How to Write an Ebook: A 7 Step Guide for Ebook Publishing

What Is An Ebook?

An ebook is an “electronic book”. It's simply a book that you can read on a digital device, whether it's a phone, a laptop, or a special ebook reader.

Ebooks are usually PDFs that have multiple “pages” you can navigate through.

There are all kinds of ebooks, ranging in theme, aesthetic, length, and platform.

Ebooks can be guides, works of fiction, extended case studies, etc.

Why You Need To Create An Ebook

You need an ebook to be competitive in the modern age because of their many benefits.

By having an ebook under your belt, you will have a considerable edge in building your digital empire.

Here are the reasons you need an ebook:

• Ebooks are very easy to create, you can publish one at minimal cost
• You can use ebooks to build a community of raving fans who will beg for more content
• Since they are fully digital, you don't have to worry about shipping, holding inventory, etc.
• They are great sources of traffic for your website
• They have enormous profit potential
• Ebooks can be used to reach thousands of people
• Once an ebook is published, they can generate sales for years after your work

If you are interested in building a powerful info product empire that will kickstart your rise to powerful profits, read my 6 step blueprint for info product profits.

Use this  7 step guide to (easily) build a compelling ebook that will get you fans, build your community, get you sales, and grow your information product empire.

Here are those 7 steps:

Step #1: Pick Your Angle

Before you get your ebook written, you need to figure out what it's about.

To figure out what your ebook's topic will be, think like your reader.

Conjure up the image of who your target reader is and think: what would they like to see?

What problems do they want to solve?

What information are they looking for?

What goals do they have?

What itches do they want to scratch?

Do some research to find a topic that will resolve all of these questions.

You can use 3 main tools to conduct this research:

• Google Keyword Planner  – This is a free tool offered by Google that allows you to see exactly what people are searching. You can use it to see EXACTLY what people want to know, and you can use the keywords people search to get an idea for what you can publish.
• Reddit – Reddit is a massive social media site with thousands of niche communities where people ask questions for help on certain topics. There are communities for gardening, finance, fitness, animation, etc. You can browse communities that interest you to see what people in those communities are looking for. For example, you could browse gardening communities on Reddit to see what questions people ask and then answer those questions in your ebook.
• Quora – This is a platform where people ask and answer each other's questions. You can browse Quora to see what kinds of things people are asking and then use your research to plan your book.
• Facebook Groups – There are thousands of Facebook groups out there that are each centered around different topics. In these groups, people are frequently asking each other questions and trying to figure things out. Use the content of these groups to discover what information you can provide.

After doing some research, you should have a good list of topics that are in demand.

Come up with a title that offers information on your topic and that will compel people to read.

If you find that athletes are having trouble maintaining energy during a game, then your title could be:

“How To Stay Awake and Alert: a Comprehensive Guide for Competitive Athletes”

If an athlete is having difficulty stating awake and alert, then that title would be very interesting to them.

Here is short list of potential title templates you can use to compel clicks:

1. # Best Ways to X
   • Example: 9 Best Ways to Build Abs
2. How I X
   • Example: How I Overcame Depression
3. Case Study: How X Did Y
   • Example: CASE STUDY: How a Norwegian Farmer Built a Twitter Empire
4. What To Do When X
   • Example: What To Do When You Can't Lose Weight
5. How to X
   • Example: How To Get Into a Good School
6. Why I X
   • Example: Why I Take Cold Showers
7. Don't Be Stupid, Do X
   • Example: Don't Be Stupid, Get a VPN
8. # Ways To X
   • Example: 17 Ways To Potty Train Your Dog
9. # Steps to X
   • 8 Steps To Growing Tomatoes
10. Forget X, Try Y
    • Forget Emails, Try Facebook Messages
11. # Ways to [VERB] [ADVERB]
    • 11 Ways To Lose Weight Gracefully
12. When You Feel [PAST TENSE VERB]
    • When You Feel Let Down
13. Dear [AUDIENCE]: You're Not [VERB]
    • Dear College Applicants: You're Not Fooling Me

At this point, you should have done research to see what's in demand and you've come up with a few angles and titles to meet this demand.

But what's your competition looking like?

Look at the existing ebook market and look up your title ideas.

How many other books are there for that title?

What are their strengths?

What are their weaknesses?

The best niches to enter are the ones where there is high demand and low competition.

This is easier said than done.

Not everyone can find a market where there is very high search volume and very low competition, it can take a lot of work to find these goldmines.

While it's optimal to enter these very special markets, it's not the end of the world if you're facing some competition.

But, if you need to be competitive, you need to find a way to stand out.

When publishing in a competitive area, you're going to be fighting for attention with thousands of other authors.

Look at what those authors are doing – find their weak points.

Once you find some weak points, focus your ebook on being strong there.

Are all of the ebooks in your niche expensive? Undercut them.

Is the art for the books in your niche boring? Make your cover pop.

Are all the books in your market too short? Make your book twice the length.

After doing your fair share of research, you should have a compelling book idea. Now it's time to organize that idea.

Step #2: Outline your book

Take your book idea and outline it into a few chapters.

Writing a step by step guide?

Break down the actual steps and come up with a chapter title for each step.

The goal of your organization is to arrange the book in a way that's compelling, easy to read, persuasive, and keeps the reader's attention through out the whole book.

Many ebook authors make the mistake of poor organization.

Their books are just chaotic.

They're not interesting, they're very hard to read front to back, they don't go a good job at persuading the reader, and their readers just get bored and quit reading.

The purpose of your chapter outline is to organize a book that the reader will love, can't put down, and effectively convinces them of your call to action.

Maybe that call to action is to join your Facebook group.

Maybe it's to sign up to your email newsletter.

Maybe it's to buy your product.

Maybe it's to buy more of your books.

Whatever it is, come up with your main goal for the ebook and carefully weave it into your writing.

Always remember who you're writing for and meet them where they're at.

Is your book written for college students? Well, when organizing your book, picture a 20 year old college student and think how he would respond to your book.

Writing for 50 year old businessmen? Think of one when outlining your book and consider if he will find your ideas compelling.

Now that you have your book outlined by chapter, it's time to get some writing done.

Step #3: Source Written Content

Notice how I say “source written content”, not “write your book”?

That's because you can get a quality ebook written FOR YOU for less than you might think.

Have you ever heard of PLR?

It stands for “Private Label Rights” – essentially an author sells their content for others to use.

You can just buy the rights to somebody else's ebook!

The price of PLR content varies, but you can find great content for just $9.99.

I actually give in depth training on how you can use PLR in my 21 Days to Profit Program.

I show you where to find it and exactly how to use it – check it out.

You can also find freelance authors who are willing to write your book for you.

You can find them on Upwork, Fiverr, or even on job boards like Indeed or Linkedin.

Just know that these authors are usually more expensive than PLR.

A PLR ebook might cost you $10-50, while a freelance author will cost you $100 on the low end, ranging up to even $1000 depending on your niche.

You can, of course, write your book yourself if you want to channel the inner author in you.

At first it can seem scary if you've never done anything like this before.

But, once you get started it gets a lot easier.

You don't have to write your whole book overnight, most authors write a little bit every day.

If you feel stuck or overwhelmed, just start by writing one sentence.

If you do this, you find that you have your foot in the door and the rest comes much easier.

Many new authors use voice recording to make the process easier.

They record themselves talking to themselves, imaging a fake person in the room that they're having a conversation with.

Then they just write out the recorded conversation and polish it to make it easier to read.

You can also record a genuine conversation you're having with a real person, transcribe that conversation, and optimize it for written consumption.

Many of us find it natural to explain concepts to our friends and family members, so it allows for content to flow freely.

One of the good things about ebooks is that they can be short and sweet.

While longer books do perform better, short ebooks can still do well.

Step #4: Design Your Ebook

Now that you have a book written, it's time to get its design and layout complete.

You need to come up with cover art and a general layout for how the book will look when read.

The goal is to make the whole thing easy on the eyes.

If there's too much going on, it will scare readers away.

Here are 3 fonts I like to use:

1. Arial
2. EB Garamond
3. Josefin Slab

It's good to maintain a consistent brand across all platforms.

If you already have a digital presence, like a blog or social media account you use, keep the branding consistent with your ebook.

If you use certain fonts, colors, or general aesthetics on your other platforms, maintain those same elements with your ebook so that you retain a memorable persona. This is important because you can use your ebook to grow your brand and attract more fans.

If you don't have a personal brand outside of your ebook yet, then this is a chance to come up with your branding and general aesthetic. Come up with a color scheme, fonts you like, logos, and design elements you think would fit your brand.

Apply these elements to your ebook and remember them when you work on your other platforms.

You can do all of the design yourself on the online design platform Canva.

There are tools to design your logo, your cover art, and even how the actual content on your ebook will look.

There is a great free version, but an even greater pro version for just $10 a month.

If designing it yourself sounds like too much, then you can find graphic designer on Fiverr who are willing to do it for you.

On average, for the cover and for the book interior, you will find the cost to be around $100.

If you want a high quality aesthetic, then I recommend paying more for your Fiverr artist. The lower you go, the lower quality designer you will find. Just keep that in mind.

Step #5: Quadruple Check It

You need to scrub your ebook for issues.

Misspellings, grammar issues, design issues, etc.

You also need to make sure the technical aspects are sound.

Depending on where you will be hosting your ebook, you need to make sure the file is optimized.

Certain platforms require the ebook to be in the form of certain file types and in certain dimensions, make sure your final file is compliant with all of the guidelines for where you are hosting.

For most places a PDF will suffice.

Once you have thoroughly inspected your book to make sure it's squeaky clean, it's time to publish.

Step #6: Publish

Get your ebook up!

Publish it to the marketplaces you're interested in and get in on your site.

It's important that you build a website to host your ebook on.

This allows you to carry out creative ad campaigns to get the most out of your launch.

You should also launch on places like Kindle, but don't let these marketplaces be the only place you publish.

With your own website, you can do all kinds of things.

You can run Facebook retargeting ads, build an email list, use a blog to attract readers, etc.

Normally, a site like this can take a lot of time and money to build, but our team makes it easy.

Get a powerful site built for your elearning product, check it out.

Step #7: Promote

Now you have a your very first ebook published and ready to explode.

Congratulations!

The best way to promote it is through a multichannel marketing campaign.

Promote your book across as many platforms as you can think of.

Email, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, SMS, etc.

Research proves that these campaigns are by far the most effective digital campaigns you can run.