Writing Your eBook

Your first task when writing an eBook is to come up with a topic. Ideally this will be related to your business' industry and be something you know a lot about already. It also needs to be on a topic which your target audience wants to read and learn more about.

Next comes the book title, though some people leave this till last. Identifying it now though can help keep you on track and motivated to complete writing the book.

Then comes the writing. This is also the main stumbling block as to why people either don't start or start and then don't finish their eBook. If you really don't want to write it, consider hiring a ghostwriter to write it for you. Otherwise, you could write a brief outline of your book, split the ideas into chapters and then split each chapter into an introduction, a middle and an ending. The average eBook is only around 35 pages, which is approximately 11,000 words, so it is doable.

Formatting Your eBook

Once you have finished writing your eBook, your next job is to format it. Many people outsource this, as arranging spacing, images and the best file type can be challenging. If you do take the DIY formatting route, here are some tips to help you achieve a great result:

• white space is your friend
• use a consistent font and font sizes throughout
• insert clear images and diagrams where appropriate
• choose the most appropriate format for your eBook based upon where you are selling it. For instance, a PDF format is fine when selling through your Website World eCommerce site.

Proofreading Your eBook

No one wants to see grammatical errors and spelling mistakes in something they have purchased, or received for free! Spend time re-reading through your writing to identify errors and correcting. It would be useful to also run it through several different spellcheckers too.

You could also offer a free copy to someone in order for their thoughts on your book and some proofreading help. This is a good way to test your eBook before you begin uploading it to and selling it on your website.

Creating a Cover for Your eBook

A well designed and thought out cover will help sell and promote your eBook. While it's not a book a customer will see on a shelf, pick up and look through, the cover will be seen on your website and in promotional materials. It will also be seen on the finished product too.

You could hire a graphic designer to create a cover for you. Or you could use one of the many tools available online, such as Canva to create your own.

Loading Your eBook to Your Website

You'll need to firstly add a shopping cart to your website if you are not already selling online. If you have a shopping page without a cart, then change the page type to 'shopping cart' in the page options. If you don't have a shopping page:

• Click [add a new page] under the blue page buttons on the left menu 
• Click [Shopping cart layouts], select an appropriate shopping page. Shopping gallery is very photo centric, allowing customers to see a lot of product photos quickly, with just a small description under each. The other shopping page types have a thumbnail on the left, and a longer product description on the right, possibly with a buy button on the product listing pages. 
• You will now be presented with [How to manage your catalogue] page. The grey button "Setup" is a good place to start as it list all the steps with links to setting up your shopping cart, simply start at the top and work down.

Next you will need to add your eBook as a product. Head to the Shopping tab and select the button Add New Products.Then select the option Add Digital Document.

Just like you would a physical product, enter all of the eBook product details and price. The one difference is that you will need to upload the eBook file as well.

Once those details are entered, there are further shopping cart options you can work through including:

For your digital product specifically, you will need to edit the Automation - Sell Digital File/Document area if you haven't already linked the product with its corresponding file in the steps above. If you have, then a link to the attached file will be emailed to the purchaser as soon as the credit card payment is successful. If the purchaser pays by any other means, then you will need to email the document yourself manually. Document download links will only work a maximum of 5 times a day to prevent people handing out URLs.

Don't forget that you will also need to set up general shopping options such as freight, currency and payment gateways too.

Marketing Your eBook

You can begin to market your eBook before it launches to build awareness within your audience, as well as after it is available on your website. Ideas for marketing your eBook include:

• paid advertising - this includes social media sites and private websites
• newsletters - sending out to your email list, or paying for an advertiser to send your information out to their list
• social media - add your eBook promotion to your social media accounts of Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and others
• create a specific landing page to send people to
• add links to it from your blogs and other website pages
• guest blogging

Now you're ready to get your eBook up and going, grab yourself a website with us today.