“There’s no such thing as money making eBooks. No one buys eBooks”.
If I had a dollar for every time someone tried to tell me that I would have quite a few bucks.
And actually, they aren’t wrong.
Yes, we’re the people who teach you how to write an eBook that people will buy telling you that people don’t buy ebooks.
But the truth is, when you sell your “eBook” you probably don’t want to call it that.
Because people aren’t buying an infoproduct because they want to read a book.
They buy an infoproduct like an eBook because of the outcome it is promising them.
They are buying the eBook because you promised to help solve a problem they are experiencing.
And there can be a connotation with the word “ebook” of being simply informational.
That’s *probably* not the kind of eBook you will have an easy time selling.
So what kind of “eBook” should you create then? What should you call it if you aren’t calling it an eBook?
Here are the five types of money making eBooks people will actually spend money on.
@marybethsantos When I talk about eBooks this is what I mean. Guides and step by step tutorials are the most common but they all provide an outcome people are willing to pay for. #onlinebusinessforbeginners #digitalproductstosell #howtowriteanebook #onlinebusinesstips #infoproduct ♬ original sound – ✨Digital Products Simplified✨
5 Types of Money Making eBooks
1. How to Guide
I know this woman who creates Freezer Meal Planning Guides. She’s one of the most successful digital product based business owners I’ve had the honor of working with.
Her product is a downloadable pdf. It is essentially an ebook. It costs $19.
And she earns 10-20k dollars a month from it.
The guide teaches you how to prepare a month of freezer meals so that you don’t have to spend time cooking every night of the week.
It saves TIME. Mostly for busy moms who desperately want more time.
One of the benefits of creating money making eBooks is that eBooks are easy to reference over and over and they are easy to mark up.
The eBook format is perfect for this freezer meal guide because the steps lend themselves easily to a printable pdf, it is very helpful to be able to reference the content over and over and lots of people do like to mark a recipe book.
In this guide, there are lists to print, recipes to bring into the kitchen, it needs to be portable (either digitally or printed).
There really isn’t a better format to deliver this type of content in. It’s the perfect example of a “how to guide” that people are willing to spend money on.
Of all the different types of money making ebooks, this one is great to start with.
2. Case Study
I don’t know about you but I learn best from examples.
If I told you that I was going to put together a pdf breaking down some of the most successful online digital product businesses, would you be willing to spend $19 on that?
If I broke down their audiences, their offers, their message and all the technology they use?
Wouldn’t that be amazing to see?
It’s definitely an example that is more in the “information” only side, but this is deep level information.
This would be an actual deep dive into other online businesses.
A peek behind the curtain, if you will.
I could make that into an eBook. It would be somewhat labor intensive because of the research and interviews that would go into it, but technically it’s still just a pdf.
And a lot of people would probably buy it.
I’d call it a bundle of Case Studies.
Well, I’d figure out a cooler name than that, but something like a bundle of case studies.
3. Little Black Book
One of the most creative forms of money making eBooks I’ve ever seen is the Little Black Book.
My favorite example that I have seen is for professional photographers and it was a list of the most lucrative topics to base your stock photos on.
And it was seasonal so four times a year, she would publish this resource with what photos you should be taking to sell as stock photos.
This is such a smart idea.
It helps someone (other photographers) make money. That is one of the best ways for YOU to make money.
And it’s as simple as listing out the resources in a Google doc and downloading it as a pdf.
That’s an eBook people will buy.
But call it a Little Black Book because it feels more fun!
I could see other niches where a little black book would work well, too.
Sell a list of the best things to list on Fiverr or Upwork to increase your prices?
How about a list of suppliers for the Etsy crafty sellers?
There are lots of ebook ideas and if they help someone make money while avoiding effort, they are worth paying for.
4. Technical Walk Through
You might think that every piece of technology, like an email service provider, an app for doing something with your business, cart software, etc has EXCELLENT documentation and customer service to help you figure out how to set it up and use it to its best advantage.
You’d be wrong.
Ask me how I know.
Because every time I try a new app or software or service I make sure to have some type of problem that I need to go through the documentation for and/or ask their help for.
Many of them are lacking. Big time.
Which is why doing a Technical Walk Through as one of your money making eBooks can be such an amazing idea.
Here’s an example.
I recommend ConvertKit for people just getting started with making money with digital products. And, actually, they have GREAT documentation and customer service even at the free tier.
Because I used their documentation and help to set one up myself and I would have liked to have had instructions that were specific to the exact task I was undertaking: Setting up an eBook to sell.
There were a few things I kind of stumbled over and wasn’t sure about and I wanted to save my audience from those missteps.
Also, when you are doing that process, there is some sensitive information that you have to share (like your bank account and social) and I wanted to make sure that my people (who are generally at the beginning of this journey and might question entering that information online) felt comfortable doing that.
Because I have their trust. The tool probably doesn’t. And I understand their unique perspective and needs.
So my instructions will be more tailored to their exact questions/problems.
5. Toolkit
Toolkit is my preferred term for this next genre of money making eBooks”, but I have to be honest. This isn’t really just an eBook.
You might also call it a bundle. It’s basically a set of eBooks, worksheets, workbooks, etc that are all in the form of a pdf that can be downloaded. You might even be able to include some spreadsheets in this.
I used to have a free Toolkit as an opt in for my followers on TikTok.
It’s called the Digital Product Starter Guide and it includes an eBook that reviews the 5 best Digital Products to start with as a beginner, information on the technology you might need to create and sell those products, a workbook to start outlining your digital product and an example of one of my own outlines for you to look at.
It’s a group of things that are all basically eBooks.
What’s important to note about a Toolkit is that it does two separate things.
It imparts information (in my example you learn about the 5 types of digital products and how to decide which one you might want to start with) and it also prompts you to take action (the workbook & the example are included specifically for this purpose).
The action part is really important. When you give tools that help people take some type of action, they start to actually see themselves getting to this transformation that you have promised them.
When someone fills out the outline workbook in the Digital Product Starter Guide, they go from having these ideas and plans in their head to actually having something substantial on paper that they can start to visualize in a final format.
That is important not just because it’s the first step in the process of finally creating something, but because they can start to see THEMSELVES as someone who has created a digital product that someone is willing to buy.
That’s kind of priceless.
How Do You Decide What to Make?
Well, first, you don’t have to decide at first.
No, really! You can and should start outlining your digital product and decide after that what the best format will be.
You might even get almost totally done with your “how to guide” and realize you could add a workbook and a spreadsheet and make it into a Toolkit.
You don’t have to know right away. It’s ok to just see where the content of the outline takes you.
You also don’t need to think that just because you finished one of your money making eBooks it’s done.
Write it and set it up to sell or give it away for free. (Speaking of free, here’s how to write an ebook for free!)
Then see what you can add on to it as you continue to learn about the ways your audience needs your help.
There’s a great workbook for outlining your digital product in the free digital product starter guide, so no excuses!
Get started on your own money making ebooks!!
