You’ve probably heard about how great ebooks are for their low investment and high potential for passive income. But how much do ebook authors make exactly?
While self-publishing your own ebook is a low-investment task compared to many other forms of creation, it makes sense that you’re wondering how much do ebooks make before you embark on your own journey of making money writing ebooks online.
Well, unfortunately, there’s no definitive number that can answer the question, “How much money do ebooks make?” However, in this article, we cover several examples of creators who generate significant income from writing ebooks, as well as guide you step-by-step on how to create, self-publish, and sell your own ebook for successful sales.
Read on to learn more about how to start generating some serious passive income through ebook sales.
Brainstorm and sell your ebooks with The Leap’s AI assistant. It’s free!How much can you make from selling ebooks? (+ creator success stories)
While ebooks offer a profitable revenue stream for creators, just how profitable an ebook can be depends on many factors. For example, your existing audience size and engagement rate, content niche, level of expertise, and ebook price are all factors that will determine how profitable your ebook can be.
Long story short, if you’ve got the knowledge, the passion, and the dedication, you can make some serious cash from ebooks. Read on for some IRL examples of creators profiting from ebook sales.
Steph Smith
In 2018, Steph Smith left a job in consulting to redesign her life as an independent content marketer. Since then, she’s started a blog with over 700K readers, launched a podcast, learned to write code, and worked for companies like The Hustle, HubSpot, and more.
Steph’s creator entrepreneur journey started with a small blog that grew to amass a community of over 400K readers in less than two years. Through her blogging and marketing experience, Steph began to observe a gap between content that does well and doesn’t do well online. She then packaged all this knowledge into an ebook titled “Doing Content Right,” which has since sold over $200K and 4,700 copies.
It should be noted that Steph’s ebook is on the higher end of ebook pricing, selling for $100. However, Steph didn’t decide to sell her ebook when her blog was still in small blog status. By the time Steph launched her ebook, she already had an audience of hundreds of thousands of people, so it was much easier for her to place a higher price tag on her digital product since she had already convinced her audience of the value of her content.
Keep in mind that if you’re just getting started out in the content game, you should avoid pricing your ebook this high. Instead, you should focus on producing free or accessibly priced content to establish your expertise and insight among your audience.
Since its launch, Steph has utilized real customer testimonials from the over 4,700 copies sold on the Doing Content Right landing page to help promote further sales of her ebook.
Nakisha Wynn
Nakisha Wynn left her full-time job so that she could become a full-time entrepreneur, working from home to be more present for her family. How did she do it? She built a content career by teaching women how to make money online with content creation.
With a YouTube channel full of informational videos for topics ranging from how to write an ebook, how to make money from a digital product business, to how to start a blog, Nakisha has built a career on being an expert on pretty much all things content creation.
How can you write an ebook that actually sells, according to Nakisha? After doing your research and truly understanding your audience’s wants and needs, you need to choose a topic for an ebook that combines your knowledge, talent, experience, and advice. Nakisha also advises you to choose a topic that you’re actually passionate about (because people can read right through you if you’re not).
So, how much do ebook writers make if they follow Nakisha’s advice? Using Nakisha as an example, it took her only one day to write her first ebook, and she made $1,500 in her first weekend of self-publishing. Nakisha believes if you build relationships with your audience, your ebook can earn long-term up to $1,000/week or more. Not bad, right?
Jan van den Hemel
Jan van den Hemel is a 3D artist, creator, and educator who uses his platform to help people create 3D art with the free open-source software, Blender. On top of the daily bite-sized, one-minute tutorials he shares on social media, Jan also created an in-depth ebook on his “Blender Secrets” that he sells for €39.99, approximately $44.
“Blender Secrets” is 1,930 pages long, covers 621 Blender design topics, and has garnered over 1,600 5-star reviews on Jan’s ebook host storefront, Gumroad. That means that since the launch of his ebook, Jan has made around $70K in ebook sales from just his 5-star review customers alone!.
Jan’s ebook success is no surprise though, considering how consistent he is at sharing his knowledge with his audience. On top of the tips and tutorials he shares on Instagram, TikTok, and Mastodon, Jan also offers a free 30-page Blender ebook as a lead magnet, offering his audience a taste of his more comprehensive ebook, “Blender Secrets.”
Offering free ebooks is a smart marketing tactic, as it allows Jan to acquire contact information for his email list, so that he can share his expertise with a broader audience long-term.
Brainstorm and sell your ebooks with The Leap’s AI assistant. It’s free!How to create and sell an ebook in 8 steps
Now that we’ve taken a look at a few examples of IRL creators making some serious cash from ebooks, let’s dive into the steps required to create and sell a successful ebook.
- Identify your target audience
- Create ebook content
- Choose a self-publishing platform
- Set up your online storefront
- Pricing your ebook
- Sell and promote your ebook
- Track ebook sales and analytics
- Nurture your audience
Step 1: Identify your target audience
First things first, you need to know who you’re talking to. Because ebooks are not for generalists. Rather, the goal of your ebook is to provide highly personalized content that provides valuable information to your readers.
If you’re at the stage where you’re considering writing an ebook, chances are you’ve probably already got a pretty good idea of who your target audience is. Just in case you don’t, here are some tips.
How to find your target audience
Start by asking yourself some these questions:
- Who is my ideal reader? Think about demographics such as age, gender, location, occupation, and interests.
- What are my reader’s challenges? Think about what problems or issues your target audience faces and how your content can provide solutions.
- How does my reader consume content? Find out which platforms and mediums your audience prefers. Do they lean towards blogs, social media, videos, podcasts, or newsletters?
- What are your reader’s goals and aspirations? Understanding the goals and desires of your target audience will help you tailor your content to their needs.
- Who are your competitors and how do they target their audience? A healthy competitor analysis can help you gain insight into your shared audience.
- What feedback have you received from your current audience? Gather insight from your audience, and think about how you can use it to shape future content.
- What language and tone should you use to connect with your audience? The tone you use in your ebook should be the same tone you use to communicate with your audience on your other content channels.
Even if you feel like you know your target audience well, taking a moment to reflect on and answer these questions is a useful exercise for any creator entrepreneur. The goal is that it will help you gain a deeper understanding of your target audience’s needs and preferences. The better you understand your audience, the more your ebook will connect and resonate with them, which results in higher sales.
Step 2: Create ebook content
Research
Research is one of the most important steps for selling any type of digital product. Think of your ebook as an opportunity to dive into a specific topic that you’re super eager to share. If you’re a seasoned creator entrepreneur, you’ll want to choose a topic for your ebook that’s aligned with your niche. In short, you want your ebook topic to be about something you’re knowledgeable and passionate about.
When conducting your research, keep in mind your target audience while also considering your own business goals. Take the time to meditate on what your content niche is. As long as you have your content foundation figured out, success will follow.
Make an outline
To avoid wasting precious time, do yourself a favor and consider outlining your content before you begin writing.
Not only will an outline help you stay on track, but it will also give you a rough idea of how much writing you should dedicate to each section. This is key for keeping a consistent and engaging flow throughout your ebook.
There’s no right or wrong when it comes to outlining content. You can get all academic with it or it can look like a series of squiggles with some text on a page. Whatever method helps you organize and structure your thoughts and ideas is going to be the best outline strategy for you.
Create your ebook’s outline in seconds with The Leap’s AI assistant. Try it now!Write your ebook
So you’ve completed your research and drafted an outline. Now, it’s time to put away any imposter syndrome thoughts or procrastination habits and get to it — you got this!
Once you’ve written your ebook’s content, you’ll want to consider the design elements of your ebook, like its cover design, content formatting, typeface, and any images, graphics, or templates that bring added value to your content. This brings us to our next tip: the good ‘ol call to action.
Add CTAs to your ebook
A CTA (also known as a call to action) can be a prompt for anything from visiting your web page or social media channels, to downloading a specific cookbook recipe or design template.
By adding a CTA (or even multiple CTAs) to your ebook, you’re essentially guiding your readers into taking the next steps that lead to further monetization, or audience-building opportunities in the form of alternative content and/or revenue streams.
Create your ebook’s outline in seconds with The Leap’s AI assistant.
Step 3: Choose a self-publishing platform
Some of the most popular marketplace platforms to sell ebooks online include Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Google Play Books, Shopify, and Etsy. However, these aren’t your only options.
While there are advantages to large self-publishing platforms like their global reach, built-in analytics, sales, and promotion tools, you’ll want to look closely at the pay structures of these platforms. For example, Amazon has a commission structure built into its services. While not uncommon, this means that the platform will take a cut of revenue from your ebook sales.
There are several other platforms for selling ebooks that are either free, like The Leap, or offer a monthly subscription with zero transaction fees, like Sellfy. These options often offer creators the opportunity to sell their ebooks alongside other digital products like online courses, how-to guides, templates, and more.
Whichever self-publishing platform you decide on, you’ll need to prepare your ebook in one of the many preferred ebook formats, like PDF, EPUB, MOBI, or AZW.
Brainstorm and sell your ebooks with The Leap’s AI assistant. It’s free!Step 4: Set up your online storefront
If you don’t already have a website, it’s a good idea to set one up before you launch your ebook. Even if you decide to sell your ebook on a major self-publishing platform like Amazon’s Kindle store, you’ll still want to promote your ebook from a dedicated landing page. This offers you the opportunity to showcase and promote your other content as well.
For creators writing ebooks who prefer to manage all their digital product sales from one place, a link-in-bio storefront that you can easily add to your social media channels might be the best option for selling your ebook.
The Leap is a free, link-in-bio store that allows creator entrepreneurs to easily set up their own store, and generate landing pages to showcase their products or lead magnets. Aside from being totally free, The Leap also comes equipped with analytics to help you monitor and understand your digital product sales. Plus, The Leap is designed for social audiences, so if you know that your target audience feels most comfortable using Instagram, TikTok, or any other social channel, chances are your storefront will feel intuitive to them too.
Set up your link-in-bio store on The Leap today. It’s free!If you decide to go with a large marketplace option for selling ebooks like Amazon KDP or Etsy, these platforms are also generally user-friendly and quick to set up. Just make sure you read their terms and conditions beforehand to make sure everything is a go before you officially publish!
Step 5: Pricing your ebook
When it comes to pricing your ebook, there’s no right or wrong price tag. However, there are some guidelines to keep in mind. Unless you’re a creator entrepreneur who already has a large following, generally, you want to sell your ebook for an affordable price, i.e. anywhere between $1-$50.
You also don’t have to sell your first ebook. Instead, you can consider offering it for free as a lead magnet. This strategy allows you to build up your email list with the hopes of increasing your audience and engagement rates.
Deciding on how to price your ebook is the first step. The second step is to consider the pay structures of whatever publishing platform you’ve decided to sell on. For example, both Amazon and Google have a commission structure built into their services. Meanwhile, The Leap takes zero transaction fees if you use the link-in-bio store to offer ebooks — that means you get to keep all the profits!
Sell ebooks on The Leap with 0% transaction fees.
Step 6: Sell and promote your ebook
Ebooks have the potential to make some serious passive income, but success doesn’t (always) happen overnight. That means to increase your chances of selling ebooks exponentially, you’ll want to promote your ebook.
At the end of the day, the more you promote your ebook, the better your chances are of selling it. Read on for some tips.
Having an email list is integral to your business as a creator entrepreneur. If someone has signed up for your email newsletter, chances are they’re already interested in your content. You want to capitalize on their interest and offer them valuable content consistently to remind them just how great you are.
So, if you have an email list — no matter how big or small — this is a great place to start creating some buzz about your ebook.
If you don’t already have an email subscriber list, you might want to consider offering your first ebook for free as a lead magnet, which is a valuable piece of content offered to potential leads in exchange for their contact information. The lead magnet is such a common tactic in marketing that you may have even given your email address in exchange for a lead magnet at some point today!
All this being said, email is a great place to promote your ebook or any digital product.
SEO
SEO (search engine optimization) is a tool used by many businesses, content creators, and marketers to boost online visibility. So, why is SEO important for your ebook?
To sell digital products like an ebook, SEO is invaluable because it increases the visibility of your ebook title in search results, which in turn attracts targeted readers and enhances credibility.
That being said, you’ll need to do some research here. It’s essential to locate the appropriate keywords and understand their ranking within the SEO sphere. Once you crack the code, SEO can be a very cost-effective way to level up your promotion game.
Social media
When promoting your ebook, you’ll want to tap into your existing following to generate that quality buzz and hype around your ebook.
Chances are, if you’re a creator entrepreneur, you already have at least one social media channel. So think about promoting your ebook across channels like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, or LinkedIn. Make sure to prioritize social channels that resonate with your audience the most.
Step 7: Track ebook sales and analytics
As mentioned, certain ebook storefronts like The Leap come equipped with useful analytics tools. Most large marketplaces will have built-in analytics and sales tools as well. Why are these so important?
Tracking the sales of your ebook isn’t just about celebrating with some bubbly when you make your first $100, it’s also about understanding buyer habits and how they can help inform your strategy for creating more ebooks in the future.
Boost your digital product earnings with The Leap’s Creator Analytics.
Step 8: Nurture your audience
Once you’ve published your ebook and captured your readers’ attention, you want to ensure you keep their interest. After all, audience engagement is key to any digital product sales.
For example, the chances of your ebook customer purchasing another one of your digital products — like an ebook, membership, template, or online course — are high.
So how do you maintain engagement with your audience? Maybe you decide to send your loyal followers the first chapter of your next ebook as a sneak preview, or maybe you send an early download link. There are many ways to keep your audience engaged, so choose whatever strategy feels right to you and your brand.
Another option for audience engagement is to consider investing in paid advertisements to keep engagement high. For example, Facebook ads can retarget people who have visited your website, landing page, or Facebook page before.
Nurture and convert leads with The Leap’s built-in email marketing features. Start free!So how much money can you really make from selling ebooks?
Since there are several variables that impact the sales of your ebook, there’s no definitive answer for how much money you can make from ebook sales. That being said, if you offer your ebook for an affordable price and consistently promote it, chances are you’ll be seeing a pretty penny of passive income in no time.
Want to start earning from ebooks? The Leap’s AI assistant can help speed up the ebook creation process by generating an outline for you in seconds. Once you’ve created your ebook, simply upload it to your link-in-bio store on The Leap to start selling it to your audience. What’s more, you can use The Leap’s built-in email marketing features to nurture your leads and customers and promote your other product offerings.
The best part about The Leap? It’s 100% free to use.
Sign up for your free account on The Leap today to sell your ebooks, with zero transaction fees!
Sell ebooks on The Leap with 0% transaction fees.
How much do ebooks make FAQ
Is selling ebooks profitable?
Short ebooks, long ebooks, any size or content niche of an ebook has profitable potential. Why? Because ebooks have low production costs and no physical inventory, which means your profits can soar. There are other perks to ebooks that aid in profitability too, such as a global audience reach and simplified marketing efforts via your social media channels.
While ebooks are profitable, you still have to do your research and writing to get there. Your highest success lies in the level of engagement you have with your audience. As a creator, you should be putting all the effort into building your brand and ensuring that your ebook content is relevant and useful to your audience.
To really make your ebook stand out, make sure you get hyper-specific within your content niche. Bring value to your audience. It won’t happen overnight, but patience and persistence do indeed pay off. With the right content, marketing efforts, and audience engagement, you could be making all the money you’re hoping for and more.
How much does the average ebook author make?
When it comes to the question of, “How much do ebook authors make?”, the answer can be difficult as the income of an ebook author varies significantly based on various factors like content niche, marketing efforts, pricing strategy, content value, and the platform used for self-publishing.
Some creators may generate significant money writing ebooks, while others may earn only modest amounts. Part of the beauty of an ebook is its potential for passive income, so it’s worth noting that earnings for ebooks sales can evolve over time.
For example, you may work on an ebook one day, publish your ebook online the next, and only start to see sales rolling in a few months later. The point is, once your ebook is published, most of the hard work is done, and all that’s left is the task of promoting and the potential to make money from it.
Where can I sell my ebooks?
There are plenty of platforms to sell your ebooks online. Large marketplaces like Amazon KDP are popular as they allow you to self-publish your ebook using a familiar interface, all while reaching a global market. Amazon, and some other large marketplace options like Etsy, charge a commission per sale and often transaction fees as well.
Other options attractive to creators include storefronts that allow you to sell multiple digital products alongside each other, like Sellfy or Gumroad. However, for the best ROI, the best platforms to sell ebooks are platforms that are completely free (with no hidden transaction fees), like The Leap’s link-in-bio storefront which also comes equipped with analytics and an AI assistant to help you brainstorm your ebook outline.
Create your ebook’s outline in seconds with The Leap’s AI assistant.
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