Anyone interested in making money online has probably considered self-publishing an eBook. A well-written book will not only allow you to earn a significant amount of money, but is a dream come true for many wannabe authors. From this text, you’ll learn how to sell eBooks you write—and how to work on them!
Can I make money by publishing a book?
Of course, writing books is not an easy way to generate money. It's hard to become the next J.K. Rowling, but unexpected hits do happen. For example, hit movies like The Martian and 50 Shades of Grey are adaptations of eBooks available on Amazon Kindle. So it's worth trying—surely someone will buy one or two of your books, and if you're lucky…. who knows. It’s easy to sell eBooks, but creating a popular hit can be quite hard!
Why write eBooks?
Of course, financial gain is not the only benefit associated with becoming a published author. What are the most important advantages of self-publishing an eBook?
- If you self-publish your eBook, instead of having to wait for a publishing company to find, submit and accept your book, you can publish your book with a single click. You don't have to sign contracts, and you have full control over how and when it is published. If you don’t know how to sell eBooks, stores like Amazon or B&N have plenty of helpful guides!
- Publishing a book is an excellent work experience that can help you in your career. You hone these skills by doing the writing, editing and graphic layout. Book publishing looks great on resumes for many industries, including publishing, retail, sales, management, and marketing.
- Publishing a book can help you secure a steady stream of passive income for many years, even if it doesn't make you a millionaire. Write a book only once and earn it for years.
- Don’t ask “how to write an ebook”—anyone can do it! You don't have to be creative or not educated in a certain field. You just need an effort of will—think about what you have to say and spend a dozen hours sitting on your butt saying it.
How to create high-quality eBooks
It is possible to make your eBook available in Kindle Store for absurdly low costs or even for free, and the amount of money you can make from selling your own ebook can range from a few hundred dollars a day to zero. It all depends on you and your competition.
Remember, too, that the store will deduct a fairly large percentage for itself from the final price—and that you have to pay tax. Many also use advertising, but that and the possible cost of graphics may be the only cost.
There are many ways to promote your books for free, such as on social media. If you have cash to invest (or can pay for it through crowdfunding), you can spend money on additional marketing of your book to increase its chances of success.
You can market your book at any price you want, and you can even change the price after its release to experiment with different strategies. The optimal price for an eBook will vary depending on the length of your book, the reviews you receive, and the level of competition in your genre. It's possible that you'll start selling an eBook for 99 cents…. but you will raise the price to $9.99 when it makes a name for itself.
How much can I earn by writing an awesome ebook?
Experienced authors can spend weeks, months or even years creating a high-quality eBook. Then it's worth submitting it to an editor. Even if you can't afford a professional editor, you can ask a family member who likes to read, a friend with a relevant education. And if you go to school, you can even ask your English teacher for help!
There are also error-correcting programs like Grammarly or Microsoft Editor. Also, as you work through the process, try to get comments on your writing from as many people as you can.
The writing process may take some time, but the finished product should be of the highest quality possible, so it's worth the wait. Not only will this enable you to set a higher price for your ebook, but it will also increase the likelihood that your customers will recommend it to other friends, leading (hopefully) to more sales.
Where to sell your eBooks?
Once you've completed the painstaking work and your ebook is ready for publication, it's worth finding a publishing platform that offers the highest return on every dollar invested.
Many authors choose to publish on Amazon Kindle—it's the most popular store for the most popular e-reader. It doesn't take as high a percentage of sales. However, there are many other alternatives, such as Google Books, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble Press. If you publish specialized content, you can also sell ebooks on your own site. Set up a simple internet store using WordPress (WooCommerce) and you can easily automate the entire process.
Another good solution is Patreon. This allows you to make your ebooks available to people who contribute certain amounts to your account—which is great if you plan to write regularly. You can also fund your eBook with Kickstarter and similar websites, especially if you already have a group of fans.
There are many ways of getting rich if you’re interested in how to sell eBooks. If you can create interesting content, someone will be willing to pay for it!
