E-book Creation: How to Start a Small Business Online

If you know how to write and you think you’re an expert in a certain niche, then one of the online businesses you can put up is e-book creation. In fact, it’s one of the most profitable products you can sell in the Internet. A 50-page e-book may be sold for $20. If you can attract 100 buyers a month, you can earn up to $2,000. That’s just for one short e-book.

But how exactly do you create an e-book? The following steps will explain:

Find your niche. Think about a specific topic you want to discuss. Make sure that it’s something you’re proficient at or an expert on. This way, you can provide something fresh to your readers. For example, if you’re into gadgets, your e-book may be all about the different productivity tools of Apple’s iPad 2.

Divide your e-book clearly. Treat your e-books like any regular covers. For ease of reading, divide the pages into sections and subsections. You can also create a table of contents, with hyperlinked pages. This means that if they click on the page, they are immediately redirected to the right part of the e-book.

Add some white space and media files. Surely, you’ve read some books. They may have awesome stories, but they are reeking with boredom. You don’t want to give that impression to your readers, do you? So include a number of white spaces. You can also pepper some images or even links to videos and podcasts.

Invest in a decent book cover. The saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is partly incorrect. Whether you like it or not, the first thing that attracts and compels you to pick up a book is its cover. You don’t have to hire the most expensive designer. Just make sure that it looks neat, the colors work together well, the title stands out, and it’s something you can be proud of.

Sell in different areas. Where should you sell your e-books? You have too many places to choose from:

• Right in your website or blog (you can just have it hosted in a virtual storage facility)
• Amazon.com
• Ebay.com
• Social networking websites such as Facebook
• Message boards
• E-book stores

Have your book proofread. You’ll lose all the credibility you’re working so hard to build if your e-book is ridden with grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors. If you’re not too confident of your proofreading skills, then you should definitely hire an editor to do it for you.