In today’s world technology has made it possible to write and publish a book without the need to scout for book publishers. This method involves a process similar to printing a “hard” book, but without the costs associated with paper and printing. So if you’re an expert in a certain field then I suggest that you turn that your knowledge into downloadable form by writing ebooks to make profit. All you need do is that you put in effort into producing quality content and then come up with a reasonable selling price for it.
In our internet-inclined world, there are tons of online services that can make selling your ebooks really easy. All these online platforms can help you release your ebooks to the world without a huge investment on your part. From humble beginnings, ebooks now sell in the millions each year. Ebook revenue were projected to reach a whopping $8 billion per year from 2018. And thus proves that there is plenty of room for an eBook entrepreneur to share in the market.
So, how to get started?
How To Sell Your E-books Online
As an ebook entrepreneur, you have a number of options for selling your work;
- You can set up your own website and sell your ebooks directly from there. You could make a PDF available to your customers, set up a shopping cart or PayPal link. A reader visits your site, they order, get a download link and get your book. The benefit of this is that you get to control the whole process, get all of the customer information( to be able to promote additional products, services or books), and you can charge prices as you want.
- Another easy way to sell ebooks online is to work with third-party sites such as Amazon, ebookit,lulu, kobo etc. While you may not make as much money as you would selling directly from your site; you will have the opportunity to reach an audience who you won’t otherwise have access to.
- You could also sell your ebooks by leveraging affiliate programs. An affiliate program will help you sell your ebooks.
Here are websites that will help you market your ebooks online.
How To Sell Your E-books Online
Booktango
Booktango is a free eBook publisher which provides writers with the tools necessary for publishing and distributing formatted ebooks to all the major e-bookstores. Once registered, a writer can use the platform to upload their manuscript and have it edited for the required format, and subsequently civulate it to different e-bookstores. Writers who publish with booktango will receive a 100% of net royalties from the sales of books through the company’s online retail partners.
EBookit
EBookit! is an online self-publishing website that serves independent authors and publishers. Members who sign up will need to convert the file into a required one, upload their manuscript and the cover image, enter basic details about the eBook and then pay $149 per title as a one-time formatting, conversion and distribution set up fee. Royalty per book is 50%-80%.
Blurb
Blurb provides Eritrea with reliable tools to create the perfect eBook. Blurb will automatically format the book for you in your choice format
You can then sell the books to different stores including, Blurb, Amazon and Apple ibooks store.
Payhip
Payhip is an online store that provides you the platform to sell any type of downloadable digital material including ebooks. Once you sign up you can create a customizable sales page with Payhip free of charge, and it gives you the tools to sell your products such as discount coupons, share buttons, affiliate programs and flexible pricing options. Payhip keeps only 5% of all your sales.
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing
Amazon is probably the world’s largest online bookstore. Its Kindle Direct Publishing platform will allow you to publish your eBook on the Amazon Kindle store. Amazon self-publishing is free and you get to earn up to 70% royalty on sales of your merchandise.
They are available on kindle devices and kindle apps for iOS, Androids and more.
Google Play
To Google Play Books Partner Centre is another great online store that makes your titles available on androids and Google books. The platform allows you to upload your content, set your own prices and sell to customers everywhere.
CreateSpace
This online platform is a member of the Amazon group of companies. Once you become a member; CreateSpace will offer you free tools to help you design your book and also help you to push sales by getting it onto the most popular distribution channels such as Amazon. With CreateSpace you can set your own prices; hence giving you more control over the royalties you earn.
BookBaby
BookBaby doesn’t take any percentage of your sales, however, it does offer a number of paid services such as design, formatting and distribution.Also, through this platform; you can reach popular stores like Amazon and iBooks.
Shopify
Shopify is a popular e-commerce site that will allow you to easily sell and manage orders for your ebooks. You are only required to pay a fee of $29 per month; this may go up depending on the features. Some of these features include professionally designed store templates, optimized checkout page, order processing and analytics.
Click2Sell
This an affiliate marketing network that provides provides secure servers for storing your ebooks. It usually comes with a checkout option to help your buyers complete their purchases. Another plus is that on Click2Sell you can recruit affiliates to help promote your titles online.
How to create and sell your ebooks online
How To Sell Your E-books Online
To sell your ebooks successfully, you need to put up a quality and compelling content that your audience would want to read; this is key to making sales online. Sure we can talk about great online marketing strategies until our faces turn blue, but if the actual content is not interesting, making sales is certainly gonna hurt.
In the light of that; let’s wade through some basic tips for an overall perfect eBook.
Decide on the topic
The best ebooks share a personal story or experience, and should be in line with your field of expertise. Focus on whatever you’re really passionate about, and then try to translate this into a content that would help your target audience. If you run a blog for example; the best way to determine what your audience responds to is to look for which of your blog posts get the most comments and shares.
Before finalizing your topic, get creative with. Do some market research to see what potential competitors are already selling on Amazon or their site.
The name game
Try to come up with a killed title for your book. Be specific. An example is a book title thus ” How to get financial freedom with N2000 ” this is way more specific than ” How to get financial freedom “
Joanna Penn of the creative pen had such an experience when she changed the title of her book from “How to enjoy your job ” to ” Career Change ” dales suddenly increased.
Use great images
Images make your content richer. Images create a more lasting impression on the mind than mere words.
When we hear information, we’re likely to remember only about 10% of what was said; but with images; the retention rate over that same periods reaches 65 per cent.
There are lots of sites that offer free images that don’t require attribution such as PicJumbo or DeathToStockPhoto. Or you can simply opt for taking your own photos.
Proof Reading
To deliver quality content you need to have your work proof read, but first before you invite another set of eyes to vet your work; check for spelling mistakes and do a round of editing on your own, because fixing minor errors will definitely distract your proofreader from much bigger tasks.
Once you’re done editing, you need to get a consultant or anybody around you who isn’t overly concerned with hurting your feelings. And don’t be offended if they suggest you delete sections of your eBook.
Get a killer book cover
How To Sell Your E-books Online
As cliché as this may sound; your book WILL BE JUDGED by its cover. Make no mistake. So to rake in sales, you might have to consider using an attention-grabbing book cover. A good book cover suggests professionalism and gives customers a sense that a lot of meticulous work has gone into the book.
Here are a few good elements of a good eBook cover
- The title should have a different colour from the background colour
- Make use of images on your eBook cover
- Make sure you use good images( avoid cheap standard stock photography)
- Ensure that you set your title in a large easy to read font size
- Visual elements should be 300dpi
- You should be cautious of copyright( don’t use images or design elements that you don’t have permission to use).
Reach out to professional graphic artists for a better finish to your cover. You can try eBook launch; whose professional eBook cover starts from $99.
So there you have it!
(B.Agric, MBA)
08105636015, 08076359735
Serial Entrepreneur - International Business Planning Consultant - Speaker - Trainer - Author - Blogger - Network Marketing professional.
- 2018 SME Business Trainer and Coaching Advisor at GIZ for SME Loop.
- 2018 YALI RLC Online Cohort 9
- 2017 Fellow, Inspire Africa Train-the-Trainer Entrepreneurship programme sponsored by US Consulate Lagos and the Dickey Center, U.S.A.
- 2016 Fellow, Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme
- 2015 Top 50 Innovative Entrepreneurs, BET5 by Diamond Bank and EDC, PAU.
He is an alumnus of Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of the Lagos Business School (LBS), Pan-Atlantic University (PAU). Through his training, mentoring, speaking and coaching programmes, he has empowered many young people over the years to start and grow their own business, build wealth, create multiple streams of income and achieve financial independence.
- He is a Certified Trainer in Design Thinking by the U.S Consulate, Lagos and the inspire Africa Entrepreneurship Institute.
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