12 Tips to Sell eBooks Online – Guide for Writers

Understanding how to sell ebooks online and how to market them gives you a way to share your expertise and potentially make some passive income. More and more savvy entrepreneurs are waking up to the possibilities that selling ebooks online can bring as a primary source of income or as a side hustle.

Creating books will likely be a long-term marketing strategy for many businesses. The credibility and increased outreach they offer businesses can be invaluable for creating a strong, reputable, and trustworthy brand going forward.

How to Sell eBooks Online

The following steps can turn your idea into a flourishing side hustle or be utilised as part of your marketing and sales plan when you start a small business from home:

1. Explore the Market

It isn’t a coincidence that some people make money selling ebooks and others don’t. You must create a product that’s worth paying for and brings value to the reader. Valuable content can take different forms like solving a problem, giving useful advice, or sharing your personal experiences. A good rule of thumb is to write about something you know. However, you should also aim to offer something new, or at least offer a fresh take on an established topic.

Creating an ebook is a long process that may involve some financial investment for you. It will certainly involve redirecting your time and energy from other parts of your business that could raise revenue. For that reason, take time to determine whether writing your own ebook would be a wise use of your time and resources before starting.

Find Out What Customers Are Searching For

Online tools like Google Trends, Ahrefs, or SEMrush can help you find out what people search for within a certain topic. If you are planning to write a book based on the expertise you’ve gained through owning a business, find out which questions your customers ask your support team to get ideas about where to start.

Some popular ebook categories include:

• Religion and Spirituality
• Biographies and Memoirs
• Business and Money
• Self Help
• Cookbooks, Food, and Wine
• Novels

If you’re interested in dipping into these topics, check what’s already available. Take note of details like titles, their prices, the length of the books, and what their covers look like. You can use this information as inspiration while working out how to offer something original that readers will enjoy or find useful.

2. Get Writing

After doing careful groundwork, you can finally think about writing your ebook. If you have a blog or past newsletters available, you may be able to reuse their content. Alternatively, create fresh content that will interest your current or potential customers.

Make Sure Your Text Is High Quality and Factually Correct

You must fact-check your writing. Back your claims up with high-authority quotes and source links, or use footnotes to add authority to your work. If you’re writing material based on your own experience, be prepared to prove your expertise with demonstrable evidence.

You don’t need to be a world expert in a subject to sell an ebook online. However, your readers should understand your background.

• If you’re a passionate but amateur cook, it should be clear that your experience comes from the home kitchen. This can even work in your favour; include anecdotes about family dinners or dinner parties with friends where your dishes went down a treat.
• If you’re giving advice or tips about “your money, your life” topics like legal issues, finance, or health, mention specific studies and cases to back up your advice.

3. Think About Getting an ISBN For Your eBook

The ISBN—or International Standard Book Number—is what bookshops or distributors use to distinguish your book from others. You might need an ISBN to sell your product online depending on the platform(s) you use to sell your ebook.

4. Set Up Payment Processing

Setting up credit card processing for book sales is a wise move for authors looking for support from a payment processor that understands their industry. This step is especially important for authors who sell their ebooks through their own websites (allowing them to keep a higher percentage of the revenue) rather than offering them through third-party platforms.

Merchant services account providers like Unicorn Group will provide you with an integrated global payment gateway with several important features. These include security measures against fraud and chargebacks and a central dashboard that gives you greater control over your transactions.

5. Design Your eBook

The balance between text and visuals will be very important when designing your ebook. If your book is text-heavy, consider incorporating some visuals to break up the content. If you’re selling a book based on your expert knowledge, use data visualisations to back up your claims instead of stock photos.

Your ebook will need:

• A front cover
• A title page
• A table of contents
• Your main content pages
• An “about the author” page

You can use ebook templates to put your book together or start from scratch. However, starting a design from zero may take significantly longer and requires some technical skill. Pay attention to details like font choice, colour palette, and page numbering to create an ebook that’s attractive and easy to read.

Create an Eye-Catching eBook Cover Design

Create an exciting cover design that will appeal to your target audience. Use visuals they’ll find attractive, memorable, or relatable. Remember you’ll use the cover design to promote your ebook so it’s crucial to get this step right.

Remember that when customers shop for digital products, they have fewer cues than when shopping in person. Because they can’t pick up the book or flick through the pages, you need to make your ebook stand out on a page with similar products. Check books with similar content and decide on a cover that’s different enough to jump out at the consumer as they’re browsing.

6. Select Your Publishing Platform

Selecting the platform (or platforms) you want to use is vital for your ebook’s success. Different platforms offer different distribution channels and royalty structures. Research other authors’ experiences with different platforms to choose the platform that best meets your needs.

7. Format Your eBook

If you upload your manuscript straight from Word, it will have formatting errors. This looks unprofessional and can lead to poor reviews. You’ll need to convert it into an ebook format to ensure a professional-looking and responsive ebook.

Some authors choose to do this process by themselves, but it may be best to get professional help at this point. After all, after putting so much time and energy into writing your ebook, it would be a shame not to offer it in the most professional way possible!

Formatting your book is much more than just aesthetics because it has a vital role in the reading experience. When choosing ebook formats, check any formatting requirements your selected platforms may demand. Your book must be responsive and readable on different devices.

8. Price Your eBook

Before settling on a price, do some market research. How much does your competition charge for similar products?

After all the hard work you’ve put into writing your ebook, you’ll want to turn a profit when it hits the “shelves.” Think about a price point that will make you a profit after deducting your service fees and marketing costs.

Is It Worth Offering Free eBooks?

It might be worth offering free ebooks if it’s a savvy move in the long run. If offering free ebook downloads allows you to reach out to a new audience, collect e-mail addresses, or encourage subsequent sales, it could be worth it. Other potential benefits include:

• Building credibility: As an expert in your field, offering a free ebook could help you reach out to more or new people and build credibility.
• Boosting a call-to-action: A free ebook could be a great way to entice visitors to buy your products or sign up for your business services.
• Building an e-mail marketing list: You could offer your ebook as a reward for signing up for your mailing list.

9. Create a Landing Page For Your eBook

Many different platforms facilitate the publishing of ebooks. Regardless of which you choose, you’ll need a landing page on your own website to promote it and bring readers into your sales funnel.

• If you’re using an ebook publisher like Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, add a link to your product on your landing page.

• You can also sell your ebook directly from your website with an e-commerce integration. Research the best small business website builders and choose the option that best fits your needs.

10. Promote Your eBook

Promoting your ebook will be the most effective way to boost digital downloads. If you already have followers on social media platforms, you could start promoting the book before it’s finished to build hype around its publication. You must be sure about your book’s publication date if you promote it before it’s published.

Use different marketing strategies to market your ebook. Feature pictures of the front cover in:

• Social media posts
• Social media ads
• Newsletters and e-mail campaigns
• Guest posts on other sites
• A popup on your site

Make Good Use of Reader Reviews

Readers will invariably check the reviews your ebook has received when considering purchase. Encourage your readers to leave a review and then draw attention to any glowing reviews your book receives. The following are some great ways to take full advantage of reviews:

• Feature your best reviews on your landing page and social media.
• Feature customer reviews and ratings in advertisements.
• Add testimonials to your e-mail newsletter.
• Respond to reviews on social media by saying “thank you” and responding graciously to constructive feedback.

11. Track Your eBook Sales

You must have a good idea about how your ebook is doing to use the correct promotional strategies. Tracking metrics like traffic sources and conversion rates will also let you know if further ebook creation is an efficient use of your time.

Many platforms like Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing provide analytics tools that give you insights into who visits your site. This helps you pinpoint your target reader so that you can market your ebook more effectively to this group of people in the future.

12. Keep Your Readers Interested

If a reader purchases your book, they may be interested in your other offerings. Once you get hold of their e-mail address, nurture the relationship. An e-newsletter is a good way to send news about new products, updates to the book, or further information that your readers may find interesting. Make sure there’s a link to your landing page in all of your e-mails to encourage interest in your ebook.

Why Sell eBooks Online?

Becoming part of the potentially lucrative ebook market and the ability for non-professional writers to publish their own content are two compelling reasons to sell ebooks online. Publishing ebooks online allows professionals from different industries to share their experiences in an easy-to-read and convenient format for their readers.

The ebook market in Europe is expected to generate a revenue of USD 2.56bn in 2024 with an annual growth rate of nearly 1% year-on-year. Ebooks represent a modern and dynamic way to spread your passion for a topic and potentially earn some money doing it.

There’s Space for Everyone in the eBook Market

Here are a few additional reasons to share your knowledge and experience via an ebook:

• Selling ebooks is a source of passive income: Not only could selling ebooks make you money, but it’s also a source of the elusive passive income everybody wants. Creating an ebook initially takes time, but after it’s finished you can enjoy the fruits of your labour with minimal extra work.
• It’s easy: Authors have access to templates to create the book and then don’t need to worry about stock or shipping.
• You can self-publish: You have complete control over your project and don’t need to go through lengthy pitching processes with publishers.
• It’s potentially lucrative: You can charge what you want for your ebook and keep a higher percentage of the sale compared to a traditional paper book.
• An ebook can be part of your marketing strategy: You can offer customers bundles, for example, a product and your ebook for a discounted price.
• You get your readers’ e-mail addresses: This is invaluable for e-mail marketing campaigns further down the line.

Solid Groundwork Is the Key to Success

Seeing your carefully crafted ebook on a virtual shelf is a thrilling and rewarding experience and something of which authors can be proud. However, publishing a profitable ebook that boosts your income requires careful groundwork to put it on the road to success.

Investing the appropriate time and effort into research, editing, and design will invariably improve the quality—and salability—of your ebook and boost its customer reach. Having solutions in place to support your growing sales also puts you in good stead as you spread your wings as an ebook author.