Getting ebooks published is often much less difficult than getting print books published. Many ebook publishers will publish any book that meets their formatting and length guidelines as well as a few basic content guidelines. Publishing an ebook is a much less expensive format than publishing a print book. For this reason, many sites offer free ebook publishing and then take a percentage of the resulting sales.
There are sites that give away free ebooks and sites that allow the ebook writer to set a price for their own ebooks. Either option can lead to a profit for the writer. Free ebooks often contain affiliate links to make the writer money. Sometimes they give free information to advertise another ebook that isn’t free. An ebook that isn’t free will often sell for a higher price than a print book. Ebooks that sell for $99 aren’t uncommon.
Ebooks and Print Books
Some ebook publishers have both an online publishing and print publishing component. The site’s ebook shop sells the ebooks to buyers but also gives them the choice of getting the book in print form. Lulu is one site that offers both an ebook shop and has a print component. It remains one of the most popular ebook publishers because it has steady customer traffic. They also sell ISBNs for those who want to publish their book and sell it elsewhere.
Epress Online is another ebook publisher that offers both ebooks and print books. The print books, however, are published through Lulu. The ebooks published through the site can also be sold in other ebook shops such as FictionWise.
Independent Ebook Publising
Many ebook writers choose to sell their ebooks by creating their own sites to sell them. To do this, start by purchasing a domain name and a hosting plan. GoDaddy, BlueHost and many other sites sell both domain names and a place to host them. Or, you can buy a domain name and have it hosted for free through Google hosting.
Write a sales letter that describes the ebook and tells the buyers how it will benefit them. At the end, include a way for the buyer to download the ebook. For free ebooks, the site may simply have a page where anyone can read a Word file of the book. The page itself can host the ebook or it can be hosted on a third-party site that can be accessed from the download page.
Ebooks that are being sold are often created in PDF format. This gives it a more professional look. PDF files can be made so that it’s impossible to save the ebook or to email it to others. This can protect the ebook from being shared with others for free.
To have the ebook get the benefit from an established customer base and affiliate ebook sellers, many ebooks are listed on ClickBank and sites like it. This allows others to market the ebook and the writer to benefit from their marketing wisdom.