We long to gaze upon a sleek, finished copy of our beloved manuscript.

But as the “big five” publishing houses increasingly monopolize the market, competition pushes many talented writers out of formal publication.

Most of us are discouraged by the ever-diminishing probability of achieving formal publication.

But just as the circle of Big Publishing grows ever-tighter, the world of self-publishing enlarges.

By the end of this article, you will know precisely how to publish a book on Amazon—and you will experience the immeasurable fulfillment of being a published author.

How To Publish a Book on Amazon: The Basics

Before you begin, let’s cover questions about the basics.

Questions About the Process

Many of us don’t even know where to begin when it comes to publishing on Amazon.

So here are some questions to get us started.

Is It Worth It to Self-publish on Amazon?

For most of us, publishing a book on Amazon is financially and emotionally worth it.

Unless you are gunning for a significant contract with one of the Big Five, self-publishing is the way to go.

Of all options for self-publication, Amazon offers the most affordable and potentially lucrative deals.

Can Anyone Put a Book on Amazon?

Anyone with a manuscript that follows Amazon’s publishing guidelines can put a book on the popular e-market.

You don’t even need a complete manuscript; Amazon accepts low-content books—like journals, planners, and notebooks.

How Many Pages Does a Book Have To Be To Publish on Amazon?

The minimum page count of publishing on Amazon is 24 pages.

There is no maximum word count, but your ability to publish lengthier manuscripts will depend mainly on ink, paper, and trim size options.

Should I Publish a Hardcover or Softcover Book on Amazon?

Amazon Kindle’s Direct Publishing service (KDP) allows you to publish hardcover, softcover, and e-books for free.

The company offers a fixed 60% royalty rate for paperbacks and hardcovers—which means they will print the book on demand and at no cost to you but deduct 40% commission plus the cost of printing.

Questions About Cost

Writing isn’t exactly the most lucrative profession, but self-publishing on Amazon is affordable and cost-effective.

How Much Does It Cost To Publish a Book on Amazon?

Publishing on Amazon is entirely free.

Each time someone purchases a book, Amazon will print and assemble it, collect 30-40% of the book’s price, and subtract printing costs from the leftover 60%.

Some writers prefer to hire a self-publishing company that costs as little as $99 and as much as $5,000.

How Much Do Authors Make per Book on Amazon?

Authors receive a 60% royalty rate on all books purchased.

Amazon then deducts the price of printing from the total cost.

The website offers the example:

Your price per book is $15.

If printing costs are $4.85 per book, you will make $4.15 per copy sold.

What You’ll Need To Publish a Book on Amazon

Below is a list of everything you need to get your book onto the press and into the hands of loyal readers.

An Idea

The first step to writing a book is developing a unique and compelling idea.

Think of a subject or story that inspires you.

Use writing prompts or generates your own.

Ultimately, the best inspiration is reading.

Microsoft Word or Other Writing Program

To write a full-length manuscript, you will need a word processor.

You can purchase Microsoft Word online or use Google Docs for free.

A Design Program (Graphics)

You will need a design program or a designer’s professional services to design your final product.

There are countless excellent programs, such as Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress, but many Amazon authors use Kindle Create, Amazon’s free book-design software.

Please note that the software works exclusively with KDP.

A Bit of Time

Writing is a time-consuming craft.

You will likely spend hundreds of hours writing, revising, editing, and perfecting your book.

Design and publication take time—as does marketing and building credibility as a writer.

Money To Invest in Your Book (Optional)

Although KDP will publish books for free, many writers prefer to invest in creating a product they can be proud of.

You can opt for many services along the way, including professional editing and copywriting, expert graphic design, or full-publication packages from select services.

Step-by-Step Instructions To Publish a Book on Amazon

Follow these step-by-step instructions for an efficient and stress-free publication experience.

Step 1: Set Up a KDP Account

To get started, create a KDP account through Amazon.

If you already have an Amazon account, simply sign in to KDP with your username and password.

Before uploading your book, you must enter personal information, tax information, and a payment method.

Step 2: Upload Your Book to the Kindle Store

Once you have finished your manuscript, it is time to upload your book to the Kindle store.

Ensure that you have completed all final revisions and edits before uploading your book, as you want it to be high quality.

You can, however, edit your manuscript after uploading it.

Step 2.1: Create a New Title

First, you will edit your book details.

Go to your Bookshelf in KDP and click the + Create button.

Choose which book type you plan to upload and begin filling in the essential details.

Determine whether you wish to publish an e-book, a paperback, or a hardcover.

Ensure that the details on your manuscript match those you enter on KDP.

Step 2.2: Write a Book Description

Write a compelling book description that hooks your readers.

The description is the first thing interested readers will observe, so craft it carefully!

Compelling book descriptions are short (under 250 words) and:

• Start with a hook
• Appear in 3rd person point of view
• Use emotionally evocative words
• Offer hints of the plot but do not reveal critical issues (do not give away the ending!)
• Include a brief endorsement

Step 2.3: Select the Proper Keyword and Category

Keywords make it easier for potential readers to find your book.

Go to the “bookshelf” tab in KDP and click “edit e-Book details” (or paperback/hardcover).

Choose up to seven keywords based on relevance.

Use the following guidelines to select strong keywords:

• Setting-related keywords (e.g., the Year 2210 dystopia)
• Character types and roles (teenager superhero, strong female lead)
• Themes and plot elements (coming of age, atonement)
• Tone (romantic, feel-good)

Avoid:

• Statements of quality (“the best”)
• Time-sensitive terms (“buy it now”)
• Information covered elsewhere (e.g., the book’s title)
• Sentences or general terms
• Spelling and grammatical errors

Step 2.4: Upload Your File

To upload your manuscript:

1. Go to the Bookshelf tab and select the ellipsis.
2. Choose Edit eBook Content.
3. Click Upload eBook Manuscripts.
4. Choose from your files and click Open on the desired file
5. Wait for confirmation

Step 2.5: Upload the Cover Photo

You can design your cover photo or commission one for your book.

Using Amazon KDP’s free Cover Creator app, you can choose from an image gallery or upload your image.

KDP also offers instructions on creating your covers.

Step 2.6: Set a Price

Your price point may differ depending on whether you choose to publish an e-book, a paperback, or a hardcover book.

For e-books, you will receive either 70% or 35% of the book’s royalties depending on where it is sold, so keep this in mind.

KDP also has a minimum and maximum list price for hardcover and paperback books.

To update the price at any time, visit the Bookshelf tab.

Step 2.7: Enroll in KDP Select

KDP Select is a 90-day program that allows you to reach more readers and earn higher royalties using Amazon’s quality promotional tools and participating in Kindle Unlimited (which grants free access to your book to millions worldwide).

Kindle Unlimited is advantageous because it provides free marketing while keeping your profits intact.

To enroll later, go to the Marketing page and select Enroll in an eBook.

Then, choose the book you wish to register.

Step 2.8: Use the Kindle Previewer To Ensure Quality

Kindle Preview lets you see your book as it looks when published.

You can quickly see every detail of your book from start to finish or riffle through it using the “Auto-advance view” option.

Kindle Preview is a free desktop application that you can easily download on KDP.

Step 2.9: Publish Your book

It’s time to hit publish!

Once you publish your book, it will appear on the market in less than 72 hours.

Step 3: Run Amazon Ads (Additional Step)

Amazon Ads is a marketing service that allows you to promote your book across popular platforms.

It is easy to use—ad creation takes less than five minutes, and the program is accessible to those with little technical experience.

You can also choose your budget, spending as little as $10 a day to increase sales of your book.

Step 4: Track Book Performance and Sales

Your KDP Sales Dashboard will allow you to visualize metrics.

You can see how many paid or accessible units clients ordered and received and how many pages they read on Kindle.

You can also track your royalties and calculate your profits using the graphs on the dashboard.

For More Details

You can generate a Sales and Royalties Report to view your orders, sales, and royalties within a given period.

The report is easy to generate.

1. Go to the Reports tab in your KDP account
2. Select Sales Dashboard and  click reports
3. Select Generate Report
4. The information will download immediately

Does Amazon Tell You Who Bought Your Book?

Amazon does not share customer data and personal information, so you may not know who has purchased and read your book.

However, you can look at your book’s page on Amazon and view the “customers also bought” tab.

This allows you to develop an idea of the niche your writing falls into—and who your readers are.

Knowing your readers will allow you to keep writing for your target audience.

In Conclusion

Self-publishing on Amazon promises to bring a previously inaccessible dream to fruition for many emergent writers.

You can join the millions of self-published authors in the industry and take charge of your book’s publication.

You are now ready to publish your book on Amazon.

We hope you feel inspired and prepared to make your dream a reality!

Comment below with your thoughts, publication wins, and more—and feel free to share this article with your fellow writers.

Together, we conquer the world of publishing!

Well, you’re lucky to have been born in the digital era because getting your book published has never been easier.

While it’s sad to see them go, paper books are quickly being replaced by ebooks – this is good news for aspiring writers who might not have any connections in the publishing industry because writing an ebook requires no prior experience (although it may help).

Keep reading this inclusive guide on how to write an ebook and take note of these 12 critical steps for success. 

An Overview of Ebooks

While conventional books have been around for centuries, ebooks are a fairly new concept.

Despite their limited history, they have taken the world by storm and are quickly becoming the dominant form of book-related media

What Is an Ebook?

An ebook is a digital distribution of a book that can be accessed through phones, tablets, computers, or other similar electronic devices.

There is no physical copy of the book, only a digital one.

ebooks have become increasingly popular in the past decade as they are cheaper to publish than conventional paper books and are accessible to anyone with a device.

Furthermore, ebooks are eco-friendly and better for the eyes of vision-impaired readers.

Do Ebooks Make Money?

Like everything in this world, there is money to be made by publishing an ebook.

That said, just because you publish one, doesn’t guarantee it will have any monetary value.

Ebook publishing is incredibly competitive, and while it can be quite lucrative, some writers will find their hard work going to waste.

Still, if you’re willing to put in the work, then this hard truth shouldn’t deter you, as there are numerous success stories of everyday people publishing books on a whim and making lots of money off of it.

How Much Can You Make From Publishing an ebook?

If you’re looking for exact numbers here, you’re going to be disappointed because there’s no way to estimate how much you can make from publishing an ebook.

The range of income generation is so wide you cannot accurately scale it.

Top earners can earn tens of thousands in revenue, while some might not see a single penny; it’s all contingent upon your circumstances and how you market yourself.

Can Anyone Write an Ebook?

Nowadays, universal access to the internet makes it so everyone can publish ebooks.

There are tons of free tools to help aspiring authors, such as Amazon Publishing and various editing software.

While anyone can write an ebook, having more recognition on the web (followers on Instagram, Facebook connections, etc.) increases your chances of success tenfold.

Remember that since anyone can publish their work for free on the web, the competition is going to be way steeper in comparison to traditional publishing. 

In an ocean of genres and concepts, you’re going to need a way to get yourself out there, and being a little internet famous will help.

What Type of Ebooks Sell the Most?

The types of ebooks that sell the most are fiction and literature.

Some of the best-selling genres within these categories include romance, crime, and fantasy.

Amongst non-fiction genres, business and money seem to be the highest selling book types.

These might be the most popular groups of books, but that doesn’t mean you should force yourself to write within these varieties.

If you have an idea, stick with it. 

You might find that writing within a niche is quite beneficial.

This is because while the mentioned genres have the highest sell ratio, there is also an oversaturation of them on the market. 

You can avoid falling into obscurity by taking on lesser-known genres and sticking within small, dedicated communities.

It’s important to stick with your gut and write about what you want to write.

Is Publishing an Ebook Worth It?

This is a commonly asked question and one that’s not very clear-cut. 

Publishing ebooks can be relatively inexpensive (even free sometimes), but it might not be worth the time spent writing them for everyone. 

It’s probably not a good idea to quit your job and bank everything on the chance that your book will take off and make you millions of dollars because it most likely won’t.

On the other hand, if you have the time and a story you want to get out there, then there’s little reason you shouldn’t.

Just go for it, and maybe your ebook will become a bestseller.

What You’ll Need to Publish an Ebook

Before you get straight to the meat and potatoes of publishing an ebook, you should prepare yourself with these key components.

An Idea That You’ve Thought Through

When you start writing your book, it shouldn’t be an on-the-spot, poorly put-together concept.

You need to think it through and make sure you have a well-thought-out idea.

Planning will allow you to be organized and more equipped to meet time/word goals.

Ebook Writing Software

Your ebook writing software is where you’ll spend most of your time and should be the one you’re most comfortable with.

Some of the most common digital writing software are Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and Grammarly. 

There are tons more out there, and before you go splurging on the most expensive site with the most features, keep in mind that it won’t write your book for you and you don’t need to spend any money at all on software.

An Ebook Template or a Designer to Help

Structuring an ebook isn’t overly complicated, but it may take a good chunk of time if you’re trying to do it on your own.

Instead, using a preset ebook template or a designer can help optimize your book to be formatted for online reading.

An Amazon Account to Publish the Book To

The final thing you will need before you can get started on your book is an Amazon Publishing account to publish your book.

Creating an account is free, and there are a few useful tools for publishing your ebook in their bookstore.

Amazon publishing is the most widely used ebook publishing service and has many advantages.

You keep a good percentage of royalties (up to 70%), and they have paid promotional options and a high volume of traffic to their site (it’s a multibillion-dollar company, after all).

Creating your account ahead of time will ensure that everything’s all good to go when you’re finally ready to publish.

How to Write an Ebook

Are you finally ready to begin writing your ebook?

Here are 12 key elements to keep in mind and increase your odds of success.

1. Research and Understand Your Target Audience

So you’ve got your concept down, and you’re ready to start your book.

But before you can begin writing, you need to know who you’re writing for. 

This is for a variety of reasons.

First, ask if your level of writing matches your target audience’s age group.

You shouldn’t be writing at a high level if your book is for children and vice versa.

The second reason you should research and understand your target audience is for marketing purposes.

If you run any marketing campaigns or promotions, their efficiency will be increased if you tailor them toward your target audience.

2. Select a Topic To Write About

Topic selection is a pretty crucial point for your ebook, considering it’ll outline the premise and progression of your book. 

You’ll want to break it down as far down as you can.

Start by determining if it’s non-fiction or fiction.

After that, run through the genre and subgenres your book falls under until you pinpoint exactly where your book lies.

Once you’ve reached the bottom, determine what your unique subject is and any other details about your ebook.

3. Outline the Ebook

You should outline your ebook the same way you would outline a conventionally written book.

Just because it’s being published online, that doesn’t change anything about the writing process.

An organized schematic will allow you to stay on track and know where you’re going with your writing at all times. 

If you’re unorganized, you risk drifting off course from your original plan and your book may become a jumbled mess.

4. Write Chapter by Chapter

Writing chapter by chapter is good for the organization and your sanity. 

Chapters are integrated aspects of your book.

They control the pacing people read at and give structure to your writing.

Each chapter should be its segment but also flow alongside each other.

It’s imperative to take things one step at a time.

One big conglomerate of words isn’t very optimal for keeping interest and doesn’t have very high retail value. 

Just take things slow, and write one chapter at a time.

5. Design Your Ebook

ebook design doesn’t have to be overly complicated. 

There are tons of resources for inexperienced web designers to use to format their books.

Using pre-designed formats can save you the headache of ensuring your book fits with the configurations of ebook reading software and simplifies the design process.

6. Add Supporting Content

After writing and designing your ebook, the next step is to add any supporting content. 

Maybe you’re just writing a conventional, pictureless novel and have very limited needs in supporting content, in which case you can probably skip this step.

But if you’re writing something like a biography or a cookbook, then there are a few elements you might want to consider adding, such as:

• Images – Images aren’t for everyone; however, they can add a great deal to your book depending on the context. For instance, if you are talking about art, images are a great way of helping the reader gain a foothold in what you are discussing. Just watch out that you are adhering to copyright laws.
• Quotes – These can help to add more credit to what you are saying and provide more connection to the world.
• Charts & Graphs – Much like quotes, charts and graphs work to add credibility to your claims and help to give other types of readers an easier way to process the information.
• References – Make sure to include references especially if you are using other people’s data and information for the basis of your book. You should already have this list somewhere so it shouldn’t be difficult to add to the manuscript. Make sure you are following proper citation guidelines based on your preferred style and genre to ensure that people take you seriously. 
• Calls to Action – Another method that not everyone will use, a call to action is great for people who are speaking on current events such as environmentalism or social issues. Asking the reader to take the information they have learned and go out into the world to protest, give back, or volunteer. 

Any visual or editorial aids you add are dependent on the content of your ebook.

Consider any research you’ve done and insert media accordingly, based on what works best with your target audience.

7. Edit the ebook

You don’t want your ebook to be riddled with grammatical errors and syntactic structures that just don’t make sense. 

Such is the purpose of the editing process.

It will allow you to catch mistakes and prompt you to make necessary changes.

The first order of editing is to read it over yourself.

Use your editing software to catch any simple errors.

Afterward, you can move on to having others proofread your book.

8. Create a PDF to Proof

Before you start handing out samples of your book, create a PDF version so you can easily distribute it to anyone you want to review it.

PDF proofs are electronic files that allow others to make comments and suggestions on your document.

The alternative is to use built-in features such as Google Doc sharing, which isn’t a terrible concept in itself. 

You can then start by having any friends or family read over your work.

You can also set up a group of test readers to give you feedback.

Once you’ve done all this, consider paying a professional editor to evaluate your book.

If you don’t have the funds or access to one, you don’t necessarily need to hire one, but they help.

9. Revise Until You Are Happy

Chances are, you won’t hit the mark on your first try.

It might hurt to cut and rework content, but you can’t grow complacent in your work.

Go over any feedback you’ve received and revise until you are happy.

Revisions are and always have been a crucial constituent of the publishing process.

There’s no way around it, and it would be best if you spent as much time and effort on it as you possibly can spare.

This is the final step before you publish your book, so this is the time to ensure everything is perfect.

Repeat this step and the previous two until you are ready to publicize your work.

10. Publish Your Ebook on Amazon

Once your book is fully written, formatted, designed, and revised, you can head to your Amazon publishing account and publish your ebook.

You’ll have a chance to take one final preview of how your book will look in the store before it’s officially published.

Fill out royalty options and all other publishing preferences, then submit your ebook to be put in the store.

It should only take a day or two before your book is officially on the market.

11. Promote and Market Your Ebook

Your ebook publishing journey doesn’t end with your book being accessible on the marketplace.

Its unlikely success will befall you by chance, and it’s important to put your book out there through a series of marketing methods.

You can start with any available promotional options Amazon gives you during the publishing process.

This includes paid advertising, discount promos, and book distribution.

There are tons of other online marketing services that you can pay for, which will market your ebook and optimize its findability on the web. 

Your ultimate goal is to have a book that is SEO (search engine optimized) and easily found in the Amazon bookstore.

Ratings and reviews will bolster your search ranking, so be sure to add discounts if people review your book.

Another good idea is to use any social media accounts you have to market your book. 

Social media is a free way to promote your book, and there are various techniques such as hashtags you can use to get your ebook out there, even if you don’t have a large following.

Just be attentive, and work every day to promote sales.

A flop is only a flop when you give up marketing your book.

12. Track the Progress and Sales as You Go

Tracking progress and sales as you go is an essential aspect of your marketing process.

Sales are indicative of progress, and let you know if you’re hitting your projected goals. 

Amazon publishing has a few tools you can use to view demographics and other useful statistics to keep track of your progress. 

You can alternatively or additionally use external marketing services to give you the necessary data on your sales progress. 

These insights will tell you what’s working and what isn’t and allow you to pinpoint where you should divert your marketing efforts.

Wrapping Up

Many success stories prove you don’t need a professional agency or tons of money to write an ebook. 

If you keep the 12 critical steps for success listed in this article, you’re already more equipped to tackle the complexities of ebook publishing than most other novice writers.

Use these tips to your advantage and you’ll undoubtedly go far.

Want more tips on writing or marketing?

Go to bloggingtips.com to learn more about how you can optimize and promote the content you write.

Like many writers, I dreamed of writing a book and becoming a bestselling author for many years before I did it.

So, when I started reading articles about how self-publishing was taking off and how blogging was helping writers to grow their audience and make book sales, I decided my time had finally come.

In January 2010 I started Powered by Intuition to create an audience for my books.

How to Become an Amazon Best-Selling Author

When I released my first book on Amazon, to my amazement it became a best-selling book and still is.

I released my second book and that one became a best-selling book too.

I’ve just released my third book The Intuition Principle: How to Attract the Life You Dream Of – which is my first print book.

The Kindle version of my new book is now an Amazon best-selling book as well, although this time it wasn’t a surprise to me.

By now, I’d figured out how to “lather, rinse and repeat.”

Amazon has its own way of determining Kindle best sellers and updates sales statistics every hour.

They call it the Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store list.

To have a best-selling book on Amazon, your book must be among the Top 100 Paid Kindle books in its category in the Kindle store.

Follow these tips to place your book in a place that sells well on Amazon.

1. Use keywords in your title related to your blog’s niche.

Research other titles in your book’s genre among books that are on the Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store list.

To find a Kindle book’s sales rank on Amazon – scroll down and look for “Product Information.”

If the book is in the “top 100” it will be given a sales rank for its categories.

If it’s not in the top 100 no sales rank will appear in “Product Information.”

Notice whether the top books in your book category all contain the same “keyword” or phrase.

Use the Amazon “type ahead” feature (the search bar on their site) and type in your keyword or phrase and you’ll notice how it “types ahead” suggesting book titles for you.

“Type ahead” phrases result from many people searching for a particular title.

Incorporate that phrase or keyword into your title and your book will be found more easily on Amazon.

2. Have your book professionally edited.

Books full of typos, awkward sentences, and grammatical errors are returned for a refund more often.

Amazon rarely questions a return, so do whatever you can to avoid that.

The money you spend on professional editing is well worth it.

3. Pay to have your book formatted properly.

Amazon Kindle books look best with “Mobi” formatting.

While you can upload a book to Kindle in a Word document, it may not lay out properly, so do not skimp on paying to have your book formatted.

4. Create an attractive cover.

People judge a book by its cover. When you go to Amazon, the first thing to attract your attention is the book cover.

To create a good cover design, spend some time browsing books in the same genre as your book.

Pick the top 10 or 15 selling books and study their covers.

Look at the typography, the layout, and the color choices and take notes and screenshots.

You’ll come away with some excellent ideas for your own Amazon book that highlight your personal brand.

5. Choose the right category for your book to become an Amazon bestseller.

Categorizing books lets readers search for the topics they are interested in.

Amazon leaves it to you to categorize your book when you upload it to Amazon Kindle and  to your Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) account.

To help readers find your book ask yourself this question, “If I were looking for my book, what categories would I look under?”

Then list all the categories you think your book might fit into so you can hit the bestseller list.

Next, do book marketing research – research the top ten to 20 books sold on Amazon [preferably on the New York Times Bestseller list] which are like yours.

Check out how they categorized their books under “Product Information” and categorize yours similarly.

Amazon allows you to choose two category paths.

Make sure you take advantage of this and fill in both.

Drill down on the categories so that your book will stand out from its competition.

For example, if you write a self-help book – don’t end the category path at “self-help.”

What else is your book about? How will you attract your potential customers?

Add another related category sub-path beyond “self-help” to your book and then another until you’ve covered every possible sub-genre of your book that might be searched for under.

6. Pick the right keywords.

When you upload your book to KDP, you are given up to seven keywords or phrases to use for your book.

Do your homework by researching keywords and phrases that people might search for under to find your book. And make sure to use all seven!

Use the type-ahead feature on Amazon to see if any of the keywords or phrases you have in mind come up.

Use the ones that come up on Amazon as they directly relate to on-site searches for books.

Check out popular keyword searches on Google AdWords too, but use these only if necessary after you’ve exhausted all the keywords and phrases you found on Amazon first.

Amazon has its own search engine so when you identify a keyword or phrase on Amazon it is showing up because it is a popular search – so use it.

7. Write a good description.

Amazon gives you up to 3000 words to write a description.

Use as many words as necessary to write a compelling description for your book.

This is your book’s “sales page” so put on your copywriting hat when you write it.

8. Price it right.

People will not buy an overpriced digital book unless you are a famous author.

If your book is less than 100 pages don’t price yourself out of a sale by listing it in the top price range ($9.99) to get a 70 percent royalty on Amazon.

After playing around with the pricing on my books I found that “less is more” in terms of book sales.

9. To give your book away or to not give your book away – that is the question.

Here’s what to do for your book launch. Amazon has a program called Kindle Select.

You enroll your book for 90 days at a time.

You cannot be selling this book on any other websites including your own during the time your book is enrolled.

Enrolling and uploading your book in KDP Select allows “borrowing” of your book for free by Amazon Prime members.

It also gives you the option of choosing 5 days out of the 90 days your book is enrolled to give your book away for free.

I enrolled my second book in KDP and gave away 464 free copies over two days.

The book also rose to #1 in free books in the Kindle store, but as soon as it wasn’t free it quickly sank right off the best-selling list.

Before I gave it away for free the book was selling just fine and consistently ranking between #10 -20.

It took nearly two weeks for it to rise back up again and to re-appear on the best-selling list.

My theory is that I saturated my market too quickly. I’m not likely to give my book away for free again.

You may feel differently though and you should experiment with this.

Some people love it and rave about it.

If you are using your book to develop leads for your business and not to create passive income then definitely go for it.

“Free” does sell.

10. Get reviews.

Give your book out to people and ask them to read it and please put a review on Amazon.

Amazon reviews to help sell your books. Never ever pay for reviews.

All reviews must be genuine and come from the heart of your reader.

11. Promote your book!

Promote your book step-by-step.

• Display your book prominently on your blog.
• Write posts related to your book’s topic where you can showcase the book.
• Link to your book on Amazon and put that link in your posts.
• Go on podcasts.
• Start a fan page on Facebook and promote your book there.
• If your book is selling – thank buyers by tweeting on Twitter and a posting on Facebook.
• If your book hits the bestsellers list – announce it on Facebook and Tweet about it.

You’ve got to create your own buzz.

Organize a virtual book tour where your blogging friends can interview you about the book or review the book.

Write guest posts related to your book’s topic and mention the book in your post.

Always keep your eyes open for ways to get publicity for your book to increase ebook sales.

Offer to give away the PDF of the book to a reader who leaves the best comment about why they want to read the book and has shared the book on social media.

Wrapping Up

These are the strategies I use and they are working – and with a little effort and planning, they can work for your book too.

Here’s to seeing your book on the Amazon Top 100 Paid to the Kindle Store List!

You’ll be in front of traditional publishers before you know it!

You may think no one’s going to pay you for sharing information, but you’d be surprised to know how many first-time entrepreneurs (who’ve never sold a single thing online) successfully sold their first course!

If you want to experience launching a successful online course, then read on because, in this guide, you will learn exactly how you can create your very own course and generate passive income for years to come!

Why Create and Sell Your Very Own Course?

Here are a few reasons why you should consider creating and selling your very own online course if you want to generate passive profits.

1. There is a huge demand for online courses

The online course market is worth billions of dollars annually.

And it doesn’t look like it will slow down soon.

People love that they can learn new things in the comfort of their homes, and study at their own pace.

They need not go to school on weekdays or weekends, just to listen to someone drone on and on about theory.

And people can buy a course that only discusses the things they need to know – no fluff and unnecessary introductions and background chatter.

They can enroll in a beginner course, an intermediate course, or an advanced course.

And that’s where you come in.

Depending on your level of expertise and the audience demographic you want to reach, you can choose to create a course that’s geared for beginners or more advanced students.

2. It can provide you with passive income

Want to make money while you sleep?

Or while you’re away on vacation in the Caribbean?

Or anywhere remote, for that matter?

When you sell your own online course, this is very possible.

In fact, many entrepreneurs have successfully created passive income streams for themselves just by selling online courses.

You can create your course in January, start selling it in February, and from that point forward you can earn money day in and day out. You don’t even need to edit your course again.

Though if you want your course to continue selling, then you should definitely want to spend a lot of time promoting it!

3. You can create a course on practically anything you want!

Do yourself a favor and check out platforms that sell online courses.

You’ll notice that topics can range from the most basic to the most advanced tutorials on many subjects.

What this means for you is if you’ve got something to teach, then you can create a course for that!

If you love to cook, you can create a course on how to bake desserts using a special technique.

If you love taking photos, you can create a course on photography.

If you love designing clothes, and you want to share your advanced techniques, then you can sell your own course on this subject as well.

You can design your course to cater only to beginners or advanced students.

Or you can create a comprehensive course that will take people from being absolute newbies to experts!

The choice is totally up to you.

Don’t underestimate people’s ability and willingness to pay for your knowledge.

If you market your course as something that can help your students fix a problem, or improve their skills, or address a specific pain point, then you’d have a very profitable course on your hands.

How To Get Started With Creating And Selling Your Own Evergreen Course

Before you create your online course, it’s important to put yourself in your students’ shoes.

Would they find your course valuable? Would they learn something new and actionable from you?

Do you care about their learning experience or are you only out to line your pockets with their money?

Always remember that if you want evergreen blogging profits, you need to provide as much value as possible to your audience.

If you do not do this, and only think about yourself, then your blogging business will not last.

Helping people should be your top priority whether you create a video course, a text-based course, an audio course, etc.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you create your first course:

1. Choose a profitable evergreen topic

While you can create a course on any subject you want, you want to make sure you’ll have enough people interested in your topic.

Helping people is important, but since you’re building a business, you also want to see a return on your investment and generate a healthy profit.

There are quite a few ways to find a profitable topic:

• Check if there are existing courses on the topic you want to cover.
  If there are, and it’s selling, then that’s a good sign.
  It simply means there’s a demand for that topic, and you can create a better course.[spacer height=”15px”]
• Do keyword research to find out how many people are searching for your topic.
  If you’ve got a decent number of monthly searches, and there aren’t enough resources on the subject, then you might be on to something![spacer height=”15px”]
• Seek out forums in the niche you want to cover and see what kind of problems people are having with it.
  Forums are literally a gold mine so be sure to go through all the threads containing your topic.
  Create a list of target problems and then create a course around them. [spacer height=”15px”]

Lastly, I mentioned ‘evergreen’ because you want to create a passive income stream, right?

If you choose a non-evergreen niche like technology, then your course will become obsolete as soon as that technology becomes outdated.

But with evergreen niches, you need not worry about all that.

Your course could still sell for decades after you launched it!

2.   Test and check if your topic is indeed profitable

This step is very important if you want to avoid wasting your time and money on building a course no one will buy.

You can ask the opinion of your family and friends, but they’d probably be biased and tell you what you want to hear – that your course is great and it will sell like hotcakes.

But if you want to get real-world feedback from people you’re interested in selling your course to, then you can try creating a survey and have your target audience answer it.

How?

If you’ve got an email list, you can simply ask them to answer your quick survey.

If you don’t have a list, then you need to get creative.

You might create a mini-course on the subject you want to sell and use it as an email opt-in.

Then drive traffic to your mini-course.

Track how many people visit your site and compare it to the number of people who signed up.

If you get a nice conversion rate, then it means your course can be profitable.

If you get very low sign up rates, then maybe your idea isn’t very sellable.

Or you simply didn’t target the right people.

Or maybe you need to write better copy to encourage prospects to sign up.

Try split testing so you can make an informed decision on whether to continue with your course or just totally forget about it.

3.   Create a course outline and write your content

You should already know your course has an audience waiting to be sold to.

The next step you need to do is plan out how you will structure your course.

Creating a detailed outline is very important as you can clearly see which areas you need to cover.

Cover the main points in your course – no need to go crazy on the details yet.

The important thing is you need to get your audience’s problem solved, and you need to make sure your course answers that problem thoroughly.

Break your course into small “bite-sized” sections. Group similar concepts together.

Don’t allow your ideas to be all over the place.

Your audience will appreciate you taking the time to make things easy enough for them to understand.

Once you’ve finished the outline, take a moment to review it.

Ask yourself if you left anything out, and if you think it’s got all the details to help your intended audience.

Only then should you start working on the content.

Don’t get too hung up on getting the perfect eBook cover, or the perfect lighting for your videos, or how you will sound in your audio recording.

Some successful bloggers’ first-ever courses were shot on their smartphone or their laptop’s webcam!

Whatever content type you go with, your students will pay you for your content and your knowledge.

4.   Upload your course to your website or a third-party learning platform

Now that you’ve successfully created a great course, it’s time to upload it online so you can start selling it.

There are generally 3 types of places where you can sell your course:

• Your own website – having your own course on your own web property gives you the most control over your product.
  You can choose your own design and set your own price.
  You don’t have to give anyone a share of your profits; you get to keep everything!
  If you use WordPress, you can simply use a plugin to manage your course and your payments, and you can be in business in a matter of hours!

• Third-party hosting platforms – if you don’t have your own website, or you don’t want to be bothered to set it up on your own, you can host your course on a third-party platform.
  These platforms make it easy for you to upload and manage your course, but they come at a price.
  Some require a monthly or annual subscription while some require a certain percentage of your sales.[spacer height=”15px”]
• Online learning marketplaces – sites like these have become popular in recent years.
  If you want to get your course in front of millions of people, then this is the good place for your course.
  However, the downside is that you have little control over your course once you upload it.
  Most platforms also place a limit on course prices, and they even take a cut of your earnings so be sure to keep this information in mind.

My favorite platform (and I’ve tried 4!) is Podia.

Inexpensive and they don’t take any fees.

They also have great customer service and answer my questions quickly.

It was also easy to build my Successful Blogging School on Podia.

You can try out Podia by taking my (totally) free course, Blog In A Box.

5.   Promote your course to your target audience

Since you’ve already identified your audience before you even created your course, it’s now time to let them know about your course and how it can help solve their pain point!

If you’ve got an email list like I discussed in Step 2, then you have to email them now.

Let them know how they can benefit from your course and guide them to where they can buy it.

Make them feel special, offer them something nice as an existing subscriber – maybe a discount code or a free preview.

Use proven marketing strategies to encourage your target audience to buy your course.

Know how a sales funnel works so you can entice your leads or prospects to become paying customers.

And remember to ask them to opt-in to your email list so you can contact them again later

Are You Ready To Sell Your Evergreen Course?

An evergreen course is one of the best ways to generate passive income.

While you need to put in a LOT of work to make your course awesome, you need to remember that you only need to do the hard work once.

You can create a course in less than a week and have it generate sales for many years.

Imagine if you are selling several evergreen courses – you can live the life you’ve always dreamed of and spend your time doing what you love the most.

If you’re passionate about something and you want to share it with the world, then you might want to consider creating your very own evergreen course.

You may think no one’s going to pay you for sharing information, but you’d be surprised to know how many first-time entrepreneurs (who’ve never sold a single thing online) successfully sold their first course!

If you want to experience launching a successful online course, then read on because, in this guide, you will learn exactly how you can create your very own course and generate passive income for years to come!

Why Create and Sell Your Very Own Course?

Here are a few reasons why you should consider creating and selling your very own online course if you want to generate passive profits.

1. There is a huge demand for online courses

The online course market is worth billions of dollars annually.

And it doesn’t look like it will slow down soon.

People love that they can learn new things in the comfort of their homes, and study at their own pace.

They need not go to school on weekdays or weekends, just to listen to someone drone on and on about theory.

And people can buy a course that only discusses the things they need to know – no fluff and unnecessary introductions and background chatter.

They can enroll in a beginner course, an intermediate course, or an advanced course.

And that’s where you come in.

Depending on your level of expertise and the audience demographic you want to reach, you can choose to create a course that’s geared for beginners or more advanced students.

2. It can provide you with passive income

Want to make money while you sleep?

Or while you’re away on vacation in the Caribbean?

Or anywhere remote, for that matter?

When you sell your own online course, this is very possible.

In fact, many entrepreneurs have successfully created passive income streams for themselves just by selling online courses.

You can create your course in January, start selling it in February, and from that point forward you can earn money day in and day out.

You don’t even need to edit your course again.

Though if you want your course to continue selling, then you should definitely want to spend a lot of time promoting it!

3. You can create a course on practically anything you want!

Do yourself a favor and check out platforms that sell online courses.

You’ll notice that topics can range from the most basic to the most advanced tutorials on many subjects.

What this means for you is if you’ve got something to teach, then you can create a course for that!

If you love to cook, you can create a course on how to bake desserts using a special technique.

If you love taking photos, you can create a course on photography.

If you love designing clothes, and you want to share your advanced techniques, then you can sell your own course on this subject as well.

You can design your course to cater only to beginners or advanced students.

Or you can create a comprehensive course that will take people from being absolute newbies to experts!

The choice is totally up to you.

Don’t underestimate people’s ability and willingness to pay for your knowledge.

If you market your course as something that can help your students fix a problem, or improve their skills, or address a specific pain point, then you’d have a very profitable course on your hands.

How To Get Started With Creating And Selling Your Own Evergreen Course

Before you create your online course, it’s important to put yourself in your students’ shoes.

Would they find your course valuable? Would they learn something new and actionable from you?

Do you care about their learning experience or are you only out to line your pockets with their money?

Always remember that if you want evergreen blogging profits, you need to provide as much value as possible to your audience.

If you do not do this, and only think about yourself, then your blogging business will not last.

Helping people should be your top priority whether you create a video course, a text-based course, an audio course, etc.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you create your first course:

1. Choose a profitable evergreen topic

While you can create a course on any subject you want, you want to make sure you’ll have enough people interested in your topic.

Helping people is important, but since you’re building a business, you also want to see a return on your investment and generate a healthy profit.

There are quite a few ways to find a profitable topic:

• Check if there are existing courses on the topic you want to cover.
  If there are, and it’s selling, then that’s a good sign.
  It simply means there’s a demand for that topic, and you can create a better course.[spacer height=”15px”]
• Do keyword research to find out how many people are searching for your topic.
  If you’ve got a decent number of monthly searches, and there aren’t enough resources on the subject, then you might be on to something![spacer height=”15px”]
• Seek out forums in the niche you want to cover and see what kind of problems people are having with it.
  Forums are literally a gold mine so be sure to go through all the threads containing your topic.
  Create a list of target problems and then create a course around them. [spacer height=”15px”]

Lastly, I mentioned ‘evergreen’ because you want to create a passive income stream, right?

If you choose a non-evergreen niche like technology, then your course will become obsolete as soon as that technology becomes outdated.

But with evergreen niches, you need not worry about all that. Your course could still sell for decades after you launched it!

2.   Test and check if your topic is indeed profitable

This step is very important if you want to avoid wasting your time and money on building a course no one will buy.

You can ask the opinion of your family and friends, but they’d probably be biased and tell you what you want to hear – that your course is great and it will sell like hotcakes.

But if you want to get real-world feedback from people you’re interested in selling your course to, then you can try creating a survey and have your target audience answer it.

How?

If you’ve got an email list, you can simply ask them to answer your quick survey.

If you don’t have a list, then you need to get creative.

You might create a mini-course on the subject you want to sell and use it as an email opt-in.

Then drive traffic to your mini-course.

Track how many people visit your site and compare it to the number of people who signed up.

If you get a nice conversion rate, then it means your course can be profitable.

If you get very low sign up rates, then maybe your idea isn’t very sellable.

Or you simply didn’t target the right people.

Or maybe you need to write better copy to encourage prospects to sign up.

Try split testing so you can make an informed decision on whether to continue with your course or just totally forget about it.

3.   Create a course outline and write your content

You should already know your course has an audience waiting to be sold to.

The next step you need to do is plan out how you will structure your course.

Creating a detailed outline is very important as you can clearly see which areas you need to cover.

Cover the main points in your course – no need to go crazy on the details yet.

The important thing is you need to get your audience’s problem solved, and you need to make sure your course answers that problem thoroughly.

Break your course into small “bite-sized” sections.

Group similar concepts together.

Don’t allow your ideas to be all over the place.

Your audience will appreciate you taking the time to make things easy enough for them to understand.

Once you’ve finished the outline, take a moment to review it.

Ask yourself if you left anything out, and if you think it’s got all the details to help your intended audience.

Only then should you start working on the content.

Don’t get too hung up on getting the perfect eBook cover, or the perfect lighting for your videos, or how you will sound in your audio recording.

Some successful bloggers’ first-ever courses were shot on their smartphone or their laptop’s webcam!

Whatever content type you go with, your students will pay you for your content and your knowledge.

4.   Upload your course to your website or a third-party learning platform

Now that you’ve successfully created a great course, it’s time to upload it online so you can start selling it.

There are generally 3 types of places where you can sell your course:

• Your own website – having your own course on your own web property gives you the most control over your product.
  You can choose your own design and set your own price.
  You don’t have to give anyone a share of your profits; you get to keep everything!
  If you use WordPress, you can simply use a plugin to manage your course and your payments, and you can be in business in a matter of hours!

• Third-party hosting platforms – if you don’t have your own website, or you don’t want to be bothered to set it up on your own, you can host your course on a third-party platform.
  These platforms make it easy for you to upload and manage your course, but they come at a price.
  Some require a monthly or annual subscription while some require a certain percentage of your sales.[spacer height=”15px”]
• Online learning marketplaces – sites like these have become popular in recent years.
  If you want to get your course in front of millions of people, then this is the good place for your course.
  However, the downside is that you have little control over your course once you upload it.
  Most platforms also place a limit on course prices, and they even take a cut of your earnings so be sure to keep this information in mind.

My favorite platform (and I’ve tried 4!) is Podia.

Inexpensive and they don’t take any fees.

They also have great customer service and answer my questions quickly.

It was also easy to build my Successful Blogging School on Podia.

You can try out Podia by taking my (totally) free course, Blog In A Box.

5.   Promote your course to your target audience

Since you’ve already identified your audience before you even created your course, it’s now time to let them know about your course and how it can help solve their pain point!

If you’ve got an email list like I discussed in Step 2, then you have to email them now.

Let them know how they can benefit from your course and guide them to where they can buy it.

Make them feel special, offer them something nice as an existing subscriber – maybe a discount code or a free preview.

Use proven marketing strategies to encourage your target audience to buy your course.

Know how a sales funnel works so you can entice your leads or prospects to become paying customers.

And remember to ask them to opt-in to your email list so you can contact them again later

Are You Ready To Sell Your Evergreen Course?

An evergreen course is one of the best ways to generate passive income.

While you need to put in a LOT of work to make your course awesome, you need to remember that you only need to do the hard work once.

You can create a course in less than a week and have it generate sales for many years.

Imagine if you are selling several evergreen courses – you can live the life you’ve always dreamed of and spend your time doing what you love the most.