You love writing. That’s why you started your own blog. Perhaps you started posting about technology, travel, recipes or your experience as a parent just as a means to develop your skills. At first, you didn’t expect anyone to take notice, but over time you started posting more entries and your audience grew.
Now you have hundreds, if not thousands, of readers eagerly awaiting your next post. And it’s got you thinking – could I write a book? After all, you already have an audience. Here’s how bloggers can self-publish and sell an ebook.
The Internet has Opened the Door
Thanks to the internet, it is easier than ever to share your thoughts with a global audience. The world wide web empowers individuals to become social media celebrities, digital marketers or even successful ecommerce entrepreneurs. What does this mean for you? Learning how to sell an ebook online is easier than ever.
Do-It-Yourself Marketing
As many writers will tell you, going through a publisher can be tough. That’s because their focus is a little different than yours. You want to get your writing out there; but the publisher is probably more interested in maximizing their investment. Which means they could change the voice of your book, go after a different audience, or even drop a book deal at the last minute if they think it won’t be profitable enough. Meanwhile, as an established blogger, you already have a dedicated audience of readers you understand thoroughly.
When it comes to doing it yourself promotions, social media marketing, can be very inexpensive —even free. You likely already have Twitter, Facebook or Instagram accounts linked to your blog. Use these as tools to spread the word about your upcoming ebook. Find creative ways to encourage your followers to tag friends and family members who may be interested in your writing as well.
Another suggestion is to reach out to your email subscribers. While email marketing might be cheap and a little bit “old school,” it’s still one of the most effective forms of digital marketing.
If you’re feeling especially adventurous, expand your reach by connecting with other influential bloggers, podcasters or video bloggers to promote your new ebook. Identify a few of the key creators in your space and contact them to see if they’d be interested in hosting a guest post on their site, or open to interviewing you as a guest on a future segment. Chances are, they’ll be more than happy to have you.
Ready, Set, Read!
After you brainstorm your topic, write the book and promote it online, you will need to find a way to publish it to peoples’ tablets, readers and laptops. But how do you do this?
There are dozens of ebook publishing platforms available for people just like you. Shopify, for example, offers a “ready to go” ecommerce solution for electronic authors. The simple solution provides an intuitive interface to publish your book, design the contents of your online store and even track the number of sales and downloads. After all, the easier it is for you as a blogger to publish and sell your ebook, the more time you’ll have to focus on writing and marketing its sequel.
Of course, that’s not to say that this whole process is easy. To be honest, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication. But nothing can beat the feeling of accomplishment you get from creating and selling your own ebook from scratch.
