Business tips
18
min read
So… you need to figure out how to make an ebook.
At first, this may sound like a smart idea, until you actually sit down to do it. Suddenly, you’re buried in Google Docs, wrestling with Canva templates, and wondering why your PDF looks like it was designed in 2004.
The goal was to generate leads or showcase your expertise… not to spend two weeks choosing fonts and learning what “EPUB” means. This whole process can be way simpler, and in this ebook guide, we’re going to prove it.
We’ll talk tools, structure, design, formatting, publishing, and how to get the thing in front of people. You’ll see where you can take shortcuts, where you shouldn’t, and when it’s fine to call for backup (👋 that’s us if design makes you cry).
The keyword “how to create an ebook” has great search volume, and we’d be lying if we said that didn’t catch our eye. But the real reason why we wrote this guide is that we’ve also been there.
At some point, our team tried to making an ebook from scratch. There were content drafts everywhere, naming chaos, layout headaches, and more last-minute edits than we’d like to admit.
Over time, and after shipping several ebooks we’re genuinely proud of, we figured out a process that works. As a result, the books took off organically in a 1M+ community with hundreds of reposts and likes.
And now, we’re sharing what we’ve learned about ebook writing with you.
Before you open a doc and name a file “ebook_v1,” you need to answer one question: What are you creating this ebook for?
It may sound obvious, but skipping this step is exactly how you end up writing a 30-page download no one actually downloads.
There are plenty of valid goals for how to make ebooks that perform. You might want to:
But before you pick one from the list, take a moment to think through what kind of expertise to share, who you are speaking to, and what message to leave. Answering these questions will help you create something that matters.
If you’re still wondering whether it’s worth the effort, let’s look at some numbers.
According to Statista, the total number of ebook readers in 2023 was nearly 98.2 million users worldwide. For business owners and marketers, these digital assets are the third most-used content format for generating leads.
So yes, ebooks still do the job. But only if they’re driven by a clear purpose. To make this whole thing work, try this fill-in-the-blank sentence:
“I’m creating this ebook to [main goal], and it will help my reader [main outcome].”
For example:
“I’m creating this ebook to build authority, and it will help product managers understand prioritization frameworks.”
Once that sentence is locked in, you’ve got your direction. Every chapter, paragraph, and CTA that comes next will be built around it.
As you know what your ebook is supposed to achieve, it’s tempting to start writing.
Don’t.
In situations like this, you’ll probably write five pages, realize it’s all over the place, rewrite the intro four times, and end up with something that doesn’t flow or doesn’t even get finished.
Planning the structure before writing is one of the most valuable hours you can spend on this project. You must take the reader from point A to point B without confusing them, boring them, or making them wonder, “What’s the purpose of this chapter again?”
Start by defining the one big idea your ebook reader should walk away with. Saying “I want to talk about a few things” is a red flag. Narrow it down.
Once that’s clear, break it into 3 to 7 core parts — key themes, steps, or ideas that support your main message. In presentation terms, these would be your slide sections. If it helps, imagine walking someone through it out loud — what would you cover first, second, third?
💡 Keep it light. You don’t need detailed subpoints or chapter titles yet. A few bullets under each section are enough to see the shape of the content.
Also, don’t forget the extras. In addition to the body of your ebook, you’ll probably want:
Honestly, creating an outline can feel time-consuming, especially when trying to think through all the ins and outs. But trust us, it’s exactly what gives you more clarity than two hours of “just writing.” Your future self and your readers will be glad you did.
There’s one step left before writing — choosing the right tool to do it.
Some people love a clean Google Doc. Others want chapter folders, distraction blockers, or built-in export tools. There’s no one-size-fits-all. It all comes down to your comfort level and how much control you want over the process.
Here’s a quick breakdown to help you decide where to write an ebook, based on your needs and budget.
→ Google Docs + Calibre
Simple, collaborative, and easy-to-use free business tools. Write in Google Docs, and rely on Calibre to convert your file into PDF or EPUB formats if needed.
→ Kindle Create
Ideal if you’re planning to publish on Amazon. It lets you write and format at the same time, with pre-built templates and Kindle-friendly layout tools.
→ Atticus ($147)
An all-in-one tool that makes writing and formatting easier, especially if you plan to publish more than one ebook. It has built-in export features and a clean UI.
→ Scrivener ($55)
Great for longer ebooks or content-heavy projects that need more structure. You can organize chapters, notes, and references in one place.
→ Vellum ($199, Mac only)
Known for its elegant exports and ease of use. Vellum is popular with indie authors and perfect for anyone who wants a polished final product with minimal fuss.
→ Adobe InDesign ($11.03/mo)
InDesign gives you total control over layout and visuals, but unless you’re already familiar with it (or working with a designer), it might be overkill.
By now, you’re staring at a blinking cursor, wondering where to begin or whether any of it is worth writing at all.
Here’s the advice — just write the thing. Not all of it today. Not perfectly. Just… start.
Forget about your font size, your future readers, or whether this paragraph would impress your old literature professor. First drafts are supposed to be messy. What matters most at this stage is getting your ideas out of your head and onto the page.
To begin, here are some essential text elements you’ll likely want to include:
We’ve found that writing in short, standalone sections — rather than cramming out a full chapter in one go — helps keep momentum. No need to write in order either. Choose the section you feel most ready to talk about.
You might even find it helpful to speak instead of writing. Tools like Otter.ai, Descript, or even Google Docs voice typing can transcribe your ideas as you talk them through. It’s especially useful if you’re the person who overthinks every line, trying to make every sentence sound perfect.
And yes, AI can help too. You can use ChatGPT to draft intros, reword sections, or help you get unstuck when your brain freezes. Don’t rely on it to do the work for you. Use it like a writing buddy, not a ghostwriter.
So go ahead. Get scrappy. Be messy. There’s plenty of time to make it look pretty after you’ve said it.
With everything written and structured, it’s time to design your ebook and make it look like something people want to read. And the first thing anyone will see is the cover.
Yes, people absolutely do judge ebooks by their covers. That’s why it deserves a little more attention. A strong title combined with uncluttered visuals can make a big difference. Stick to a clean look that reflects your brand identity. The goal is to create something instantly recognizable, even at a glance.
If you explore how to design an ebook yourself, take advantage of Canva (best for a clean template with your brand colors and fonts), Google Slides/PowerPoint (ideal for landscape-style ebooks), and Figma (great once you’re already familiar with it).
You don’t need to be a professional designer to make your ebook look polished. A better move is to avoid the most common layout sins and be ahead of 80% of digital resources out there. Here are a few simple rules to guide you:
When you don’t want to deal with designs, that’s okay. Hire someone. Seriously. You can find decent ebook designers on Fiverr or Upwork for $40–$100. Or buy a super-affordable design subscription that will save you tons of hours and nerves if you have such design tasks from time to time (👋 hi, that’s us).
You’ve written your ebook. You’ve designed it. You’re probably ready to be done with it. The finish line is in sight, and now you want to hit “Export.”
But before you do that, take a moment to give your ebook a final review, because even small things can quietly chip away at trust. And if you’re thinking, “Ugh, boring step… I’ll skip it,” don’t say we didn’t warn you later.
To help you make the smart choice, here’s a quick checklist to run through:
◯ Read your content like a first-time reader. Check out the flow, logic, and any repetitive parts. Try reading it out loud — clunky parts will stand out immediately.
◯ Fix the obvious stuff. Typos, broken formatting, inconsistent spacing — small edits here make a big difference in how professional your ebook feels.
◯ Check your visuals. Double-check that screenshots are high quality, and graphs or diagrams are still clear and readable at a glance.
◯ Skim on mobile. Even if you designed it on a desktop, a lot of people will open your PDF on their phone. Make sure nothing breaks.
◯ Test your links. If you have a clickable Table of Contents, internal jump links, or external resources, every one of them should work.
And if you’re too close to the content to notice details (it’s a thing, trust us), ask someone else to do a quick proofread. A fresh pair of eyes can catch things you’ve missed a dozen times.
This step doesn’t have to take long — even 30 focused minutes can dramatically improve the end result.
Once it reads smoothly, looks clean, and feels intentional, you’re ready to move on.
For most people learning how to do an ebook, exporting is where weird things happen.
Fonts disappear. Images break. Someone opens your file on mobile and sees a cover image that somehow ends up on page 4. Export might seem like a quick final click, but it’s one of those moments where small mistakes can quietly ruin the reader experience. So, let’s not rush this part.
At first, decide how your ebook will live out on its own. For this, you should rely on one of the next export formatting options:
And once you’ve walked through the entire document, seen that everything’s in place, and chosen your export format, name your file normally. Something clean, like “SaaS-onboarding-playbook.pdf,” works great.
Only then, and not a moment sooner, you have the green light to export your ebook.
Depending on the tools used, there are different ways to wrap things up. Here are some recommendations to make the process go smoothly:
When the file is clean, working, and ready to go, pause for a second. You’ve taken a doc full of ideas and turned it into something people can hold, click, read, and share.
Now let’s get it in front of them.
You’ve stared at your ebook long enough to begin second-guessing your own title. Which means — congratulations — you’re ready to go live.
But before you toss a PDF link into the void, let’s talk about how to publish it well. Start with where your ebook is going to live:
With the decision made, consider how you can use this moment to grow your audience. For this, we recommend offering your ebook in return for contact information, such as names and email addresses.
And this isn’t just marketing theory — it works.
According to a study by Google and the Boston Consulting Group, 90% of consumers are willing to share their email address with a trusted brand in exchange for something valuable, like discounts or content, as long as it’s relevant to them.
So once you’re aiming at the right audience, be ready, because your email list and reach are about to grow.
Publishing your ebook is a big step, but it’s not the final one. At this stage, you should take care of the advertising. And no, posting it once on LinkedIn with a “check out our new ebook 👇” caption doesn’t count.
Before anything else, remember that your own platforms are the most reliable channel for distribution.
For Eleken, for example, we add ebook banners to the resources page, because that’s where readers are already engaged. You can do the same and put your ebook on the website nav, blog sidebar, or even inside relevant articles. These placements work 24/7, long after your launch post disappears from social feeds.
The smart move is to focus on where your audience hangs out. Pick one or two social media platforms, adjust the message, use the tools that the channel favors, and be consistent.
Don’t sleep on influencer collaborations, either. Reach out to bloggers or micro-creators in your niche. Many are happy to share genuinely useful resources, especially if they get early access or shoutout credit.
To give you a little inspiration, here are some ideas you can rely on.
Let’s say your ebook is geared toward startup founders or product teams. LinkedIn is probably your go-to. But instead of dropping the link, think of it as a slow burn.
→ Leverage LinkedIn ads to put your ebook in front of the right segment.
→ Use slide decks with a CTA in the final slide to keep the narrative.
Twitter (or X, if we’re playing along) is better for fast ideas, spicy takes, and community conversations. Find relevant topics and reply with a link to your ebook.
→ Write a thread breaking down 3–5 key ideas from your ebook.
→ Tease out controversial or surprising stats to spark engagement.
Instagram and Facebook are more visual, more casual. You don’t need to overdesign. Stay on brand and make it clear who the ebook is for.
→ Try “ebook sneak peeks” in Stories with a link sticker for download.
→ Record a 30-sec reel explaining the behind-the-scenes story.
Once someone downloads your ebook, don’t let them disappear.
Trigger a drip campaign to follow up — a short sequence of 2–3 emails that builds on the content of your ebook, offers extra resources, or gently nudges toward your product or service. These readers are warm, so keep the tone helpful and relevant.
Some channels don’t give you that instant spike, but they deliver consistent traffic over time:
The main thing you should know about ebooks is that they don’t have to be one-and-done.
Let’s say you launched it six months ago. Since then, you’ve added new product features, learned more about the audience, or seen some shifts in the industry. That’s a perfect time to revisit your content. Swap in new stats. Add a fresh section. Rework a chapter based on real user feedback.
But you don’t have to stop there.
Repurposing is where the magic happens.
That chapter you wrote about onboarding frameworks could easily be turned into a great blog post, a LinkedIn carousel, or the script for a short video. Your checklist is a great downloadable lead magnet on its own. The research you’ve done might be packaged as a Twitter thread or slide into a webinar.
You already did the hard part — the thinking. Repurposing is reshaping content for different formats and channels.
🎁 And bonus: every time you repurpose, you also create a new opportunity to promote the original ebook. It’s a loop. A good one.
Before you move on to your next big thing, take a second to look at what you created. You’ve built something solid. Now make sure it keeps working for you again and again.
There are a few things you don’t always think about until you’re halfway through your first ebook, or worse, halfway through promoting one that’s not getting clicks. Here are five ebook tips that can seriously level up your strategy:
1. Your title matters more than your content.
Harsh, but true. That said, 8 out of 10 people will read your headline, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest. That means your title is the pitch. If you can’t squeeze the full value into one line, use a strong subtitle to build context or tease the transformation. у
2. Write for how people actually read.
Spoiler: they don’t. Most readers scan, especially on screens. The F-shaped reading pattern is still a thing: people skim headlines, subheads, and the first few lines of paragraphs, then bounce.
Use bold subheadings, short paragraphs, and pull quotes that stop the scroll. Design your ebook for skimming, and people might actually read it.
3. Stop guessing what people want.
Don’t start your ebook topic with a brainstorm. Use Google Analytics and social media insights, such as Facebook Audience Insights, to understand who your audience really is.
Better yet, send a short survey to your existing customers. One or two questions can unlock ideas you wouldn’t have come up with on your own.
4. Steal ideas from search engines.
If your ebook is part of a lead-gen strategy, you need to know what people are already looking for. Use keyword tools, but also spend 10 minutes looking at the “People also ask” and “Related searches” sections on Google.
They’ll tell you what your audience is curious about and what gaps you can fill with a helpful, well-optimized ebook.
5. Scan ebook reviews, especially the bad ones.
Go browse a few popular ebooks in your niche. Don’t read the five-star reviews, search for the worst ones. That’s where people tell you what’s missing, what felt useless, what felt like a waste of time. Your job is to do it better.
Short answer? It depends.
Longer answer? It still depends, but we’ve done some research to give you a real sense of what to expect.
We scanned through Quora threads, Reddit stories, and dozens of creator case studies to separate myth from math. And here’s the takeaway:
👉 Yes, you can make money from writing ebooks. But how much you make depends on what you write, how you market it, and where you publish.
Let’s move to the numbers.
Most self-published ebooks sell for somewhere between $2.99 and $9.99. After platform fees — especially on Amazon KDP — you typically keep about 70% of the sale price. That means for a $9.99 ebook, you’re earning roughly $7 per sale.
Now, imagine you sell 100 copies a month. That’s $700 in income. Not life-changing money yet, but it’s solid passive income, especially for a first-timer. And if you manage to dial in your marketing, hit a niche that resonates, and build a following, the potential scales fast.
From our Reddit scrolls and Quora dives, here’s what we saw from actual ebook publishers:
“I make about $4K a month with my books… but that’s only because I write in popular genres, built a platform fast, and I’ve been learning internet marketing for 10 years.”
— Derek Murphy, Quora user.
“My books generate about $15–20/day, and I’m about to launch my ninth.”
— vbaba2, Reddit user.
So yes, some authors are making thousands. Others are steadily earning $400–600/month. And some are playing the long game, building a catalogue, improving over time.
If you’re a marketing manager, your version of “profit” probably isn’t direct sales — it’s leads, reach, and influence.
And as we mentioned earlier, ebooks are one of the most effective assets for exactly that.
By offering your ebook in exchange for contact info (aka, gating it behind a form), you’re building a highly targeted email list of people who are interested in your solution, expertise, or the problem your product solves.
Used right, ebooks can:
One author on Quora shared that after launching an ebook, he gained 500 email subscribers in just 30 days. After that, numbers naturally dipped — but the impact was already made. As he put it, “500 new leads from a single book ain’t bad at all.”
And he’s right. One well-positioned ebook can feed your CRM for months, especially when paired with smart CTAs, follow-up automation, and a repurposing strategy.
So even if you’re not counting revenue per download, you’re still building something that compounds. Something that turns a single project into a scalable growth lever and supports your key marketing KPIs.
An ebook forces you to distill what you know into a digital asset that lasts longer than a blog post or a tweet ever could.
And yes, the process can get messy. Outlines shift. Edits multiply. Canva crashes. Somewhere between writing Chapter 3 and fixing the Table of Contents for the sixth time, you might wonder why you started this at all.
But there is the other side of it. When it’s done, you have something real. A lead magnet that converts. A resource your sales team can send out with pride. A download that introduces your brand to people who’ve never heard of you before.
If designing an ebook is slowing you down, you don’t have to fight with templates and font pairing forever. That’s the part we love helping with. From polished layouts to custom covers, contact us to make your ebook good on all sides.
Because in the end, ideas only matter if people actually read them.
