Can You Write an eBook?
eBooks are books in online form. With the advent of many wireless book readers like Amazon's Kindle, there are even more reasons to write a book that will never be published in print.
What are the advantages of writing eBooks? What topics should you write on? Can anyone write an eBook? This guide asks select answers to potential authors, narrowing down if your skills and experience are up to the job of eBook authorship.
Advantages:
First, let's go over the advantages of writing an eBook at all, especially instead of publishing in print or writing in other forms. The main reason is you need no standard publisher, nor do you actually need an ePublisher. eBooks are so popular that you can sell them right from your site or blog, or give them away to capture emails. Sometimes it's smart to sell an eBook via an ePublisher, especially when you are not established in the online world. if you have no experience at all in writing for the web, and have no web presence, using ePubs like Booklocker, Amazon's Booksurge, and even Lulu is a good idea.
But back to the point of advantages, you also make more money per sale. Even if you sell an eBook from a ePub, you can earn far more royalties than if you published it as a regular book. A standard book deal nets you 6-10 percent of the profits of every sale. Some ePublishers allow you to reach rates of 70 percent or more, and if you cut them out and sell them yourself, you only pay the service to deliver the eBook. So the key advantage here is the royalty rate.
Topics:
You can write on any topic you want, especially for eBooks. But do you want to make money online? Do you want to make at least enough to put the time into it? Then you should write on a topic 1) you have experience with and 2) which sells well online. For example, a memoir would sell less than an eBook on making blogging your career. If your readers can earn money from your tips, if you write a more how-to eBook, you can sell more.
On the other hand, many eBooks are meant to be paperback books sitting on bookshelves. Sometimes authors find success selling fiction as an eBook, getting attention from small press or bigger publishers, and then getting a book deal.
Can Anyone Write an eBook?
Just as not everyone can write, not everyone can successfully write an eBook. Anyone who sits down and types on the computer can write, technically. It's not meant to downplay your talents; it's just the reality. However, over time you can develop an eye for words that catch reader's attention.
How Much Can You Make?
Typically, eBooks make far more per book but sell much less copies than regular books. Some web writers turn out blockbuster eBooks, making thousands or more. For your first eBook, you might run into a wall, depending on your writing and marketing skills. eBook authorship is all about marketing. The more you market, the more you make. Some eBook authors have minor success, maybe selling 50 copies for $25, and use that experience to start ghost writing eBooks for other clients.
Really, you can make plenty off writing eBooks, but the key word here is marketing. Using social media tools like Facebook, SEO blogging, and capturing emails any way you can often turns this into a profitable business for web writers.