Introduction - Ebook Publishing

There has never been a better time to earn money as an ebook publisher publishing online, despite the growing number of people entering the field. There are millions of people coming online every year and an almost insatiable demand for information about everything from acne to zulus.

If you are interested in joining the ranks of those of us who sell "information", it's fairly inexpensive to get started and can be very rewarding. There is a rich harvest of information on the Internet about how to research, write and publish ebooks for profit. This short article attempts to summarise the process and show you where you can find useful resources to help you on your way.

My Experience

I began publishing ebooks in 1998. I had always been interested in writing and while surfing the Internet found Ken Silver's excellent ebook, "How to Make $100,000 A Year In Your Spare Time Creating Profitable How-To Manuals" which got me started. I figured that if Ken (and others, some of whom probably had less ability than me) could make money selling ebooks, so could I.

Today my original title, How To Write Winning Training Proposals still sells weekly and I'm making strong returns on my packaged titles, Winning That Government Job and Writing Responses to Selection Criteria. My most recent title, Guide to Letter Formatting and Writing is making me a small, but increasing amount of income each month as I fine tune the advertising campaign and it becomes more visible to buyers.

My ebook income arrives 24 hours per day, seven days per week and costs very little to generate. When I get up in the morning I check my email and there are usually several emails from my credit card transactions provider indicating sales. Even after all these years, it still gives me a buzz to see them.

What You Need to Be an Ebook Publisher

What you need are:

1. a topic that is of interest to readers, usually something that solves a problem
2. a word processor or some other text editing software to create the document
3. a text to PDF file converter or an HTML compiler program to prepare your product for delivery
4. an Internet presence ... even a one page sales page will do with your own domain name
5. an e-commerce provider who will process your transactions and send you a monthly cheque
6. a method of advertising on and off line

Finding a Suitable Topic

There are numerous ways to identify suitable topics. These include identifying search terms that are commonly searched and comparing the number of searches with the supply volume. Other sources of useful information are such places as Ebay where you can research popularly purchased products or services.

Word Processing Software

Almost everyone with a computer has a capacity to create text files. Programs such as Notebook that comes with Microsoft Windows etc will do the job nicely.

There are also numerous shareware programs available for text editing.

Text to PDF File Converters

Some PDF creation programs are free and several are available on payment, including Adobe's own program, Adobe Professional. Any of these can be downloaded online which means you can get them working within 15 minutes or so. HTML compilers are popular among some quarters, but are more problematical than PDF, so I don't recommend them.

An Internet Presence

It's getting cheaper to get a domain name that is perhaps, also your site's keyword eg, www.computer-spares.com. And hosting for Internet sites is also very cheap. You get yourself a domain name and then a site host and, with the assistance of one of the free HTML software programs, you can create your sales site literally within hours.

An E-commerce Provider

Sign up with an e-commerce provider that allows you to sell information products and receive cheques or credit cards and you are in business. This also is relatively inexpensive with a once only setup cost and continuing costs directly related to sales. Some of these are far better options than local banks and financial providers who charge monthly fees for merchant accounts, especially when you are starting out and don't have a lot of monthly sales.

Summary

While it takes some time to write an ebook, when you have one, you can get it online and ready to sell within three or four hours. Once on line you can then focus on the separate topic of attracting traffic to your site and making your book visible to those who will buy it.

So, what are you waiting for? More information? My "So You Want to Be an Ebook Publisher" has more info here.

Copyright 2006 Robin Henry | First published May, 2006

Robin Henry is an educator, human resources specialist and Internet entrepreneur. He helps home-based businesses and individuals improve performance by applying smart technology and processes and developing personally. He runs his business Desert Wave Enterprises from his home base at Alice Springs in Central Australia, although at present he is on temporary assignment in the United Arab Emirates.