How to Create an Ebook: Tips, Strategies, and Free Tools

By Kaleigh Moore October 26, 2023

Ebooks have been round because the daybreak of the digital age. 

However that doesn’t make them a relic of the previous.

If something, ebooks are getting hotter. Since 2011, e-book readers have risen to their highest levels: 30% report studying one up to now 12 months. And that’s greater than the speed of audiobook listeners (23%).

The biggest class of readers? Those that learn each bodily and digital books.

And why not? Ebooks are handy; you possibly can learn them wherever. You may simply distribute them for all kinds of causes, together with:

• Direct gross sales (providing an e-book for a reduced value in comparison with a tough copy guide)
• Lead magnets (utilizing an e-book as a free reward for signing up for a publication)
• Establishing thought management
• Fulfilling your dream of changing into an creator

However no matter your cause for creating an e-book, you gained’t get off the bottom till you realize all the pieces there’s to find out about ebooks. Particularly if you understand how to create an e-book totally free.

The excellent news: you don’t should be an knowledgeable author.

You simply want a step-by-step formulation for brainstorming, drafting, and modifying your e-book till you’ve polished it to a positive sheen.

On this publish, let’s deal with all the pieces from the summary (how do you provide you with subjects?) to the nuts and bolts of constructing an e-book that appears nice on any trendy system. Right here’s what you’ll have to find out about the best way to create an e-book.

Writing the e-book: concepts, brainstorming, and drafting

All of it begins with an concept.

In Eric R. Asher’s case, he was a proficient suspense and concrete fantasy creator. He’d even discovered illustration with a literary agent.

However Asher had one drawback. His most up-to-date work was, based on his agent, “unpublishable.”

This present day, the phrase “unpublishable” has by no means been so subjective. Asher knew that. So Asher turned to Amazon and the world of self-publishing.

Utilizing email marketing with AWeber, Asher created an e-mail listing, providing a free guide obtain for brand new subscribers.

Subsequent emails (despatched mechanically by AWeber) additional introduce his readers to his different works.

It labored so properly, Asher began working all kinds of his guide promotions by AWeber.

The important thing all comes again to the thought behind it. Asher had a pre-vetted match between his established viewers and the contents of his newest e-book.

And not using a related match, you possibly can’t make sure that your e-book will resonate with your viewers. So earlier than you set the pen to the pad—or, on this case, the keyboard to the desk—you want a really perfect match between what your viewers needs to listen to and what you’re saying.

Producing concepts to your e-book

The 1st step: discover your area of interest

Your area of interest is the particular subject or viewers you wish to work with. For Asher, it was a literary area of interest: suspenseful city fantasy. 

That’s a distinct segment with particular enchantment to a group of readers. If Asher had offered his guide as generically “thrilling,” there’d be no telling who the supposed viewers was. 

However in the event you don’t have a longtime viewers, you’ll want some methods to determine your greatest area of interest.

Right here are some things to bear in mind as you choose the fitting e-book viewers you wish to work with:

• Keep away from a generalized viewers. “Health,” for instance, is extra of a market than a area of interest. It’s important to discover your particular enchantment throughout the health world to face out. For AWeber customer Alycia from Zumba with Alycia, which means particular notes on making essentially the most out of Zumba courses.
• Particular, however not obscure. What if Alycia had niched her viewers down even additional? “Zumba for ladies aged 25-34, who earn between $50,000 and $100,000 per yr, and stay within the northeast” could be particular—however unnecessarily so. For those who begin shooing away potential e-book readers, you could be getting too obscure.
• Discover the issue you wish to clear up. Take the instance of Paula Rizzo. She was struggling to seek out gadgets to fill her house, so she determined to get proactive in organizing her priorities. The consequence was Listful Thinking, a useful guide for individuals who have an excessive amount of on their plate.

Step two: brainstorm niche-relevant concepts

Brainstorming will be greater than sitting in a chair and considering. Ideally, it will likely be way over that.

There at the moment are AI and SEO tools to hurry your brainstorming periods alongside, together with:

• ChatGPT: you fill in a easy immediate and ask for concepts, and it spits a listing proper again at you. Even in the event you dismiss many of the concepts, there’s an opportunity one or two will mild a spark.
• Ahrefs: Use key phrase and search engine optimization instruments like Ahrefs to determine the highest traits in your area of interest, supplying you with concepts for ebooks your viewers is already trying to find.

Don’t rely on AI or search engine optimization instruments. However do put them to work. They’ll aid you flip obscure hunches about what sort of subject may work greatest for you…and switch them into definitive concepts with construction.

What in the event you’re nonetheless struggling to provide you with concepts?

Begin with an enormous idea: possibly you wish to assist individuals grasp their funds. You simply don’t have your e-book’s explicit “hook” but.

You may as well use methods like mind mapping to work from an enormous subject, after which department off into smaller subjects wherein you’ve gotten some experience. 

Or you possibly can run searches in your personal social media posts. On X (formally Twitter), go to search-advanced and have a look at your highest-performing tweets about your favourite topics. 

Now learn by the feedback. What are the widespread ache factors persons are citing? Or which subjects appear to resonate essentially the most together with your social media viewers?

Comply with these breadcrumbs. 

There’s an excellent probability an e-book subject is ready on the finish of them.

Constructing the e-book’s content material

As soon as you realize what your e-book is about, it’s time to fill it with partaking content material. 

The trick is developing with angles that folks haven’t heard earlier than.

Your first step? Interview individuals. Search for particular tales and case research.

Possibly you already know individuals in your area of interest who can supply distinctive insights. However this isn’t a requirement. You may as well run social media searches for subjects in your area of interest and ask individuals in the event you can interview them.

Subsequent, assemble your analysis. 

Look by the prevailing notes, articles, and books you’ve already drawn inspiration from. Begin bookmarking and highlighting the very best factors. Save essentially the most salient ones right into a bodily folder or a Google Doc.

That is just like the Ryan Holiday note-taking method.

Vacation, a prolific nonfiction creator, says he did analysis for 3 New York Occasions bestsellers in his “spare time.”

One technique he makes use of is the “widespread place guide.” It is a guide of quotes, sentences, tales, and different tidbits he can draw upon for materials.

He organizes these tidbits by themes and concepts. At any time when he wants an instance or an perception, he returns to his “widespread place guide.”

Lastly, you possibly can search for tales. 

In “Atomic Habits,” the bestselling guide by James Clear, he begins most chapters with a demonstrative instance of the precept he’s about to clarify.

As an example, he opens the guide with an anecdote concerning the profitable habits of the British biking group within the 2000s.

Don’t assume you should be credible as an authority in your area of interest to get your concepts throughout.

Draw upon different sources because the demonstration of your key concepts. Set up your ideas by these key concepts, then let the storytelling method unveil and unwrap every concept with its personal distinctive taste.

Deciding what your e-book will appear to be

When you’ve began analysis, you’ll begin to get a way of the fabric you’re working with.

Now it’s time to determine what type that materials will take.

What is going to your e-book look like? 

• Will it have a lot of visuals, together with charts, graphs, and footage? Or do you wish to depend on textual content and storytelling?
• Will you design an e-book based mostly on an e-book template, or will you generate a template as you go?
• Or possibly you haven’t any concept.

In case your reply was “C) I do not know,” don’t fear. You may draw upon some present templates to suit the e-book’s construction to the analysis you’re assembling.

Useful resource compilations, for instance, will be enjoyable “listicle”-style ebooks. Possibly you’ll use a easy format like a singular device or tip for every web page. 

• Widespread titles could be “XYZ Greatest Practices for Making Your First Sale” or “5 Suggestions for a Newbie Weightlifting Routine.”

Story-rich ebooks, and even fiction, are easy sufficient. Your e-book ought to emphasize fundamental readability for giant swaths of textual content and dialogue.

• Some titles that may work? Symbolic phrases you pull from the guide can trace at a key occasion within the story. 

How-tos and tutorials ought to function simply accessible, step-by-step guides. These typically come filled with illustrations, which makes correct formatting the emphasis right here.

• Widespread titles embody “What You Must Know About [Niche].” Or you may get artistic, as Mark Manson did along with his guide “The Refined Artwork of Not Giving a F***.”

Interviews and case research can embody a mixture of illustrations, graphics, and storytelling. You might even undertake a magazine-like method of together with visuals alongside the examples.

• You need to use a symbolic phrase right here, or create one which summarizes your method. “Atomic Habits,” for instance, makes use of the “atomic” metaphor to trace at small-but-powerful adjustments, because the guide explains.

Draft the e-book with the format in thoughts

Does it sound like placing the cart earlier than the horse?

That’s okay. Drafting the e-book with the format already in thoughts might prevent lots of pointless complications.

For instance, if you realize you’ll use a listicle model for a lead magnet e-book, your analysis and drafting ought to replicate that.

It’s far much less environment friendly to draft your e-book first, after which resolve its general form throughout modifying.

To make the drafting course of as easy as attainable, stick to those fundamental steps.

Construct a top level view

Utilizing the analysis you’ve performed, it’s best to have arrived at a number of themes. Listed here are a number of potential methods to prepare them right into a agency plan:

• What concepts are robust sufficient to have their very own sections? Begin categorizing your analysis by these themes. These could possibly be particular person chapters, and even whole sections.
• Upon getting a number of of these, what order is sensible? If in case you have a listicle-style e-book in your arms, you will have to incorporate some suggestions earlier than others for context. Some suggestions might require constructing on others; present the foundational suggestions first.
• If all else fails, begin with essentially the most compelling tales and case research. Possibly your e-book is a unfastened assortment of insights. Begin with the insights you imagine will “wow” your readers essentially the most.

Write!

An empty web page. A blinking cursor. 

There’s no extra avoiding it: it’s drafting time.

For those who’re studying the best way to create an e-book to sell to your audience, you’re going to want unique content material. You’re going to want an e-book definitely worth the value of admission.

However drafting doesn’t should be the scariest a part of the method. Listed here are a number of suggestions for getting the writing completed as effectively and painlessly as attainable:

• Work on the cloud. Failing that, usually again up your progress. Google Docs, for instance, mechanically saves for you. Different instruments, like Scrivener or Reedsy book editor, will be helpful to individuals who wrestle to remain organized.
• Work in milestones to remain motivated. In case your objective phrase depend is 25,000, ending a 1,000-word part gained’t be very motivating. Give your self weekly and even each day milestones to maintain up the sensation of regular progress.
• Don’t let perfectionism gradual you down. As creator Jodi Picault mentioned: “you possibly can’t edit a clean web page.” Even when one thing strikes you as “off,” merely make an observation to edit it later.

If that also proves overwhelming, you possibly can all the time outsource the drafting.

However possibly you don’t wish to know the best way to create an e-book totally free; you simply wish to get it printed.

Rent freelance writers on Upwork or Fiverr to finish some—and even all—of your e-book. Or experiment with instruments like ChatGPT for drafting recommendations.

When completed, lean on instruments like Grammarly (AI edits and recommendations) or Hemingway (readability check). 

Nonetheless not glad together with your e-book? You may as well subcontract an editor to get an additional pair of eyes in your draft.

Publishing your e-book: design, publishing, and advertising and marketing

You’ve obtained the phrases down. Now you’ve gotten a robust useful resource able to distribute to the plenty. Only one little hiccup:

Nobody’s going to learn it in the event that they by no means hear about it.

And even when your viewers hears about your e-book, issues accessing the file can get in the best way. 

Your e-book must be straightforward to seek out, straightforward to digest within the buyer’s most popular medium, and simple to learn as soon as downloaded.

Let’s ensure you’ve obtained all of your bases coated.

The right way to get an ideal e-book cowl

Everyone knows we shouldn’t choose a guide by its cowl. But it’s exactly what readers do.

Your e-book isn’t essentially a tangible guide your clients can maintain of their arms, however an excellent cowl will convey professionalism and worth. For those who’re promoting an e-book—and even if you wish to use it as a lead magnet—your cowl ought to replicate the standard content material it comprises.

But you don’t should be knowledgeable designer, both. Listed here are a number of methods you may get your e-book’s cowl as much as snuff:

• Outsource it, utilizing platforms like Upwork or Fiverr. If you wish to see a number of iterations, 99Designs enables you to publish a undertaking and overview designers’ entries first.
• Defer to AI. Join Midjourney, and AI may give you a number of iterations of e-book covers for a month-to-month subscription payment. You may as well select from 4 iterations to assist the AI zero in in your favourite ideas.
• Use templates. Canva’s online ebook maker options pre-existing templates. Experiment with fonts, colours, and illustration components to construct the e-book cowl your self, totally free.
• Use DIY Guide Covers, which incorporates ebook templates which can be really easy, you merely choose them and edit the textual content to insert your title.

Prepping the e-book for publishing

Utilizing the instruments above, you possibly can craft a stellar e-book cowl with out being knowledgeable designer.

However the within the guide can get a bit of difficult.

The within of the e-book ought to look clear, skilled, and readable. And that’s not arduous to attain nowadays.

What is arduous to attain? An e-book that appears equally stunning and readable it doesn’t matter what e-reader the client is utilizing.

Luckily, you possibly can defer to those publishing instruments to maintain the model constant:

• Calibre is an open-source e-book publishing device. Use it to transform your Phrase and PDF information into ebook-ready codecs, like EPUB or MOBI. (Be aware: e-readers just like the Amazon Kindle work with .mobi information.)
• Sigil is an e-book editor you should utilize to publish on to the EPUB format. As with Calibre, you possibly can import textual content paperwork to transform to ebooks.
• Reedsy enables you to write throughout the software program, then save on to PDF or EPUB. It additionally features a author and reader group for distributing your e-book as soon as it’s prepared.

At this level, you’ll additionally want a Desk of Contents (TOC).

If utilizing one of many instruments above, you possibly can create the TOC with hyperlinks straight in a phrase processor like Phrase or Google Docs. 

To maintain it as straightforward as attainable, use constant header kinds for chapter titles. For instance, in Google Docs, possibly your chapter titles are “H2.” Then merely publish to the brand new format with these instruments, and so they’ll protect your hyperlinks.

TOCs are particularly helpful for readers with particular ache factors. In the event that they’re downloading your e-book as a lead magnet, they may use the TOC to zoom proper to the part that addresses what they’re going by.

The right way to create an e-book in Canva

Earlier on, we talked about Canva as a useful resource for constructing your e-book cowl.

Nevertheless it seems you are able to do it all in Canva.

Cowl pages, engaging colour schemes, choosing typography, including visible components—it’s all right here. There’s an entire section in Canva to steer you thru the steps concerned. 

Consider it as e-book design for dummies. 

These templates are helpful as a result of Canva enables you to copy/paste your content material straight. You may as well select from a handful of pre-designed graphics to spruce up every chapter heading.

As you’re employed, Canva will mechanically save your progress.

When you’ve found out the best way to create an e-book in Canva, obtain the file within the applicable format, straight from the platform. There’s nothing to pay to Canva until you utilize premium components options. However these are luxuries, not requirements.

Reviewing your e-book and prepping for publishing

Obtain.

When you click on that button, you’ll be excited. You may be tempted to share your masterpiece with the world. 

So right here’s the toughest step: sleep on it.

Regardless of how arduous you edit, there are going to be errors. And so they’ll be tougher to repair after you publish it.

Ship your e-book to some loyal readers, or household and mates. See if they will spot any apparent errors. Solicit their suggestions, then make any last-minute adjustments to the draft itself.

And when you’ve used instruments like Canva or Calibre to obtain your e-book in a brand new format, give it a look. Studying it in a brand new format will provide you with a contemporary perspective.

Any apparent errors? Evident errors? Extra context you must throw in on the final minute?

Now’s your final probability.

Create an e-book individuals will love

From selecting a distinct segment and concept technology to sprucing your final file to a positive, shimmering gleam, constructing your first e-book will sound like coaching for a marathon.

However don’t fret! There are nice free instruments, from ChatGPT to Canva, that can assist you alongside the best way. 

And when you’re completed, you’re completed. You’ll have an e-book you should utilize to drive e-mail signups or promote straight. 

Plug it into AWeber as your lead magnet and watch as your publication grows. You’ll by no means should elevate one other finger because the e-book—and your publication software program—does the remainder of the work.

However if you wish to make cash off it, there’s only one extra step. Discover ways to promote your e-book to reap the advantages of what you’ve simply achieved.