Yea OK, it’s the not the most exciting thing in the world ever – and of itself it’s not going to make you rich – but if you’re looking at ways to make money writing it’s as good a place as any to start. It will give you a bit of insight, a couple of ideas and hopefully we can build on that. See, I told you I was going to be honest. No overnight millions…

So sign up for the (occasional) newsletter over there on the right and download your free writing ebook now.

Go on, go on, what have you got to loose?

Oh please yourself, your choice…

Many people, however, are put off the idea because they think they can’t write. I have two answers for you if you’re one of these people. The first is this: absolute nonsense, of course you can write!

Let’s get the idea you can’t write an ebook out of here straight away. If you can explain to someone how to do something, you can write. Think about how you would explain to someone how to make a cup of coffee. You could do that, yes? Then just write it down. You don’t have to be a Pulitzer prize winner, just get your message across. Does it strike you that I’m a literary genius? Of course not. Yet I’m a successful published author with hundreds of articles and six ebooks to my name.

Of course you can write. You might lack a bit of practice but that’s all.

Second piece of advice is this: don’t go for War and Peace first time out!

A lot of folks think that in order to get into publishing ebooks you need to put together something that’s hundreds of pages long. Nope. In fact there are a number of people making a very good living out of writing short reports – and by short I mean as few as thirty pages!

Now in case you’re a little dubious, think about this for a minute. People go online to find information or solve problems. If you can offer someone a solution to a problem they will often be more than happy to pay you for it. A short report can do that.

Let’s take a different angle on it. People searching for information are often looking for something related to their hobby or pass-time – and people get very passionate about these things. Passionate people spend money. Lots of it. Just look at golf. I have a friend who isn’t very good at golf but he is nuts about it. He’s always looking for ways to improve his game and he’ll spend a small fortune on the latest doodad, book or dvd. If you tried to sell him a short report he thought would improve his drive, at a sensible price point, he’d grab one off you without a second thought.

The sensible price point is key. It’s true that in some markets people are selling high priced ebooks that have little content. They might make sales and get good short-term income but it’s no way to build a sustainable business. Much better to sell someone a concise ebook for $7 to $10 now, then a closely related follow-up a bit later. Then the advanced, complete, full-blown version a couple of months after that. Get the idea?

You might also wonder, if you’re going to get into publishing ebooks, where you’ll get your inspiration from. Here’s one for a start. Walk up to your nearest news-stand, or into your nearest newsagent and look at the titles. Almost every one is packed with potential short, profitable ebooks.

More about how we do that in another post coming soon. In the meantime, you can see exactly how I put together short, profitable reports here.

There’s a tendency to over-complicate the creation of an ebook. Whilst there are many things we can do with an ebook that we can’t do with a traditional book, at its most basic creating an ebook requires just three simple steps.

1. You need an idea.
2. You need some software to get it onto the page.
3. You need some more software to turn it into the ebook.

I can’t help you with number one, but then you probably wouldn’t be here if you needed the idea! Numbers 2 and 3 shouldn’t be a problem either because you can get both of them for nothing.

If you don’t have Word or another word processor on your computer you can get a free and very competent one from Openoffice.org. That deals with getting your ideas onto “pages” which are in fact just a text document.

To create an ebook from your text document you can get free software to turn it into a PDF. Just do a search online for free PDF maker and you’ll find several.

You may find people who will suggest other formats for you ebook than PDF. Don’t listen to them. There are other programs which will create different kinds of ebooks. You do not want them, they can only restrict your potential readership.

There are only two formats you need to worry about and that’s PDF, because it can be read by just about every computer in the world, and the original text file if you’re going to have your book available for other ebook reading devices like the Amazon Kindle.

As your ebooks develop you might want to put your hand in your pocket for Adobe Acrobat which will allow you extra functionality and features but there’s no need to do so at the start if you don’t want to.

So that’s it. Your three simple steps to how to create an ebook. Off you go. Fame and fortune are just around the corner.

In truth it would be misleading to suggest that it’s that easy. It is simple, you really don’t need anything more than I’ve mentioned to create your ebook, but making a success of it and making a good living from it requires some work.

The great advantage when you create an ebook is that you can handle everything yourself, you don’t need the OK of some massive publishing company who might be more lead by financial forecasts than the actual merits of your work.

The great disadvantage when you create an ebook is that you have to handle everything yourself!

I’m joking slightly because I don’t view it as a disadvantage but the fact is that unless you pay a professional service to promote it for you, you not only have to write your ebook but you have to handle all the marketing and selling as well.

I don’t know an easier way for the average person to make a very good income than writing and selling ebooks – but you’re not going to be a millionaire overnight. If you’re looking for a relatively easy way to provide yourself a very comfortable living then I believe ebook writing is the answer. If you’re looking for “the lazy man’s way to riches” you better keep looking – this isn’t it.