Do you have a ton of ideas on certain topics? Are blog posts not enough to cover all you might want to share? Then an eBook is a great way to properly present your ideas. Ebooks are used to market businesses, sell online courses and share guides.
Asides from educating and informing their readers, eBooks are also a huge source of revenue. In 2021, the revenue for eBooks sold around the world reached $1.1B and this number is increasing with each year. This is why many content creators are investing their time and resources in publishing eBooks for their brands.
So if you’ve been thinking about creating your own eBook, you’re on the right track. In this article, we’ll share a step-by-step guide on how to create yours for free.
What is an eBook?
An ebook which is short for electronic book is a digital book that can be read on digital devices like smartphones, desktops, and tablets. Similar to physical books, it usually contains texts, images, or both.
How Long Should My Ebook Be?
The length of your ebook will depend on the type of ebook you are creating. Is it viral? Opt-in? Or paid?
A viral or giveaway ebook allows you to access many audiences when you have a catchy title. It has no barrier to delivery as you just have to click on download and you will get a copy. The price is usually set at $0.00 in the online bookstore and usually, the pages should be between 3-12 pages.
The opt-in ebook is typically longer than a viral one. It is a better way to improve your email list because you share your book in exchange for the reader’s email address. They are usually around 8-12 pages long.
Lastly, we have the paid ebook which is way more lengthy than the other two and it is usually problem-solving or entertaining. It contains extra materials like worksheets, checklists, etc. The pages can range from 24 to 100+.
A Step-by-Step Guide for Creating Your First eBook
Once you’ve decided on the type of eBook you want to create and how long it should be, here’s a guide on how to bring it to life from start to finish.
1. Decide on an eBook topic
The first step when creating an ebook is to research the topic or subject matter you want to write about. Usually, you need to be sure that what you want to write about aligns with the interest of your target audience. This is because they are the ones who will end up downloading it, and if it’s not solving any of their problems, they won’t be interested in your book.
Since the main reason for writing a book is to proffer solution(s), you should gather what they’ll be interested in. Dive into what questions they are asking and how you can answer them in detail. To find questions in your niche, here are a few places you can look;
- Amazon ebook section: Amazon Kindle is one of the biggest eBook libraries for every topic. This is why we recommend searching for the best-selling eBooks in your niche here. It’ll give you an idea of what people are looking for.
- Keyword research: Conduct keyword research using tools like Ubersuggest, keywords everywhere or SEMRush. With these tools, you’ll get phrases people search for frequently. You can then get the topic and chapter ideas for your next book.
- FAQs: Check out frequently asked questions on your posts, DMs, and on Google. Expand on these questions in your book by thoroughly answering them in detail.
We recommend writing a list of the results you get down and picking the best for your ebook title. When choosing, make sure the topic you chose is something you have domain knowledge on. So don’t just write because your audience needs it, write because you have possible answers to their questions.
2. Work on the content of your ebook
After choosing a topic, the next thing to work on is the content. Start with the basic idea and think about the different aspects of it. A great ebook will have a short and descriptive table of content. This will foreshadow what is embedded in the book.
For instance, if you are creating an ebook about “Your Guide to Smooth and Blemish-Free Skin” you can create chapters on “skin types”, ” do’s and don’ts of each skin”, “Causes of skin irritation” and so on until you have gotten valuable details that you are sure your audience will appreciate.
Another thing that will make your eBook stand out is by adding your experience to the book. So using our example, you might want to add some things you tried that worked and other attempts that failed. This will convince your readers that they are getting honesty and good value for their money.
3. Edit and proofread your content
Once you’ve compiled and written your book, you need to proofread it to check for errors. First, check the chapter arrangement, is there an engaging flow? If you were the reader, would you want to read till the end?
Sometimes, you’ll notice that some chapters would be perfect in other places and it is at this stage that you can detect that. If the chapter arrangements are good to go, you can dive into the main content by checking for;
- wrong spellings
- Wrong punctuation
- better ways to rephrase some tautologies that were unnoticed at the writing stage and so on.
The editing stage can be just as time-consuming as the writing stage. To make things easier, you can use tools like Grammarly which will help you identify errors in your work. You can go further by sending a copy to a professional in your industry. A fresh set of eyes is always helpful during copy edits.
4. Choose a publishing format
The next step after editing your book is to choose a publishing format for it. This simply means when people download or buy your book, what format do they get?
You can choose to publish your eBook in several formats. Some formats are flexible while others only work with specific e-reader devices. Here are some of the formats you can choose from:
- EPUB: is a flexible format that stands for “electronic publication” and can reposition your texts to adapt to different devices such as smartphones and tablets. If your goal is to allow readers to be able to access your book on small devices, saving it as EPUB will be a great option.
- MOBI: is a format that means mobile pocket readers software. It is popular because it is reflowable and works on major e-reader devices except that it does not support audiobooks.
- PDF: is an abbreviation for “portable document format” which is majorly advisable for business books. Books in this format can’t be edited and it works with almost every device.
5. Find an ebook software
This step is very important because you won’t be able to promote your ebook if you don’t have quality content and quality design. That’s why it is advisable to use tools that make it easy to import content, offer good designs, ease and that can offer export in multiple formats.
Canva is a good example of ebook software. It is an online design and publishing ebook creator software that is known for image creation, editing and social banners. Some of the advantages of using Canva include:
- Easy-to-use editor
- 1035 templates for an ebook
- Free plan
- Ability to add animation to ebooks and so on.
Other software you can try out include; Visme, Flipbuilder, Kitaboo, Beacon, Kindle Direct, Google Docs, and so on.
6. Create the ebook and download
After choosing the ebook software, begin the book creation and export to the format you want.
For instance, if you chose Canva as your ebook software, the first thing to do is to click on the “download” button on the top right of your screen, then it gives you several options of which PDF is one. Choose the format you would prefer.
If you would like to share across emails, social media sites, links and so on, you can easily do this by clicking the share button on the top right of your screen.
7. Promote your ebook
After writing a book, you need to host it on a platform where your users can purchase it directly. One platform we recommend is Creathor.
On Creathor, you can create a shop and host your ebook. Set the price and every sale will be automated. Your earnings will reflect in your store wallet and you can withdraw it directly to your bank account. Creating a shop on Creathor is free and you don’t have to pay any maintenance fees.
We also recommend protecting your intellectual property. You can do this by copyrighting your work so no one else can take advantage of you.
Once you’ve set up shop, it’s time to publicize your book. We recommend multiple marketing strategies;
- Promoting on social media: Make a post, add a link to the ebook store to your pages and redirect them to purchase it
- Send out newsletters: If you have email subscribers, ask them to download and share your store link with their friends.
- Run Ads: Run paid promotions on Google, social media and other channels. That way, it goes out of your audience to reach people who might also be interested in it.
Now that you have been enlightened on how to create your ebook, it’s time to start putting things in place. Start by creating a free account on Creathor.
