Successful Ebook Publishing: What You Need To Know

There is more to successful ebook publishing that you might think. Come up with an idea, spend a few days actually creating it, then put it up for sale and relax as the profits start to roll in. It all sounds very easy.

But if that was how things work, then everyone would be writing them, raking in the profits, and retiring to some tropical (and hopefully tax free) paradise. The reality is very different.

But don't let that put you off writing your own ebook: if you have a bit of common sense, know how to write an ebook people actually want, and market it correctly, then you can be one of the lucky few that actually publish a successful ebook.

Many of the ebooks you find for sale on the internet are destined to do badly, before they are even published. While it's true that some people do very well with publishing ebooks, the majority of people don't. In my work as an ebook cover designer, I've seen hundreds, maybe thousands of ebooks, and ebook sales pages.

Some of these are obviously going to fail, a quick look at the book and sales page shows why. But others seem like they should do well, but don't.

WHY?

On this site we look at the steps needed to successfully create and publish an ebook.... a few of the pitfalls, and find out what separates a successful ebook from a failure. Some of the things that will stop an ebook from doing well are listed below. Get even one of these wrong, and you've wasted your time.

• wrong topic, no demand for it
• plenty of demand, but the market is over saturated
• badly written/formatted, many sales will get refunded
• sales page is poor quality
• little or no effective marketing

The two "Golden Truths" of online selling

rule #1.
No matter what you have, someone, somewhere, is willing to pay you for it.
It could be physical goods, digital products, information, knowledge, services, etc. With an ebook, you are generally selling information and knowledge.

rule #2.
If nobody knows about it, they can't buy it.
No matter how good your product is, if it gathers dust in some empty corner of cyber-space, then you won't be selling much. You have to know how to put your product in front of potential buyers.

You need to learn how to....

• find a profitable topic for your ebook, and put the right "spin" on it
• look at the technical aspects of putting it together
• know what tools you need for the job
• market, promote, and sell it successfully

Regardless of your area of expertise, it is likely you can sell at least some copies of a well written and well promoted ebook. Look at the ecover graphics above - a wide and varied range of topics: bamboo flooring to color therapy, electric car conversion, setting up your web hosting to self help. The possibilities are almost endless. There are even ebooks written on how to write ebooks ;-)

But it's not a "gravy train". Don't expect to create some recycled rubbish, then sit back and enjoy the profits. Each step needs to be carefully thought out - topic, your target market, how you will reach them, payment options, etc. But do it right, and it could become a valuable source of residual income. And who knows, maybe one day you will retire to that tropical island... don't forget to send me a postcard.