E-books, or electronic books may contain text, sound, or images and they can be read on a computer or an e-book reader. Anyone can write an e-book and sell it online, thereby avoiding the difficulties of getting it published through a traditional publishing house. E-books cost next to nothing to produce and you get to keep the major portion of the profits.

 

The costs and risks associated with publishing, distribution, and inventory are also avoided. In recent times, there has been a big increase in the sales of e-books and this is a big opportunity for anyone who can create a marketable e-book. E-books are often given away for free to promote websites or businesses.

 

You can sell an e-book on your own website, or on other sites like eBay, Amazon, Lulu.com, BookSurge, and iUniverse. You can sell downloadable versions of your book, and/or ship media, like CD-ROMs, to your customers.

 

 

The popular e-book formats include the PDF format, the raw HTML format, and the Windows executable file format.

 

The PDF file format produces read only documents that can be retrieved and viewed by means of the Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded for free. PDF documents cannot be changed without leaving an electronic footprint. This ensures that the same image is seen across all platforms and helps to protect intellectual property rights.

 

Adobe’s Acrobat PDF compiler can be purchased from their website or from other sources like Amazon.com. There are other free options that can be used to convert files to PDF, like Gymnast and HTMLDOC. They may lack the options provided by Adobe’s Acrobat.   

 

The raw HTML format can be accessed by anyone who has a Web browser. The word processor HTML format is suitable for novices, while the raw HTML format is more suitable for advanced users. HTML Web pages and images need to be complied into a single file that can be downloaded.

 

You can get a HTML compiler for free, though it may specify that the e-book cannot be distributed. Your choice of a compiler may depend on the features that you are looking for. You can consider Activ E-Book Compiler, WebSiteZip Packer, eBook Maestro, etc.   

 

The Windows executable file format allows readers to display a book on any Windows computer. The downside is that it cannot be viewed on a computer that uses a different operating system.

  

 

Customers can be allowed to download a part of the book for free. They can read it and then decide if they want to download the second part, after paying for it. They can also be given a password that will allow them to access and read it.

 

You can provide the e-book to customers for their personal use, or give them the right to sell or transfer copies to others. Mention the type of support you will be offering, and guarantees, if any.

 

 

The success of your e-book depends on getting the price right. If you set a very low price, you may not make much money and if you set a very high price, you may not find many takers. Research the prices of your competitors for similar products, and try to set a high price. If you find that your sales are quite low, you can consider reducing the price. Guessing may lead to a loss of time and money.

 

 

Many customers prefer to use their credit cards to pay for the e-books. An Internet merchant account allows you to accept payments online, through credit cards. It offers the lowest fees per transaction, with a lot of flexibility, and helps to establish your credibility. However, it may take more time to set up and you may be required to pay a monthly or annual fee to maintain it.

 

If you don’t want to face the hassles of getting a merchant account, you can set up a business account with PayPal. It is very simple to set up an account and it can be done quickly. There are no signup or monthly fees to be paid and the fees per transaction are very low. The downside is that PayPal may freeze your account without warning if any suspicious activity is detected.

 

ClickBank provides a secure e-commerce environment for selling digital products. It can help you to reach millions of customers globally and to use a vast network of affiliates to promote your products. ClickBank charges a one time activation fee of $49.95 and there are no monthly charges. A markup is added to the selling price.    

 

Google Checkout is a payment processing service that allows customers to use their credit cards to buy from your website, conveniently and securely. Checkout is presently available only to merchants with a US address. There are no signup or monthly fees, but you will have to pay a per transaction fee.

 

For every $1 that advertisers spend on advertising in Google’s AdWords they can get $10 in free processing of sales on Checkout. AdWords is Google’s targeted pay-per-click advertising service.

 

Another popular payment processing service is 2Checkout. You can sign up and add its links to your website. Customers can click on the link and deposit money into your 2Checkout account. The service is available to people all over the world, with a few with a few exceptions. There is a signup fee of $49 and a per transaction fee, though there is no monthly fee.