make an ebook

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Welcome to the Course Consultant Show, a show dedicated to help you launch your online course with a get ready to hear from successful course creators who ditch the nine to five, gain passive income on their couch, and took charge of their dreams. 

How to Make an Ebook and Sell It

After realizing that she was made for more and ditching the 9 to 5 mentality, Michelle Jackson had to come up with ways to feed her taste for all the finer things in life. One of the ways she does it is through selling ebooks. Here’s how! 

The Do It Ugly Approach

The number one thing that your ebook needs is for you to get started. We say it all the time: just get started. Start doing things, start putting in work, and start creating something…anything. And, that’s the same approach that you need to take with your ebook. You’ll have time to create better versions and time to make it “pretty,” but the most important thing when you’re starting is to get the product out there. It doesn’t matter if your first version is “ugly” or if it’s not cleaned up or if it doesn’t have the best graphically designed cover. Just make sure it includes everything you want your readers to know. 

Get Your Audience in Place

You have to know your audience. Not only do you need to know who they are but you also have to make sure that you know what they need. Ask questions about who they are in their personal lives? What are they doing in the business world? How do they respond to different mediums of education? And what do they need from a mentor? 

Once you’ve figured out who your audience is, you will need to figure out how to reach that audience. Then, once you’ve reached them, learn how to make them need your ebook. Make sure that it is so valuable to them that they cannot live without it. This is one of the key aspects we discuss in The Course Designer’s Toolkit! Make sure you signup to get notified once doors are open!

Know Who to Avoid 

When you’re figuring out who your audience is, you also need to figure out who your audience isn’t. Not everyone is your audience and niching down to exclude those who you don’t want to sell to will make it easier for you to sell to those who will see value in your product. A great example of this is not selling to beginners. Some people choose to exclude beginners (in any niche) from their audience because it requires teaching them the basics which can be extremely time-consuming.

This isn’t to say that you should exclude everyone, but make sure that the people you are selling to are actually getting value from the products that you’re offering. If not, you may end up with terrible reviews, wasted time, and disastrous results.

Don’t “Pick Brains” 

Wait, what? Yeah, obviously in the literal sense, but also don’t waste your time going to coffee, brainstorming, and spending time coming up with ideas from someone else. This is not only an exorbitant waste of your time but it’s also a waste of money (time is money, after all). You will not get any value from this and your ebook will not magically be written in the time that you spent chatting it up with the gal you went to school with who is now an SEO tech. Of course, if you were planning that meet as a social event, it’s a different story. But, to meet with someone to specifically brainstorm is a waste of time. Everything that you could get from that person can be had in a few Google searches or, at a maximum, in a few emails back and forth. 

Also, don’t let other people waste your time picking your brain. Unless they’re paying you what you’re worth for that time, these meetings are absolutely pointless. 

Create Value With Tiers 

Offer value in tiers. You need to make sure that you have ebooks that are valuable to different levels of people and make sure that you are offering them a product that fits in with that. Your cheapest ebook should not have all the information. And your most expensive one shouldn’t leave anything out. It can be hard to do, though, when you’re first getting started, but as you refine all your different ebook versions, you can then use the past ones to create your different tiers. Side note: this is also an excellent way to handle course creation! 

Just Start … Now

Get off your chair, start coming up with the wireframe for your ebook, and make things happen. While it is one of the biggest recurring themes on our site and in this business, it’s also the most important one. You have to take action if you want anything to happen! Make sure you understand how to sell your digital products and courses by having the right tools. Signup for the free “Salespage Secrets” to learn more about how to sell your products online. 

It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be done.