-
- Get all of the latest ViperChill posts
- Exclusive access to my favourite SEO Tools
- Free 18-page PDF on SEO products I've purchased
Popular Posts
-
Get Free Updates
Topics
Everywhere I look it seems people are releasing eBooks and trying to cash in on their audience. There are quite a few success stories out there, but for the most part, people just aren’t making the sales they want. As I have had a lot of success with my own eBook, Cloud Living (no longer for sale, follow this instead, I thought it would be helpful to a lot of people if I wrote a guide about the whole process.
For those of you who don’t know, Cloud Living is my eBook which teaches people how I make a living online. That being said, I want to make it clear that I don’t make a living by teaching people how to make a living online. My biggest successes are in personal services which offer an affiliate program and various sites I run in the health niche.
My Own Example
When I had the idea to create Cloud Living, I had just finished giving away a free eBook on blogging. It was 90 pages long and included most of what I know when it comes to growing a blog. As I don’t just make money through blogging, I wanted to make an expanded guide which offered tips on affiliate marketing.
In addition to that, I wanted to make the guide a resource for people who want to make cloud living (making money from the internet) a reality. Therefore, I included a number of interviews with people succeeding online and my own tips for getting things done, even if you have a full-time job.
The product ended up being around 176 pages and I couldn’t be happier with the end result. Something you may find interesting is that I genuinely just wanted to make $1,000 from releasing the guide. That way I knew I would have helped a lot of people and the months of work it took to put the guide together will have been somewhat worth it.
The result?
- On launch day, the eBook brought in over $4,000.
- Almost 700 copies of the guide have been purchased
- Approximately 80% of the $30,000 is purely from sales. The rest is through affiliate links inside the book
- January, 6 months after launch, is on track to be the second best month ever in terms of sales
Before I share how I made all of this possible, let’s look at some of the reasons for writing an eBook in the first place, apart from the obvious financial benefits.
Why Write an eBook?
The obvious answer to most people, is money. If that is your sole motivation though, then you’re missing out. There are actually quite a few reasons to write an eBook that you may not have initially thought of:
- Position Yourself as An Expert – Since launching Cloud Living, I have been absolutely overloaded with interview requests. The guide makes it clear that I know what I’m doing online, so people come to me for advice. If you write a rubbish guide, then nobody is going to think very highly of you. Yet, if you make the product the best you can make it, people will start to notice you. I now regularly see people refer to making money online as “Cloud Living’ and a number of “make money” blogs now exist with Cloud in the title. This alone shows me the big influence that some people can have.
- Having Your Own Product is Massive - Have you ever tried to promote a product someone else created on your own blog? I have in the personal development space and the conversions are, quite frankly, awful. Once, with 5,000 subscribers, I only pushed about 15 sales after writing a whole post on a product. Yet, when I release my own work, it sells really well. Remember that people read your site for you, so they’re more likely to buy a product if it has your name on.
- Help People – The eBooks that sell the best are the ones that fill a genuine need. Therefore, one good reason to write an eBook is to share knowledge on a topic you know a lot about, and truly help your buyers. A few days ago I received an email from someone telling me that they were now making over $10,000 a month thanks to my guide. There is no way I can describe in words how good reading that email made me feel — and it’s one of many.
- Constant Income – Having a $4,000 day was awesome, but it’s the constant income from selling eBook’s that I enjoy. I now have two products (1, 2 (no longer available) that I actively promote and earn a good passive income. Through nothing but a sidebar ad and regular website traffic, Cloud Living is on track to make around $3,000 this month. I think that’s pretty amazing considering the product was launched 6 months ago.
And, of course: to make money.
Picking Your Topic
Many of you might be tempted to write an eBook now, but have absolutely no idea what you’re going to write it on. If that’s you, this section will help. For those of you who think you have an idea and are ready to roll with it, I still think you should continue reading. There are a lot of eBooks that sell well, and a lot more that sell poorly. Often, the topic of the eBook makes a massive difference to whether or not it will succeed in making money.
As a way to help you narrow down the ideas buzzing around your head right now, here are some of my suggestions to help you think of what topic you could write an eBook on:
- What You Know About – The easiest way to create a great product, of course, is to write on a topic you know inside out. I have been building websites for four years and making a living with them for almost two, so I knew my subject well. If you know about something, there’s also a good chance you’ll be passionate about it. This will make it far easier to keep working on the guide and also allows you to give the best advice possible.
- What Your Readers Want – As I have mentioned, it’s far easier to promote your own products (especially on a blog) than it is to promote things as an affiliate. If you have an audience already, why not find out what they want? You could do this by creating a poll and asking people specifically, or you could look at your most popular site pages / blog posts and see what your audience reacts to most.
- How Can You Offer the Most Value – Believe it or not, we don’t always know what we want. Therefore, asking your readers what they want in a guide may not really be what they want to purchase. As an extra ‘test’ to ensure you are going to write an eBook on the right topic, ask yourself what you could write about that would help people the most. It may not be something you have the most knowledge on, but you might know enough to honestly help people.
- Look Around Your Niche – Sites like StumbleUpon, Facebook and Twitter can be an absolute goldmine for product ideas. If you see what topics your industry really cares about, you can create a product that gives them exactly that. Additionally, you could check out the top blogs in your industry and see what they are promoting. It never hurts to ask someone if their product is selling well. While I don’t recommend you copy what other people are putting out there, this can give you some good ideas.
Hopefully these tips have given you topic ideas for your eBook. If you’re still looking for suggestions, leave a comment at the bottom of the post and I’m sure other readers here can help you brainstorm.
The Creation Process
Once you’ve decided you want to write an eBook and know what topic it’s going to be about, it’s time to get started. There are a number of eBook creation tools and software packages out there, but I keep the process fairly simple. First of all, I write everything in Open Office. This is a free office suite that works on all popular operating systems.
A lot of tools that can turn documents into PDF format do not allow custom security settings and most of them cannot export hyperlinks properly. Thankfully, Open Office does not have this problem. In terms of structure, I like to map out exactly what I’m going to talk about in the guide and get all of my content sections down first. From there, I can slowly work towards completing the guide by filling out a few each day.
After writing your guide, you probably want to work on the design. I use some nice covers on my eBooks so that they look like real physical products. Of course, I do not pretend they are more than eBooks; it simply looks better. As well as giving the design an external look, you can also work on the internals. I like to start the first page of an eBook with another picture of the cover and copyright information.
From there, I design a nice footer that will display on every page so keep a general ‘theme’ running throughout the guide. And, finally, I replace all headings with an actual image file so that they look much better. A lot of people design their eBooks differently so you should look around before just following my own outline. To create the graphics I personally learned how to use Photoshop but you could also hire someone for cheap from Digitalpoint.
Once you have your eBook written and it’s looking pretty, you should then set-up a payment processor. This will allow you to receive money for your guide and have it automatically delivered to a buyer, instantly. I personally use e-Junkie to handle this process as it works perfectly and handles everything behind the scenes for just $5 per month. I noticed many other sites like Problogger and Copyblogger also use them.
Getting started with e-junkie is quick and totally free (7 day trial). You can upload your eBook PDF file into their admin area, set your price, and then you will receive a ‘Buy now’ link code. This allows you to send people straight to PayPal to buy your guide. Once the payment is approved, e-junkie will automatically send the buyer the eBook, without you having to do anything.
Now that everything is in order and the payment processor is sorted, you’re going to want to look at promoting your eBook.
Marketing Your eBook
The sole task of writing an eBook is sadly not enough to bring you the benefits that we discussed earlier — you actually have to promote your work. The tactics involved in marketing an eBook are very similar to the tactics involved in marketing anything online, but I’ll still share my tips here:
- Your Audience – My aim is to always be totally honest with you guys so the first thing I must say is that it is much easier to sell and promote an eBook if you already have an established audience. Ask yourself whether it would be wise to build up your audience a bit first before launching your first product. Darren Rowse at Problogger didn’t launch an eBook until his 5th year of writing for the site, but managed to pull in an estimated $450,000 (based on my calculations using his public sales figures) from a $19 product. It’s never too late to launch a product, but it might be too early. If you have an established audience, that’s a great place to start to get your guide out there.
- Networking – A few months ago I attended a workshop in London which taught people how to quit their day jobs. I didn’t go to learn about that though (I already have quit my job), but to learn about how to teach people how to quit their job. This is because I write about personal development and find it fascinating. Although I didn’t go to this workshop to make money, I certainly met a few people who have since purchased eBooks from me.
- Affiliates – Out of the $4,500 or so that the eBook made on the day of launch, around $500 of this money was in affiliate commissions. I allow people to promote the product and if they refer a sale, I will give them 51% of $37, which is $18.87. I can do this because it is free for me to duplicate my PDF file, and I get my products in front of people who would not have otherwise known about them. To get affiliates, I like to focus on bloggers and gain their attention by regularly commenting or their site or maybe writing a few articles before pitching anything. Give and you will receive. You could also use a service like Clickbank, which I’m going to be testing shortly.
- Offline Press – The reason this month is going to be the second best month ever for Cloud Living is because I received some great offline press recently. I was featured in an article (pic) in the UK’s second biggest newspaper about people making a living online. This brought thousands of people to my website and resulted in a lot more sales than usual. If you can get featured in relevant, offline press, then that can do wonders for your online sales.
- Search Engine Traffic – I know some people who create eBooks solely for the sake of making money from the search engine traffic they are currently receiving. I also know people who purposefully build eBooks and websites in a niche because they can make money, not because they know about the subject. If you can find what problems people are searching for online, and rank in the top results of Google with a solution to that problem (your guide), then there’s a lot of money to be made. I have personally spoken to people making over $300,000 per year with this method.
If I had to estimate how many Cloud Living sales were based on these as a percentage, I would say:
- Original Audience: 75%
- Affiliates: 15%
- Offline Press: 5%
- Search Engines: 4%
- Networking: 1%
If you can pull off any of these methods well, you’re going to have a good chance at making sales and enjoying the other benefits that owning your own product has to offer. If you’re going to focus on just one or two, then definitely work to build up your own audience and gain a list of affiliates who would like to promote your product.
The Final Details That I Couldn’t Miss
I know this has been an absolutely monster post (although I’m sure you are used to them by now), but there are a few more points I want to talk about in order to make this guide as useful as possible. There a few things that didn’t really fit into the other sections here but definitely deserve to be discussed.
Handling Refunds
When I launched Cloud Living, I never mentioned any form of money-back guarantee. Maybe it would have increased sales, but there have literally only been 3 refunds in over 600 purchases. I actually meant to launch the product with a 30-day money-back guarantee but since it was selling well with that, I never made the change. If someone is clearly being scammy by purchasing the book and requesting a refund in the same day or something of that nature, then I will try not to give a refund as that only encourages scammers to con more people.
If someone seems even slightly legitimate though then I will happily give a refund as quickly as possible. It’s not worth the possible reputation management nightmare for the price of one guide.
Pricing
I personally like to price my products around the $27 – $37 range when working with eBooks. I know in the future, when I create bigger products with more features, that price will rise quite a lot. The price of your eBook should really be whatever you think it is worth. After all, you made it and if it doesn’t sell, you’re the one who has to deal with that.
Of course, ideally you will want to pick a price point that is going to get you sales from the start. Price too low and you run the risk of your product looking low-value and miss-worthy. Price it too high and you may alienate your audience with an out-of-reach price point. My advice for pricing is simple: see how other people in the niche are pricing their guides, for what, and start with something similar.
I personally think it’s better to price a product too low than too high. If you price it too low then at least you will get sales and can know to increase that. If you price your product too high and then have to bring that down, it will be clear to your audience that sales are low and you lose any social proof you may have had.
My Own Success
This guide is just my thoughts on creating a profitable eBook online. There may be better ways to do everything I have suggested, but these are the steps I take. $30,000 is nothing compared to some of the launches out there, but the result is something I’m proud of and also something I think many of you here would like to reach.
If you’ve made it this far, I have to try and tempt you to subscribe to the RSS feed (or get free email updates). Articles like this one are posted at least once per week. And yes, they really are this long.
As always, I would appreciate your feedback in the comments and support on Twitter if you like this article!
160 Comments
Did you enjoy this post? Please leave a comment below...
Comments are my number one indicator as to which posts people enjoyed the most, so your feedback really does help me. If you have any questions, feel free to ask those as well...
Free Guides
Over 100,000 people have enjoyed our free guides.
RSS Subscribers: 
Copyright © 2013 ViperChill : Privacy Policy
Wow! what a fantastic post, truly it is. That is possibly the best guide on writing and profiting that I have read, paid or free. It’s inspiring, thought provoking, and taught me a lot about what to do when launching an ebook. I will be launching in a few months time with an ebook and this guide came at the perfect time. Thanks Glen, it really is appreciated
Thanks Steven,
Really glad that you got the value I hoped to put out!
Exactly what I like to hear
Great article Glen! I recently launched an ebook and I found the key was having an existing audience. This really provides the bulk of the promotion and sales. If you’re new to blogging I think its a good idea to often hold back, make as many connections as you can and then launch.
Hey Anthony,
I have to agree. I like the idea of releasing free eBook’s while your blog is small to grow the audience, before releasing paid ones.
Thanks for the comment!
Great post as always Glen. I’m currently writing my first ebook, so these tips are useful for me.
Thanks Oscar,
I look forward to seeing what you come out with!
It’s a very nice product indeed that you brought out there. As far as I can tell it’s the only in it’s sort on cloud living/ free living / financial independence. Of course there are places like project mojave but those cost tons of money and for those of us who want to do things at our own pace this is great. Making an eBook of my own is on my list to do in the near future, I just hope it will be remotely as successful as your creation.
Creating your own product is a huge challenge but once you’ve got one that is selling nicely your name will be out there more and more. If you’ve done things right chances are future products by yourself will be bought by the same people who bought the first one. A very exciting prospect and a great resource to tap in to.
On a sidenote, it seems easy money but don’t be fooled by the hard work it takes to come this far. Countless hours of writing, editing, marketing and actively selling. But at least you can do it form the comforts of your own home (or wherever you have wifi support….) Thanks for the great post and the inspiration.
Another interesting article.
I’ll probably be checking out Cloud Living after I get back from travelling as I’m sick and tired of working in an office and desperately need a change.
I came across your website va the Guardian article and have read bits of it and made notes already. Still not sure what I’ll try to do on t’internet but your website(s) are pretty helpful nonetheless. Keep up the good work.
There does seem to be an art to launching the eBook. I’m just trying to get my head around the fact that ‘there will be no perfect time’ much like there is no perfect moment to have children.
Get it out – see what happens. fail often.
I have a goal to release my free eBook by end of next week. I’ll be sure to reference back here when getting very close to it.
What a great read and very inspiring.
I believe I’m at a position that I may be able to write my own as well. Although there are a few products on the market, many of them are dated.
I think I’m going to continue writing on my blog for some time before I decide on anything but I’ve been keeping it an option. This post will come in handy as a guide
Hi Glen,
Fantastic article on a topic that I always viewed as “pipe dream” type stuff but having read your post I think anyone with a good writing style and sound level of topic knowledge can have a good crack at writing & selling an ebook. The idea of creating your very own product and having full control over what gets published and so on is an extremely liberating concept and appears to fit in perfectly with a more independent style of living.
You’ve given me some serious food for thought now as I’m leaving full time employment to begin a freelance online marketing service (mostly travel related) so I can already visualise a few niche ebooks that could genuinely help people.
Thanks a million!
You weren’t kidding, were you?
Great post, Glen!
Congrats on your awesome success with cloud-living! An amazing achievement
Thanks for the post, definitely bookmarking it for when I write my own ebook !!
You’ve really pulled together a solid guide to writing an ebook. I think one important point was a bit buried, though: a lot of people set out to write ‘how to make money online’ ebooks — but I think part of your success was finding a niche you could really dig into and provide a resource that doesn’t have a lot of competition.
Hi Thursday,
That is true, a lot of people out there write ‘how to make money online’ guides, but I didn’t think that was necessary to point out as people should (probably) just focus on the niche that passes the criterion in the post.
Awesome to see you over here
Gday Glen, love your blog..Does E-junkie handle affiliate commissions as well?
Yes, they do! They even give you a masspay file for one payment only sending in Paypal, and it will pay every single affiliate.
This is really interesting, Glen. I’m a long, long way from an e-book (I don’t even have a blog yet!), but I’m sure this post will prove a great basis for the future. Thanks!
You’re very welcome J.V.
Thanks for the comment!
good read. Very useful information and my ebook is about 60% done and this info will help me better craft it.
Thanks and keep it up
skip “more coffee!” burns
Nice post with a lot of good information. One thing we’ve run into with our book is that there are many people writing on the topic of location independence and giving books away for free. Although I believe ours is a more comprehensive and professionally published product it’s difficult to compete with free stuff. Any suggestions?
This is the best summary for how to write a successful e-book that I have ever read! No wonder your book did so well – with your free information you’re offering high value so it’s easy to imagine just how good your book might be. I like the salespage for your book, too. It’s very straight forward and real. It also shows that you don’t have to price something high to make money. I like your price points a lot.
A great post Glen, very inspirational. I am currently gathering info for my first e-Book. The things you have identified in this post will prove invaluable to my work. Thank you for sharing.
Hey Paul,
That’s great to hear, buddy!
Thanks for stopping by
Great post as always Glen! I will definitely bookmark it, talk about it on my site and use it when I will write my first e-book! Thanks for the great job.
Thanks Alain, I do (and would) really appreciate that!
Dang you awesome Glen, and I’m happy to say I contributed to that 30k and it was well-freaking worth it. Now I’ve got my own blog up and we’re rockin and rollin! Thanks for all you do Glen:)
Awesome, buddy!
I appreciate your support over the last few months. Congrats on getting the blog set-up, everything is looking great!
This is a goldmine! Spent 30 minutes taking notes and I will be bookmarking this post! Thank you thank you thank you!
So great to hear, really!
You’re very welcome, and thanks for taking the time to leave a comment
This came at the perfect time. I was just literary asking myself “Why do I want to make an eBook, is it just for the income?”, “What services can I use to sell it?”, “How do I make it?”, and “Would I rather build up my audience before I launch my it?”.
You answered all these questions, spot on. Thank you for the e-Junkie recommendation, and the info about building up your audience and not just writing for profit. Really helpful, and perfect timing.
Hey Arsene,
Great to see you over here again!
Glad that I was able to answer all of your questions. I really thought long and hard before publishing this one to make sure I had included just about everything anyone needs to know.
- Glen
hey Glen, are you still offering the free e-book, and what/how many websites do you run?
Hey Eric,
You can find it here: http://www.pluginid.com/blogging-blueprint/
Oh, and personally I only have about 6 main sites, but I’m soon to be behind around 50 web properties.
Are you buying sites, or starting a blog network? I’m just curious to see your other sites to learn more about you as a blogger.
I am buying established sites that make money
Loads of value, Glen. I’ll definitely reference this when I write my first ebook later this year (probably be free so I can learn everything there is on the whole ebook writing process) and when I end up writing my second, which will probably be monetized.
Bookmarked for reference, and keep bringing the value here at ViperChill!
Thanks for the introduction.
I have already started working on an ebook that I plan to release this summer. A lot of great resources to get my started. I know design will be a problem for me.
WOW! I gotta say Glen, really impressive. I could read these kind of articles all day.
Congratulations with the success of Cloud Living. I was actually very curious how much you made with it
. The book actually helped me a lot! Since I’ve bought that book, I created 4 affiliate websites. One is already making some money. I now I’m building a blog that I will launch very soon.
For the people that consider buying the book: just do it. It’s worth a lot more than Glen asks for it. Besides that, Glen also helps you out when you have questions. I recently emailed him about my new blog and he really helped me with that. Cloud Living will be one of the product that I will be offering on my blog because it’s really top notch.
Keep up the good work Glen!
Thank you very much Richard,
I really appreciate the awesome comment!
It’s great to hear that the affiliate sites are starting to make money for you as well! I’m getting so many emails lately from people making money, it’s amazing.
- Glen
p.s. I’ve said “Hi” to Viperchill @ Twitter. But didn’t work
.
Can you explain? I try and respond to everyone…
You wrote on your pluginid twitter that you would follow everyone that said hi to viperchill. Well I did. But I think because you don’t follow in the first place you don’t see it. My twitter id is Rbbiz.
Yes, I probably just did not see it. Fixed now.
Wowzers! I found this post through a tweet from Jonathan Fields (the master of valuable content) and found the wealth of info to be completely relevant.
I am currently (you guessed it!) writing an eBook on Branding and Marketing for Artists. While the writing and design won’t be a problem for me, it was great to get some further insight on pricing, delivery (e-Junkie), affiliate info and promo percentages.
Plus, my confidence vacillates weekly and this post put me back in the “Hells yeah, I can do this!” mindset. So, thanx a mil for that.
First, congratulations on all the success you’ve had so far with Cloud Living! I hope it continues to sell well far into the future.
Second, thank you so much for writing this post. I’m in the middle of writing my first ebook, and you’ve got about a dozen ideas in this post I would never have come up with on my own. What a terrific resource you’ve put together.
Hi Nancy,
I love reading things like that. You’re the exact type of person that I wrote this article for.
Thank you very much for your comment, and I hope your launch goes well!
Thanks for a solid post, Glen. Your work ethic is admirable and I’m excited to see what you’ve got planned for the near future.
I wrote an e-book in August about saving money on textbooks in college, and I’m brewing up an idea for another one geared towards college students and the ways to financially hack college.
I’m definitely bookmarking this post to help with the process.
Thanks,
Austin @ Foreigner’s Finances
I love your post. I am currently setting up my monetization and you’ve just given me valuable information to follow. I’ll do this right away!
You just go from strength to strength mate, now just get involved with the SUCCESS ebook and join 30 other awesome bloggers and I will be truly happy.
Can I ask how did you get the affiliates for your launch?
Sure can! But I’ll just copy what I wrote up there ^
Was there something more that you wanted to know?
I was hoping for more precise answer… you know, what were the exact steps you went through? How did you approach them?
Once you’ve built up a relationship with a blogger by writing articles for them or regularly contributing comments, just send them an email about what you’re working on.
Just be totally normal, don’t worry about sounding professional because I’ve found that makes things very impersonal. Give them a link to your affiliate area and let them know when the product will launch (give a week in advance, at least).
Remind them of who you are (“I regularly write comments,” “I wrote X article”) and see what happens.
I hope that is better for you!
Yes! Great answer, thanks
Thanks for the thoughtful and step-by-step you have put together here. One of my New Years’ resolutions is to finish an eBook I have be writing. I really appreciate the inspiration you provide!
You’re very welcome Alex, it’s really good to see you here.
If it’s as good as your blog, you’ll be onto a winner
Hi Glen
Loved Cloud Living – gave me lots of ideas and a tonne of inspiration
Wow great article and great work
maybe i will try to write a ebook
Hi Glen. Yes I got Cloud Living on day 1 too. I now have a blog as you can see. I have heaqrd of people being able to hijack Clickbank links and find dowload pages without going through Paypal. Do you have a way to start off small before using a site like E-Junkie?
Keep up the good work
Chris
Hi Chris,
I guess you could process the orders manually if you wanted to start slowly and not pay for the service. There are ways to find download links, but 99% of internet users who buy these things are generally not savvy enough to find them.
On top of that, I’m pretty sure 9 out of 10 of these things don’t have that kind of leak, either.
Great to see you here, Chris!
P.S. How is being Chairman going for you?
[...] Look at this post – he is genuinely sharing advice that isn’t freely available online. All the numbers and earning details are there. Peeps love this type of content. I’m not saying Glen (I honestly don’t now) shares every tip and trick he knows (he might), but he puts out content that you won’t elsewhere. [...]
Another fab article, Glen. This is certainly one for my list. I ‘collect’ valuable articles like these and link to them on my writing blog for my audience. Your audience are 5 years ahead of me and mine, so your posts are cutting edge (I suppose they are anyway).
I’ve written 2 e-Books. I lacked the knowledge to promote them properly and they’re not selling as well as I’d have liked them to.
If they are still basically timely, edit them as needed and follow the launch procedures as if they were making their first appearance. On the internet you can make thousands of ‘first impressions’ each day.
This is good stuff here Glenn. I myself have written an eBook before which also made a good number of sales, although not as big as yours. I have couple of problems though. First one is that I have never launched the affiliate programs and even though if I launched it, Im really not sure how will it work back then. The other one is offline press. Im not popular here in my country and this is something that Im working out this year. Both questions are answered in this lengthy article!
Thanks again man!
Wow, this is perfect. Thanks, seriously.
You’re very welcome.
Thank you for your comment.
Perfect timing. I expect to have my eBook finished by the end of March and have many of the steps you suggest in process. You’ve been a great help in filling in the blanks. As Buzz Lightyear said ” to the future!”
Hey, i had read many ebook on this topic but your had summarize it in just one post and i would like to know you that this is the best guide i had read. I myself thinking of creating a ebook and your post gave me the push i wanted. Thanks Glen.
Azad Shaikh
http://www.internetgeeks.org
Great article, Glen. Informative and inspiring. And congratulations on the ongoing success of Cloud Living! One question… I was told there are no legalities involved with offering virtual publications for free, but that there are legalities with making them available for purchase. (One statement being that ebooks must be “registered” for sale – though this statement could not be validated.) Is this true, and if so, how does one find and follow the proper legal steps prior to publication?
Great post. I’ve been working on an e-book but I’ve thought long and hard about when to release it. I’m still very new to the blogging world and your tips really helped me to confirm one of my concerns about the ebook….it may be too early. I’m certain I’ll wait a while now.
Congrats on your great success. It’s very inspiring.
Hi Glen,
I love your internet business journey and it seems like you have done well again. I’m looking forward to launching my ebook too and I would need the tips that you had shared with us over here.
Cheers,
Vincent
Glen, I’ve just come back to tell you that I do a weekly ‘follow friday’ (blog style) on my writing blog. I’ve chosen to feature your site this week and here is the post I’ll be promoting tomorrow. http://www.abloggersbooks.com/2010/01/my-follow-friday-viperchill.html
I’ve put it up tonight because I’m away for half the day tomorrow. Feel free to tell me if there’s anything you’d like me to change.
Anne
Thank you very much, Anne, I really appreciate it!
You rock
Interesting article.
Did you pay for a copy editor?
Nope, but I did have someone offer their services for free (which I took).
Hi Glen…. Thanks so much for the article. I’ve bookmarked it for future inspiration. I hope to have a successful first couple of years although my earnings will come from email based affiliate sales due to the nature of my site. Hopefully i might bring you some traffic in the future.
I wanted to say that this sort of article is the reason i’ve chosen your site for my front page. Inspiring and educational. Cheers again.
Great post and massive achievement. I really do think it’s a huge success and you should be very proud of yourself. I think the only info missing here is how many subscribers you had on your blog on the launch day? Let me guess… 3500?
I really need to write an e-book, start a new blog, and start making money from this gig. Looking forward to the kids going back to school next week. In Feb I’ll get the show on the road. Can’t wait and many thanks for your input and advice.
[...] How I Wrote a $30,000 eBook (And You Can Too) – Glen Allsopp’s post is worth reading if only for the amount of detail he puts into this post. I don’t know if you’re interested in publishing an eBook or not, but this is a fascinating case study. I met Glen in person recently and he’s a smart guy who’s going to go far. [...]
Glen? – That is if this comment/reply would ever find GLEN!? – Been trying for years; $spent savings,- and still have Not made a $Cent online!? – Glen gives me hope,- and this Joe will not give up. – ( gorillas-dont-cook.com ) – ( products-mobile.com ) -
Hi Joe,
I’m not sure what you are talking about…
Timely post Glen as I was just starting to write an e-book as well…..”$30,000 is nothing compared to some of the launches out there, but the result is something I’m proud of and also something I think many of you here would like to reach.” – Um, in a word, yes. I would have no problem with making $30K.
PS I read blogging blueprint too and thought that was a great read! So thanks again.
[...] How I Wrote a $30,000 eBook (And You Can Too) (tags: viperchill ebook howto internetmarketing) [...]
Hey Glen,
This is an extremely helpful article and provides a lot of insights and advice that I will use in the future. Thanks a lot for taking the time to write this.
Mark
[...] sea lo más neutral posible. Por supuesto, la neutralidad no es más que otra forma de afectación.How I Wrote a $30,000 eBook (And You Can Too) Por si alguien quiere probar.Francia, el proteccionismo, las mafias, la Cultura y los ebooks « [...]
[...] my 1,000 true fans. Yet, when I’m at the stage where I can launch a product that gets almost 700 sales, so I like to think I know quite a bit when it comes to building a loyal [...]
Thanks for the article on your process. Gave me some good guides to getting my ebook done. I intend on making my ebook or at least starting it in the next 2 weeks but I know it’s going to take some time, just knowing it will get done eventually, is good to know.
Thanks Again.
Great post. I have been thinking of writing an ebook. Im still deciding if I will try to build an audience for that particular niche first. I think after reading this article I will! thanks!
What an amazing post!
It’s my first time here, but it’s clear you really do put A LOT of work in to your content and posts. The product creation process can be so intimidating for a lot of people but it needn’t be, and this post is a great example of why people should give more consideration to creating their own ebooks or info products.
Glen,
I found your article information and timely. This is my first visit to your blog and I will subscribe to future updates. I found the length of the article abnormally long but I appreciated it because you covered the necessary content. I am going to revisit my current project and take your advice into consideration. Congratulations on the success, I look forward to future posts about your progress.
Hey Dana, thanks.
I’m afraid (well, not really) that most of the articles on the site will be this long.
ViperChill is more focused on less frequency and more value.
Glen, that is not a complaint. It gives me hope. I find myself NOT blogging because I hate cutting my word count. You keep writing and I’ll keep reading. I’m so glad I found this site. Thanks!
Thanks so much for this post Glen! After working a lot on content and building an appreciable subscriber base I think I’m ready to expand on my niche (tried, tested and blogged rapid language learning) with my first e-book. I’ll be following this advice closely.
Did you give away many free copies to other bloggers in exchange for reviews? Or were all your sales basically from your site alone?
Hi Benny,
Glad you liked it!
As I mentioned in the post, around 75% of sales were from direct PluginID readers and a large chunk of the rest were from affiliates. I think I gave out about 5 free copies and the rest were reviews from people who bought it first.
I think you have a great niche
Thanks I needed this information. I’ve been devising different strategies to sell my ebook. I’m selling it on http://www.scribd.com and making physical copies as well. I charge extra for the physical copies. What are your thoughts Glen?
As I build my readership, I have been thinking about writing an ebook. At first, I was overwhelmed at the idea, thinking about all the factors that go into writing, designing, publishing it, and marketing it. You’re guide has put those feelings to rest. You’re step by step outline really put things in perspective and made me much more confident about the possibilities. So easy to follow and understand, as usual.
Great Post, Glen (as always!) This will be invaluable information when I do my own eBook eventually…I’m still in the build up the reputation on the blogging scene phase! My mission….share what I know to help people to help themselves. As I’m a natural health practitioner doing a modality I know works (my clients keep sending their friends to me!) I know I need to spread the word more widely….a huge project! Your work here, on PluginID and HQHow has been a great inspiration! Thank you SOOOO much!
One question….as a South African, I have a HUGE problem with PayPal….they don’t allow payments INTO accounts from our country!!!! GRRRR!!!! Any suggestions on how to solve this problem, because some sites (like Squidoo) that I want to make use of, only use PayPal!?
Keep up the good work! Table Mountain’s waiting to spread its table cloth for you!
Wow. What an awesome post. This was exactly what I needed. I’m in the process of writing an ebook, and I’ve been wondering what to do next. Now, I know. Thanks for sharing
PS. I’ve been thinking about using e-junkie as well.
glen is legend.
100th comment. boomski.
for any eavesdroppers: cloud living is real deal. rep it hard!
What a great article. I have a product that have been trying to find ways of producing, but my full time caregiver salary of $0 makes it pretty difficult. Although I have sold a little over 100 of my 911 PREP Kits, I have not been able to help people in the way I dreamed.
After reading some of your blogs, I managed to put together every piece of my kit in a template format, add a lot of really good content about the lesons I’ve learned through the 50+ medical emergencies I’ve gone through with both parents and put it into a PDF. Proofreading should be done tomorrow. After that, I will relaunch the new e-version on several web sites with strong domain names and follow you’re great advice.
Your passion for helping people really shines through. I think Eckert Tolle would be proud.
yes i strongly agree, currently i consistently make above 1000 a day selling ebooks
my life changed when i decided to sell books on my site, google ads barley brought me 1000 dollars a month!!
I love writing ebooks. I have written about 10 in the last decade. Some were great some not so great. I still make money to this day from an ebook I wrote 6 years ago (with revisions). All I do is try to come up with the next greatest ebook. Some people try to come up with the next best phone app, I do that with ebooks. Just finished my latest one February 2010: “No Building Codes” and it can be found at http://nobuildingcodes.com.
It is a book about where you can still find places with no building codes in the United States. Why did I write it? Because there was no book like it in existence–which was the impetus to write it. That’s called finding a niche–your key to success!
Best of luck to you aspiring authors!
I got any agitated e-mail from a customer the other day that was upset that I was switching to ebooks from physical books – seems a lot of people still have a strong (almost emotional) attachment to physical books. Downside is it’s not necessarily easy to automate shipping of hardcopies without losing a large margin on the sale.
Glen,
This is an excellent article. Your tips are point on and very helpful to me as I’m about to finish and launch my e-book. I admire your work and your willingness to share information that’s not only helpful, it makes a difference.
Wow, I definitely learned a lot here. Now I’m wondering if I’m in the right business. :-p
Awesome tips! I can’t wait to quit one of my jobs so I can follow your footsteps. Wish me luck! =)
[...] not exempt from any of this. I’ve made a lot of money myself through [...]
Just a quick question. When you wrote cloud living, you must have had an idea that it would be replicated in some way. I say this because of the size of the audience you are able to communicate with, through not only this blog but guest posts and so on. I was wondering if you bought any domain names to protect the brand (and your investment)? I see the domain http://www.cloudliving.com is currently a parked domain that is under construction, is this you or somebody cashing in on your idea?
I don’t own that domain, no.
And I’m fine with someone else owning it
Thank you for this useful post. I am nearing the completion of a book that will change the world and am considering a multitude of ways to market and produce this book. Your information is gold! Thank you for your kindness and sharing spirit. May you flourish!
Thanks for the well-written article Glen. I will try to achieve the way you’d done it.
Kamaruddin. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 24 May 2010.
Great post. Just what i needed. I can’t help myself but bookmark the post so i can re-read so often.Cheers!
Yet another great post, could be helpfull as I was thinking of writing a book. Thanks!
Hi Glen. I just found your blog today and i want to tell you that your articles are fantastic, especially this one, which comes right on time, because i am about to write my on ebook. keep up the good work. Best wishes!
having an ebook for sale(product for sale) is a great way to earn residual income…you really killed it because you have built a community on your blog…thanks for sharing
Hey Glen, thanks again for writing this very useful post. I will definitely heed your advice before issuing an eBook to sell. However, reading your post did give me an idea of a FREE eBook I would like to create. I googled the topic before and could rarely find any relevant information regarding the subject, so I guess I’ll create it.
Great post as always! I will read it again when I am ready to start writing my e-book.
I am going to launch an e-book in a week. I have two important questions I would love to know the answer to. One on the value of social media followers the other is about the value of AdWords advertising:
1- I dont have many followers on my blog. I have over a thousand on Twitter, and 60 on Facebook. Are these followers a decent replacement for my blog followers?
2- I had a promo from AdWords so have $100 of free advertising that I am ready to use. Is this any good for selling the e-book in your experience?
Hope you can answer this, I would be thrilled if you can!
Karl
Another inspiring article! Great work Glen. I’m starting my ebook.
I’ve been doing affiliate marketing for years and love it but having your own product adds another dimension to your business. I like ebooks simply because it’s something you can do once and reap rewards from forever. But it’s key to write quality content. Adding more pages and lots of filler to make your book appear great will bring you more returns than sales. Anyway, nice post, thanks for the tips
Thanks so much for your post. I am so very happy to have found your website and I find it very inspiring just to read other peoples post, in a way it has helped me stay motivated. I practice an ancient form of medicine and I am really thrilled to create an eBook so that I can bring that information to a larger audience. Thanks for the inspiration!
Glen, I’m saving this post until I’m ready to put it into action. Thanks for the explicit info. And it’s not too long, at all, at all.
Thank You for the valuable advice.
Glen, first, always a pleasure to learn from your posts! I’m not sure if I have the passion to create an e-book at this point, I need to stay focused on maintaining what I do have, which are several affiliate websites. I’m adding more content to each one at this time versus setting up more that I feel overwhelmed with since I have a full time job. Could any of this be applied to affiliate mini sites (4-5 pages)? Secondly, would you use your check list in cloud for maintainence of affiliate sites, or would that only apply to blogging? Sorry so long….
Hi,
Nice ebook guide, enjoyed it. Only a small fraction make it online, and you nailed what’s about: providing stuff that solves problems. As Eben says, the amount you earn is in direct proportion to the value the customer thinks the product has. As regards promotion, I’d suggest social media, especially Facebook pages and Youtube videos. As to niche selection, I’d recommend Google’s keyword tool, check for the global monthly searches.
I really enjoyed your information as it is hard to find legit advice online. I’ve been searching about writing an ebook and launching it and find nothing but fake payment proof and testimonials. I am a single mom and my current situation has inspired me to want to help others . I don’t have alot of cash to assisst in creating and marketing my ebook so if anyone has any suggestions I would be grateful to try. What are some good resources for proofreading and ecovers without spending alot of money and someone stealing an idea?
Thanks for giving us some honest recommendations on this topic. I have sought out a good variety of good information about natural health and some unreliable recommendations. Do you have any more good recommendations or places on the Internet that I can find more detailed ideas? This would be much appreciated! So, keep up the good work!
It’s of course easier to sell to people on your list. However, starting out with a small list that may not be an option. What I’d suggest in that case is to write a free eBook and give it away for an email address. I’m using that very technique as regards an upcoming eBook about black holes on http://www.popular-astronomy.com. The mail form is from aWeber, probably the best email – list service out there.
I continue to be blown away by this website and your content. I’ve been toying with writing an ebook for quite a while and this guide really gives me a good starting plan.
Thanks!
@Larryphoto
Great post again!
Trouble with your content and your readers is that after reading your post, I have to read all the comments as there are so many really good people just wanting to get going and who have great comments too.
Amazing!
Kindest again,
Poppie
How do you prevent people from illegally replicating your eBook (which deprives you of all of the income you deserve) ? Or do you think the rate of such illegal replication is negligible so that you don’t have to worry about it ?
I’d love to write an ebook some day. My blog is still pretty young, and I don’t get a ton of traffic – probably 20 to 40 visitors per day recently. Do you have any insight on how much traffic is enough to produce decent sales on an e-book?
Also, do you think is it possible that writing the e-book could actually BRING more traffic?
Hi TJ…
Have you considered self publishing?
I did a kindle book on Amazon, (Kindle Books sell at rate of 147 to every 100 ordinary books)
and then found out about Smashwords…a better free publishing platform.
They distribute yr book everywhere!…even to Kindle, Amazon , Barnes & Noble or whatever all the big book stores are!
Then you could go to Create Space (in Amazon) & publish yr own paperback for free.
Buy a few copies yr self, (about $4 or less) & hold a library reading, book tour etc etc.
Now you are a published author & the Local newspapers like that, so do TV stations.
10% interviews on TV & radio are authors!
Now you have positioning power, credibility & can put that in yr email signature etc etc…
Just some ideas.
Happy Christmas & a prosperous new year.
Poppie,
I’ve definitely considered self-publishing. I think I just want to time the release right. I don’t want to write a book before I’m qualified or before I’d have the audience to buy. Thanks for the tip on Smashwords.
Great article Glen – have been considering writing an e-book on recipes as I run a restaurant in Ireland and would love to have a go at compiling an online publication and see how it goes. Kind of like an added-value message to my restaurant website by trying to show my knowledge and experience of the restaurant industry…anyway, thanks for the advice & tips, much appreciated.
Now, it’s been 2 years since I’ve been thinking of writing a book, but you know, either I didn’t have time, either I had time, but I wasn’t in the mood for that, either this, either that… all excuses.. but I made a resolution for the 2011 to start and write at least 50 pages
Great Post. I have been blogging for a year now and now on to my 2nd blog. I have an ebook in the works and this guide offered me some valuable information.
Hi Glen, I found your tips on ebooks to be really inspiring – I had one on the back burner and after reading this post today I actually went and purchased a great domain name. Just gotta write it now!! Also, an acquaintance of mine uses ClickBank here in Australia, and says they are good.
Thanks for the inspiration, Kim
indeed, writing a book (a good book) is a great way to make money
but the problem is not everybody has writing skills… maybe you’re pretty good at what you do… you have a lot of ideas, but you can’t write them on paper.. they mix in your head and you can’t put them in a logical order..
Wow, Glenn, I am very impressed with your article (as well as the blog). Through my own failures I have figured out that it’s also impossible to launch an e-book and be profitable if you don’t already have an audience (or a few powerful affiliates that have an audience).
This post got me thinking…
All the best,
Alex
You make it sound so easy:D but actually, it takes me days to write a 1-2 page PDF… how can I write a whole book in this rhythm?:D It would take me a few years, not to mention that I’m working, so I have only a few hours available each day…
Wow, this is the best information that I have seen in a long time that is free. I have to always give you 2 thumbs up because you post really good information that is complete. I don’t really see a lot of information like this anymore. Hence the reason I don’t go to too many blogs anymore but this is top stuff. I was thinking about writing an ebook because I heard how much better it is to have a least one product that is your own. Your post just motivated me more to get this done.
Thanks
I’ve read some articles about how to protect the ebook from being shared. How about you? How did you protect your ebook?
Hi Glen,
I couldn’t believe I’ve read all this long but useful article. I have recently downloaded OpenOffice since I researched online and came to similar conclusion as you that it is the best PDF link conversion tool out there in the market. Also, I hope to signup for ClickBank and see how things goes with my near future eBook projects.
My niche is somewhat complex. A bit of personal development, a bit of theology, a bit of technology etc. I am enjoying riding in your train so far. Thanks again.
Delali
Hey glen,
As a budding entrepreneur, I have enjoyed your blog for sometime now. In general, what percentage of the audience will purchase the eBook?
Thanks.
Very good post with valuable information! I am very new to the online business and blogging. There are only few blogs that provide valuable information to the newbies, often leaving the key information or being downright bizarre. A question though, what is often a good way to check which topics for ebooks sell?
Thanks.
That is a badass wealth of information!
I know for me I have had a bazillion ideas for eBooks over the years, but my problem comes down to focus. I always get distracted by something else that seems like a better idea. It’s easy to get started, but can be difficult to complete.
To get started I usually bust out Google Docs and create Chapter headings, from there I add a number of points and ideas for each chapter, then I turn those into sub headings and create more points. This is where I usually lose interest. IF I were to continue I would then start turning those points into cohesive paragraphs and go from there. Maybe one day I will finish an eBook. I did it once and made almost 5K from it, but really I think that was just pure luck.
I recently just started writing for me blog after a two year break and think that I will come up with some ideas, start working on the draft version of a few eBooks and then release it once I have built up a bit of a following on my blog.
Again, thanks for the information. I always enjoy reading success stories.
Always coming up with great information once can readily buy outside. My question is this, what if the niche is something you do not have an idea on, you hire someone to do the writing of the e-book and sales letter. The one set-up a squeeze page to capture mails, how long shouuld the interaction with the list go before the e-book is been presented for sale?
Thanks
Hi!
Really great post. It’s encouraging me to write my own!
Very good post with valuable information! I am very new to the online business and blogging. There are only few blogs that provide valuable information to the newbies, often leaving the key information or being downright bizarre
wow, impressive man! Thanks for the info.
I’m am currently “on the fence” about writing an EBook – my friend’s son did it and it has really done well (although he’s had to slash the price a couple of times), but for his first book, I’d say he has done great.
I wanted to start out with a “blog or vlog” but my friends have all encouraged me to to go straight for something I could ultimately get paid for. They said “why would you want to impart all your knowledge into doing a blog/vlog and not get any money for it? My problem is, I’m not that familiar with computers to start doing an EBook, I can barely figure out how to do a bolg…lol. Also..why is it sooooo important to have a “Facebook Account ?”
Any help or advice you could throw my way would be greatly appreciated AND noted!!
Sincerely
Gracelynn A.
Thanks a lot Glen.
Its articles like these that create life changing opportunities in people’s lives. It has definitely changed mine.
Keep it up
Thank you for sharing all your resources! I am getting ready to complete my first ebook and am excited about the launch!
I want to create an Ebook for vegans I have lots of ideas but not sure which would sell the best..any ideas please
Hi, I really enjoyed reading your post. Usually, I don’t read so much, however I found this compelling. I am just starting out and have just got my website up with wordpress. I am looking at writing my first free ebook.
Wish me luck.
Cheers
ps my first ebook will be on Feng Shui for Newbies.
Thank you so much for such a great step by step article. For me getting the right angle for my subject is key and it’s just repeated over and over again from seasoned Pros, so I’m at the research stage now. Then, I think my main challenge will be to market it, as my list is the early growth stages
Thanks E
Hello. I have a natural health “product” idea, if thats what it should be called. I have reversed a disease over time that has never been done by mankind to my knowledge. As far as Google is concerned, there has never been a recorded case. I have given my time free for years as a Holistic Health Practitioner for those that need help and could not afford it. Today, I would like to share my miracle of faith and individual hard work for hope when all else fails. Is there a market for that without having a current blog or following? How do I start? Thank You!