter would contain all the details about each step.
6. Proofread
Proofread is simply going over your content with a fresh set of eyes. Your eBook will not be published until you’ve gone through it with a fine-toothed comb and made sure that every letter and punctuation mark is correct. It’s easy to get distracted by the buzz of getting everything done and rushed into publishing but you can’t beat going back and fixing the little things that might have been missed. Proofreading also gives you the opportunity to identify any spelling errors or typos before the book is officially published. This is also a great chance to tighten up the language and make it more concise.
7. Publish
You’ve done it! Your eBook is now finished. You can get all the accolades you deserve once your ebook is published. It’s an incredible feeling to have a well-written, comprehensive guide that’s ready to be passed on to someone else. There are a number of different platforms that you can use to publish your eBook such as Amazon, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and Google Play. If you’ve chosen to go with the Amazon route then you’ll want to make sure that you’ve got a professional-looking cover for your book. You can use a tool like Book Cover Express to easily create a cover for your book in less than 10 minutes. This way you can get back to writing about your fascinating subject matter.