So you want to create an ebook and sell it or use it as a freebie to drive traffic to your website or as an opt-in for your email list?
Great! If publishing an ebook is on your vision board, don’t wait any longer. Creating ebooks is easier than you might think.
Now, what is the easiest way to make ebooks without experience?
In this guide, I’ll show you exactly how to
- make an ebook from scratch
- turn existing content in 3 minutes into a beautiful ebook
- how to sell your ebook
- how to create stunning cover mockups without hiring an expensive graphic designer
- different ways to save and publish your book online
- make money writing ebooks
This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase via a link I will receive a commission at no additional cost to you.
Before we get into the actual ‘How To’, let me explain why you should consider making ebooks as an entrepreneur, content creator, artist, coach, or mentor:
Content
The Advantages of Creating and Selling Ebooks
By offering an ebook, you can increase your traffic to your website. Another advantage is that you can increase your audience (= your soul clients or desired readers) and your visibility online and offline.
Your ebook offers value to the reader and helps to establish trust and to get to know your work and offers better.
If you give away an ebook for free or a part of your book like a free chapter, you gain more subscribers to your email list.
Once you know how it works, creating ebooks and selling them is a great way to earn passive income.
And one cool aspect that shouldn’t be forgotten is that you will be seen as an expert in your chosen field. especially if you publish your ebook on let’s say Amazon. You become a leader and if you want to, a published ebook (or book) can help you to land speaking gigs and lots more.
But now let’s get into the actual HOW TO WRITE AN EBOOK part:
How To Create An Ebook From Scratch – The Writing Process
Besides creating the book cover, the ebook design, and formatting the ebook, a lot of us struggle with the actual ebook creation = the content itself.
If you struggle creating quality content you can download my free content creation and batching template. This not only helps you to create content like blog posts faster but it can also serve you to create an outline for your ebook and the chapters:
Before writing your ebook, create an outline so that you know exactly what you want to write about, and what to include. This organization of your thoughts makes the actual writing process a lot easier and faster.
It’s like having a roadmap that helps you to get to your destination, in this case, the finished ebook.
You may want to take some time to create this outline. The more time you spend on it, the easier the actual writing process will be.
You can even go so far as to create the chapter outlines and some bullet points about what you want to write about in this chapter.
If you struggle with creating an outline you can start doing a brain dump. List out everything you would like to write about and all the ideas you have. It doesn’t have to make sense at first.
After you’re done, see if there are common topics or ideas, and try to organize them.
If you finished your brain dump and organized your ideas it will be a lot easier to create an outline.
I like to do this on paper or sticky notes but you can also do it on your laptop or phone.
Many start writing an ebook (or book) but never finish it, because they are overwhelmed or have no clear idea of what to write, or how to write content that makes sense.
With an outline, you have a reference point on where you are, and what to write next about and you see your progress, especially if you use a checklist.
If you stop writing for a couple of days and you want to start again, an outline also helps you to know where you are in your writing process and what to write about next.
If you don’t have this outline you may have to read a part of your existing content again to know where you stopped.
This not only takes away your precious time but it increases procrastination.
It’s also very important to know the outcome of the ebook. What does your reader learn and know after finishing your ebook?
What value do you bring to the table?
I also highly recommend you create a writing schedule. Don’t overwhelm yourself. If you only have 25 minutes per day, that’s okay because if it feels like too much it becomes a chore and you won’t finish your ebook.
In case you also struggle with sitting down and starting to write, you can use the famous Pomodoro technique. You set a timer for 25 minutes and start writing and typing away (don’t focus on grammar, punctuation).
This way you won’t be procrastinating because 25 minutes sounds like a manageable time, right?
When the 25 minutes are finished, take a short break and continue with another 25-minute session.
If you only have 25 minutes per day, then stop after this session.
This way you will get a lot done because 25 minutes is manageable for everyone and sounds a lot better than having to sit down and write for a couple of hours.
After you wrote your whole ebook you can start the editing process. Go back to the first chapter and start reading it. See if it makes sense or if there are parts you can delete or use in a different chapter. It’s all about the content, not about grammar.
Use this process for the whole ebook and change it if necessary.
When you’re done you can start with grammar, capitalization, etc. If needed, seek help.
Now that you’re done it’s time to create the actual ebook, the cover image, and mockups. You can hire a graphic designer and formatter, or you can use a specific software for it.
How To Make Ebooks Fast – Turn Existing Content In Only 3 Minutes Into A Beautiful Ebook
You don’t have to come up with new ideas and write new content if you already have existing content on your blog, in a journal, on your website, or wherever.
You can use these blog posts or files, combine them and sell them as an ebook about a specific topic. This works especially well if you wrote blog posts about similar topics that would work great in an ebook and teaches your reader a specific HOW TO, is inspirational or motivational.
The easiest and most cost-effective way is by using a software to create gorgeous ebooks in minutes. You submit the URL of your blog post (or multiple blog posts) and it creates an ebook out of it. Then you can choose from different templates and cover pages. You can also edit them however you want (changing font, colors, a table of content, etc.) and even use your own cover page if you have one. Procreate on the iPad is great for creating unique backgrounds for the cover page.
You can then save it and publish it in different ways. It can be turned it into the Kindle format, a flipbook, a pdf, and other versions.
You can use the link that is provided and share it with your customers. Another way is to upload it to Amazon, or as a media file to your website,… There are so many ways how you can get your ebook out there.
If you are interested in this software I mentioned here, you will find the link to it at the end of this article in the resource section.
I use this software a lot for my own ebooks and projects. What I really like is that you can turn the cover page into different mockups with a transparent background like this:
How to Create Ebooks from pdf
If you already created a pdf and you want to create an ebook from a pdf you can use
this very affordable software to create ebooks (lifetime access for $27).
You can upload your pdf and change the pdf into different versions like a flipbook, or turn it into a Kindle ebook or other versions.
If you don’t need special versions or a pdf format is fine, you can upload the pdf to your website (into the media folder) and it creates a link to this file. You can use this link and share it with your audience. They can then open it up, download the content and save your ebook. It doesn’t have to be complicated, especially if you use your ebook as a free download, or if you want to sell it to your audience.
How to Create Ebooks For Amazon
If you want to be a published author and your goal is creating ebooks for Amazon you have to save your ebook in a certain format.
The ebook format for Amazon is called .mobi. You can create this format easily by using an ebook creator tool (linked in the resources section below).
But if you want to take it to the next level and have a professional cover, you can go to this site and hire ebook designers.
There are also formatters, proofreaders, and more who can help you to create a professional-looking ebook.
How to Create an Ebook in Canva
Another way to create an ebook is by using Canva’s free ebook templates. If you know how to use Canva you can make gorgeous ebooks for free.
You can save them as a pdf and upload them to your media file inside your website.
This is the easiest way to give your audience access to your ebook.
How To Sell Your Ebook
There are different ways to sell your ebook and it all depends on what your goal is:
One way is to sell it directly on your website. You can do so by using a Woocommerce or Shopify plugin. The easiest way is to sell it via PayPal and link your PayPal to your email provider like GetResponse. Every time someone buys your ebook it is automatically delivered via email to the buyer.
This way you keep 100% of the profit (except for the PayPal handling fee).
You can also sell it on Amazon and become a published author. This way you can call yourself an author and people might take you more seriously BUT the profit from books sold on Amazon are very low.
Or you can use websites like Sendowl or ThriveCart where you can publish your ebook. The advantage is that you can create an affiliate program if you want other content creators, entrepreneurs, and people to promote your ebook. This is a great way if you are not good at marketing or with social media. The other advantage is that the whole process of creating invoices and the delivery of the ebook is handled for you.
Creating Stunning Ebook Cover Mockups without paying an expensive graphic designer
You can create different ebook mockups (= a 3D book cover for your ebook) with an inexpensive ebook creation software.
They look great and do the job. There are different mockups you can create with it, like book cover styles, and tablet or phone cover styles.
If you go for the published author route on Amazon, I recommend paying a graphic designer if you want to have a professional, amazing-looking cover. They can also create cover mockups for you.
How To Use Your Ebook For More Traffic and To Grow Your Audience
If your goal as a content creator, entrepreneur, artist, or coach is to grow your audience an ebook as a lead magnet is a great idea.
By offering it for free in exchange for their email address you have a way to contact them and send them valuable information about your topics or products.
When they enter their email address they get access to your free online content, in this case, your ebook.
You can create a landing page where you offer your ebook or you can create opt-in fields that pop up on your website or you can place them on your sidebar.
If you have a budget you can create ads for Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and more and sell or offer your ebook for free.
Make Money Writing Ebooks
If your goal is to write an ebook and make money there are different ways to do so.
If you want to have a maximum profit you should sell it on your own website, via your email list, or on social media. This way you can keep 100% of the profit (minus costs for ads or handling fees).
In case your goal is to get your ebook into as many hands as possible selling it via a platform like I mentioned in number 3 is a good option because affiliates can sell your ebook for you. Part of your profit goes to the affiliate partner and the rest is yours to keep.
If your goal is to become a published author then going the Amazon Kindle route will be your best option.
> How To Write Your First Book With Ease | Tips For Aspiring Writers and Authors
The great thing about selling ebooks is that you don’t have to sell them exclusively on one platform. If you like you can leverage it and sell it on various platforms.
Before you choose your options get clear on what your goal is.
Don’t forget to include a CTA (call to action) in every ebook you create. It might be giving your readers an additional checklist, and more content when going to your website and signing up for your email list. You can also mention your other services or products.
Don’t use your ebook as a standalone product. Always think about how you can leverage it.
FAQs about How to Create Ebooks
You can upload the ebook to your website into the media section and use the link provided as a download link.
Another option is to create the ebook with this ebook software and use the provided link as your download link.
You can definitely create an ebook in Canva. There are free templates to use and you can save the ebook as a pdf file.
You can create ebooks for free in Pages (Mac), Word, or Google Docs and save them as pdfs.
Canva is also a great tool to create ebooks for free.
If you want to invest as little as $27 you can create stunning ebooks with an app/software.
Resources
Software to create Ebooks in different formats + ebook covers and mockups
Hire a graphic designer (ebook creation, cover pages,..)
Sendowl
ThriveCart
Canva
Creating and Batching Content Faster
Read my book Soul-Led: How to Follow Your Inner Compass to an Incredibly Fulfilling and Happy Life
