What are the steps in writing an E-book and selling it?

AmieBotella Level 1

September 29, 2017, 10:48 pm

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What are the steps in writing an E-book and selling it?

Hi everyone! I am currently writing a book now and I am planning to publish this and hopefully sell it to the world. I wanted to start doing it by making an ebook. What are the steps I need to learn in doing this? Can you share your input and ideas so that I may know if I am on the right track on this? Thank you.

Also, if you have any links as to where I can read and learn these it will be truly appreciated.

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vinaya

vinaya

Looks like everyone is an expert in "writing and publishing an ebook." Just kidding.
As a writer and publisher of two ebooks, I am sharing my experience here:
Writing an ebook starts with a research. Your research should give you the topic of your ebook, things you should cover in your books and whether there is an audience for the subject or not.
Once you have made notes on your topic, you should start writing.
When you have written your book, look for a publisher. I recommend Amazon Kindle because it is free and gives upto 70 percent royalty. Your book will be available in Amazon store within 48 hours.
When the book is published, promote it on social media.
Ask your friends and families to buy the book and give good reviews. The reviews help in driving book sales.

7 years ago

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Judas2018

Judas2018

Should be careful with the reviews though. It's okay for friends and family to give positive reviews but they should also be honest and constructive. Amazon is really cracking down on sellers of e-books who they think are buying or influencing positive reviews.

7 years ago

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vinaya

vinaya

You make an interesting point. Reviews should come from verified purchase and should be authentic. If you try to game the system, you might be in trouble. One of the ways to generate genuine reviews is by offering your ebook for free for a limited time. This will encourage free downloads. The people who receive ebooks for free might want to help the author by giving valuable feedback.

7 years ago

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Judas2018

Judas2018

It never hurts to give out samples of your writing to certain individuals, Mostly press or people who can get the word out about it. That word of mouth will help drive sales and generate interest for later when the book becomes available for purchase.

7 years ago

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vinaya

vinaya

When I published my first book on Amazon, I for a week, I made it free. There were over 100 downloads. Sadly, none of these people who downloaded my ebook reviewed it. Later, I sent the free digital copies of the book to my writer and journalist friends. I did not ask them to review, but I indicated that I would be grateful for they left feedback. sadly, there were no reviews. Giving for free does not mean you will receive reviews and drive sales later

7 years ago

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ColdFlameChris

ColdFlameChris

This is a good example of how to be a good writer and publisher. I wish I have a wide imagination to come up with an idea on how to be a good writer and publish my own book. I want to learn how to do it but I'm lacking an idea and I can't think of a thousand words to make it as a book.

7 years ago

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Heatman6190

Heatman6190

I completely agree with this, if you can just about follow all the instructions outlisted for you here, I have reasons to believe that it would go a very long way in assisting with successfully writing and selling your books.

Thanks and Good luck.
Heatman

7 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

I would recommend a company called lulu.com. You can upload your text there, and you can choose your pricing. They can produce a hardback, paperback, or ebook for you in different sizes and formats. Also, they assist you in distribution and in your cover design, etc. They pay you through Pay Pal when people buy your book, and they have great customer service! They are a print on demand service, of course, so they take their cut from your sales and then you get the rest! Good luck!

7 years ago

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AmieBotella

AmieBotella

Thank for these advice. I will surely try this website and hopefully within two months I'l be able to publish this. Did you happen to sell an ebook there and is it still available? How did it go from your expectations of selling it?

7 years ago

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gamergurl

gamergurl

I have sold ebooks on Amazon and Smashwords, both free to start and publish on. Sure they take their cuts, but I have made money even without any marketing myself (an important part, but I've been so busy with actual work!). I still haven't reached the Amazon payment threshold (which I think is like $50), but Smashwords pays via PayPal monthly no matter how much or how little you have earned during the month. I can easily recommend their service!

7 years ago

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iamawriter

iamawriter

This information is so useful for all budding writers. I have plans on writing a book and I will surely contact these people as and when I am ready with the stuff. In the meanwhile I shall read through thoroughly as to the various requirements that a writer is expected to fulfil.

7 years ago

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pandooh

pandooh

This is great! My sister is very fond of writing stories. She even started writing in wattpad. Though, I don't really want to know what she writes but this thing might help her even further.

7 years ago

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saygorem

saygorem

Thanks for the information sir. I'm also interested to publish an E-book about my friends blog and we are finding ways to publish it but we don't know how. Now we know because of your informative comment. Thanks again mate.

7 years ago

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TimothyAlex

TimothyAlex

I was just going to say lulu.com. They make it very easy.

7 years ago

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vinaya

vinaya

I have never used lulu. I published my books on Amazon. have you tried Amazon Kindle for ebook and Amazon Createspace for print on demand book. I have used both, kindle and createspace service. You get upto 70 percent royalty on ebook. Kindle and Createspace both are free.

7 years ago

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tophew

tophew

first try to analyze what kind of story you want to make and what kind of people you want to hit on story so for me try to think well on story you want to publish in my case i try to make an ebook love story along with my girl friend it is very nice but not yet publish and sell it on lulu.com they have great offers and this is highly recommended by ebook makers to sell it on that website.

7 years ago

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wiseagent

wiseagent

Writing is always the most important process, after all, it is the "product" that will be sold, right? Without a good product to offer, what's the point anyway?

Virtually everything has to revolve around what you are writing (just like the way you are writing).

7 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

I think I was assuming that the book was already created and the question was about what to do next? Of course, the writing is the MOST important aspect. The content has to be good or what's the point, right? You will not keep or gain an audience unless the book itself is up to snuff. As it is always said from forum to forum: "content is king". Also, the book needs to be properly edited and revised, and this might take another person to do since often we do not see our own mistakes.

7 years ago

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wiseagent

wiseagent

Yeah, I agree with you.

Writing is just the most important tip of the iceberg, if all writers faced their own books in this way I think everything would be a bit different (positively speaking).

7 years ago

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AmieBotella

AmieBotella

You are absolutely right @JoeMilford. I already have the book and almost halfway through it. And I am beginning to learn the next steps to take after the writing. I already have someone to edit it also. What I would also like to know is, what are the effective marketing strategies one can do to increase in popularity and sales?

7 years ago

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wiseagent

wiseagent

I think some good tips are: advertise on facebook / twitter / instagram / specialized forums and through the professional contacts you may have.

Another good thing is the good comments that will come from your own readers.

7 years ago

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anor0428

anor0428

I agree with @wiseagent. Advertising through social media is one of the effective way to increase sales. Maybe you can also ask favor to you friends to share your link to their walls so many people will know about it. You can make your own facebook page for them to visit and look reviews too.

7 years ago

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wiseagent

wiseagent

Thanks, anor0428.

I think it's all a matter of getting good planning / development because social media really are a great way to increase sales. But you have to be careful about the excessive hype so it doesn't become an inconvenient / annoying type of marketing.

7 years ago

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Tronia

Tronia

I think that before you even consider selling it and go down that road, you should focus on writing it. It seems pointless to invest energy and time into doing research on how to publish it until you have the finished ebook. So, my personal suggestion would be to go and write it till the end - focus on the main story, any side stories, characters and how they will grow through the book, etc.

After, you are fully done with the writing process then start to worry about publishing. Publishing is the easy part

7 years ago

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wiseagent

wiseagent

Take it easy, don't reverse the processes and hurry things up: first, try to focus on what you are writing (this can usually take much longer than you might think), after this you can think of the step by step sales (which is usually another relatively complex process).

Good luck.

7 years ago

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pandooh

pandooh

Substance first. Yeah I agree to that too. If you've built a good mass for your books then you're already one step away to your goal.

7 years ago

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wiseagent

wiseagent

If the main process (which is all that involves writing) is rushed or done in a hurried / irregular way... What would be the point?

Sometimes it's normal to rush things, but the result is usually never the one that we expect.

7 years ago

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pandooh

pandooh

I love what you pointed at the last part. It's just that we thought that being able to finish it is already enough.

7 years ago

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wiseagent

wiseagent

Thanks.

I think this is one of the most negative points in hurrying things: to think that we have already finished them. But sometimes you just need a closer look (which sometimes may not be your own look because you're already tired) to see how much things can be improved.

7 years ago

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pandooh

pandooh

Definitely. Seeing the view in another place would let you realize small important things.

7 years ago

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overcast

overcast

Find out the minimum word requirement on the platform. And from there you can start writing the content. And once finished you can promote it through Kindle, smashwords, Barnes and Noble and few other places. You may have to work harder on the content part though. Like what type of content it has and how the amount of the people interested. So also use the Analytics on the pages from where you are promoting the book. I think this is pretty much the basic steps. Those should be more than what you can go for initially. As you start to make some decent money you're going to have to pay and get more leads on this.

7 years ago

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ballyhara

ballyhara

Well writing is an art, so first you have to choose a theme or topic you really can handle. Something you have experience about, or a very important moment/discipline/ event for you. Then, check your grammar a thousand times, the literature rules don't accept mistakes, so you have to be really careful about this. Also, it's a good idea to ask help from a literature or grammar teacher, nothing like the advice from an expert. Once you have this, you can go online and check on sites like lulu.com or kindle. Pretty sure if you put good effort on it, you will see the results.

7 years ago

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Judas2018

Judas2018

Write on a topic people are interested in or have great use for. Build strong early buzz for the book, get some heavy hitters to promote or endorse the book. Finally, release the book. Once it's released, make sure to continue promoting it.

7 years ago

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wiseagent

wiseagent

This is the "easy" way. But sometimes it's necessary to write about something that is not of popular interest so that the subject becomes known and arouse the interest of other people.

What do you think about that?

7 years ago

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overcast

overcast

That part works with the non fiction. In case of the fiction you have to write the content which appeals people. Not interest. Because people may like horror but they don't know what they want to read. So that part is lot harder to get with fiction writing. But yes your point holds with the non fiction content. And here people have to see what they want. That's the way people are making money through the non fiction content out there.

7 years ago

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anor0428

anor0428

If your book is already done and you are looking where to sell it, you can check on this link:

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/websites-sell-publish-ebooks/

They listed 20 sites where you can sell your ebooks. Hope this helps. Good luck!

7 years ago

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wiseagent

wiseagent

What a nice tip for those who have already finished their projects. It's great to have many good sources concentrated in just one place. Very useful.

Thanks for sharing this with us.

7 years ago

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overcast

overcast

Some of the sites in that list are not worth it. Like they have lot of upsales on their own. So I think most useful ones are smashwords, Kindle and few others. But the thing is that some of the sites being US only makes you a bit step back on the approach towards making money there.

7 years ago

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Barida

Barida

You need to use the ms word to turn your writing into an ebook. I have not written an ebook before, but I know this is the basic step to turning your soft copies into an ebook. Cheers as you complete your writing and hope you sell more copies of it.

7 years ago

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Judas2018

Judas2018

Yeah. Microsoft word 2016 or Celtx are two good programs for writing books, screenplays and similar works.

7 years ago

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DarthHazard

DarthHazard

The first thing to do is find a website that you can use to publish your eBook. I'm not 100% sure if I am correct but I do believe that Amazon lets you do this and will let you upload it to their Kindle Marketplace as well. You can then earn some money from sales or decide to have the book on Kindle Unlimited where Amazon will pay you a certain amount for every page that the user reads from your book

7 years ago

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Judas2018

Judas2018

I think if they want to earn more from their work then they should sell the book on their official website or online space. Applying for an amazon seller account and getting approved takes time. Then if they allow you to sell on amazon, they take a percentage. Ebay would be a good idea but e-books come cheap unless you're an established author with major credibility. So you need to be able to pocket as much of the profit from this book as possible so you can pay for your next masterpiece.

7 years ago

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PedroP

PedroP

Although I have never written an ebook itself I have been writing around the internet for a while now. My best advice is to write when you feel the inspiration and don't try to force things out. This will ensure that your content is always fresh and high quality

7 years ago

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wiseagent

wiseagent

I agree with you.

If writing doesn't come naturally, forcing things won't help at all. Everything will be done in a wrong way, the things may even sound fake and this may harm your professional future (if you live only from writing).

7 years ago

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anor0428

anor0428

I agree with you. I have heard on some writers before that there are days when nothing really comes out from their mind to write. It's really important that you are inspired and full of idea to put on your book before you start writing. Readers should enjoy reading your books the same way you enjoy writing it.

7 years ago

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PedroP

PedroP

That's a great motto to stick by! If inspiration doesn't show up then I try to watch movies, listen to music or do other things that stimulate my creativity

7 years ago

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DenisP

DenisP

The most obvious and important step is to perfect your writing skills. Proof read yourself, consistently check for spelling/grammatical errors, and read the works of other authors in order to not only gain inspiration but to get a feel for different kinds of writing styles and sentence structures that you might not be familiar with. If you're writing something in the genre of non-fiction, then always be sure to check all of your facts and keep a list of all of your sources. You don't want someone calling you out for publishing false facts. If you're doing creative writing, always keep a pen/paper by your side because you never know when inspiration will strike. Also remember that Google is your friend. Writing and publishing eBooks is a fairly popular topic of discussion these days, so there are plenty of sites ready with tips, links, and step-by-step guides with proven methods for success.

I wish you the best of luck!

7 years ago

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anor0428

anor0428

Very good tips. I think keeping a pen and paper always at your side is a must because there is a tendency that we might forget about the idea after a while. Other writers even use voice recorder to save their ideas. For begginer writers, I read that grammarly is one of the best tool to use if you want to check your grammar.

7 years ago

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manmad

manmad

To be successful with an e-book, you can always do what everyone's going to recommend: being creative, learning about your subject, etc. However, the truth is that, we're in the age of social medias and if you have a big social media profile you can easily sell an e-book, there are other ways and that's by spamming on forums, but it can be annoying.

7 years ago

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Mida

Mida

Try doing a thorough research before writing an e-book. That can reveal what topics many people are interested in and how you should go about with marketing the e-book to attract buyers. It's almost like starting a new business. You need to do a good research and have a good plan to succeed.

7 years ago

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wiseagent

wiseagent

Doing a research - before starting, in fact, to write - can be really very interesting because you end up seeing what's out of the reach of the eyes of the mainstream media (where everything gets very popular... which doesn't mean to be bad, but virtually eliminates the opportunity for many other options).

7 years ago

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AmieBotella

AmieBotella

Thank you all for the great recommendations. I will post stuffs after researching on this and hopefully will help others too.

7 years ago

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Authord

Authord

There are actually no mapped or hammered out procedure to follow when writing an E-book, the only important thing there is that you know what you are writing, and not recycling junks and dump them in an E-book, you need to add value to people, so when writing make sure you writing on something that is unique and will add value to your readers.
Then you move to the marketing aspect of it, you need to market your E-book on social media and paid advertisement or on your site.

7 years ago

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AmieBotella

AmieBotella

I am confident to say my book is 100% authentic. Even the illustrations will not be copied and I am really really working hard on this and not rushing things. Just want to learn everyone's opinions on stuffs like this. Thank you for your comments.

7 years ago

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vhinz

vhinz

Have a research on your target market. You have to find out what your audience want to read about or what are the issues that they are looking for a solution. Because no one will buy your e-book if it doesn't addresses your audience concerns. Once you know what you are going to write, make a thorough research on that subject. Make an outline on the topics and the subtopics that will be included. After you finished writing, start promoting it on your website or in your social media account. Give a promotional discount or freebies so that people will be enticed to purchase your e-book.

7 years ago

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PinkTurtle

PinkTurtle

Well I'm no expert but I got a friend that did publish an ebook on her weight loss journey and she did it this way: She started with a simple blog on tumblr, she started gaining a lot of followers, after she had a bunch of them, that follow her daily and actually wait for her posts, she decide it was time to make profit out of it, she began writing the book and published it without a house, she did it by herself and it was a succes! You basically need people who would be waiting already for it!

7 years ago

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AmieBotella

AmieBotella

This is amazing. This is kind of similar to what I have in mind. I am currently on the process of building up the content of the book and studying what ticks the world to like it. Thank you for this input. Care to share the title of your friend's book and where can I buy it? Thanks!

7 years ago

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Baburra

Baburra

I think marketing an ebook depends a lot on what the subject is. Some topics do well in certain types of marketing where other topics might not. For example, I see a lot of books that deal with business being marketed via affiliate marketing and while I think there are other better ways to do it, this still might be a good place to start or at least a good thing to experiment with. Overall, I think there is no single path to success but it's always important to keep your mind open and find non traditional means of advertising so you can set yourself apart from the others.

7 years ago

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jasminemax

jasminemax

Thank you all for sharing your experiences here. I'm looking forward to write an e-book and this article helped me to gain some important basics about that.

I think, we should carefully select a platform for selling our e- books, buy the way it can reach many audience.

7 years ago

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Juliemonkey

Juliemonkey

Wow. That's pretty cool. Well.
1. Think of an idea in your head, imagine.
2. Research the idea.
3. Plot the twists and problems and the solution.
4. Think of a beginning middle and end.
5. Write the story
there is probably more but nothing comes to mind. Sorry.

7 years ago

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AmieBotella

AmieBotella

Thanks again everyone for your answers. And to those who are planning on writing one and learning from this discussion too, godspeed you all!

7 years ago

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potentialwriter

potentialwriter

In writing an eBook and selling it, you have some steps to take for things to get done in no time. Before you can talk about the selling, you have to do the writing, editing, and PDF configuring first. The eBook will be downloadable and readable on PDF files. The buyer is expected to have access to acrobat readers in order to access the files. To sell, that is, of course, the most challenging part to many people, whereas it's the simplest task. You just need to buy Facebook ads and you are good to go.

7 years ago

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AmieBotella

AmieBotella

Hi potential writer,

have you tried selling an ebook? where did you start posting it. I hope you don't mind me asking this. I am really curious at how new writers do it with the most minimal amount of capital spent. Thanks

7 years ago

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Rumu

Rumu

This is like you taking the words out of my mouth. I've rrcently made up my mind to do a research on the said topic.

Obviously am a writer too who hasn't gone public yet. I have like a dozen already edited materials which i'll like to publish. Going through this post just have me an idea of doing things the ebook way. Am curious to see what answers come out of this post. It's good the you asked this question.

7 years ago

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