Do people really download ebooks? Yes! In a 30-day period at the end of 2010 4.5 million eBooks were downloaded from www.gutenberg.org.

Are people paying for eBooks? Absolutely. The eBook market is estimated to be between $3 and $5 Billion a year (Stephen Cole).

There should be no real surprise in these numbers. In fact, when you consider the difference selling a printed book and an eBook, eBooks win big in three areas:

• Cost of printing an eBook: $0
• Cost of advertising an eBook: $0
• Cost of shipping an eBook: $0

With this in mind, let’s take a look at two specific strategies for delivering you eBook: selling and giving it away for free.

Sell your eBook online

In order to sell your eBook online you need to choose a file format. There are many to choose from. Each will appeal to a different reader. PDF files can be read by anyone who has a PDF reader on their computer, tablet, or handheld device. Amazon Kindle format can be read by the Amazon Kindle and other tablets, book readers, and handhelds that support the Kindle Reader. Apple’s eBook format can be read by iPad, iPod, and iPhone. Barnes and Noble Nook format can be read by the Nook and Palm Reader format can be read by devices supporting the Palm Reader.

In choosing your format you will want to consider where you are going to distribute or sell your eBook. For example, if you choose Amazon, then the Kindle format would be required. If you are going to sell primarily through your website the PDF format may be the easiest to use.

There are other distribution channels to consider as well. For example affiliate software sites such as 1shoppingcart and ClickBank offer a shopping cart and ecommerce checkout to assist you in the sales process.

MyMark members may use their personal eStore.

Once you’ve decided where you are going to market your eBook and the format, the next step is to create effective sales and marketing material. There are three materials you may want to create.

• A sales page (landing page) and sales copy that converts readers into buyers
• A bonus item or another incentive to purchase now
• Advertising copy for emails and other Internet advertising

With your eBook and marketing material in hand, now it is time to promote your eBook.

Seven Effective Methods for Promoting Your eBook

• email marketing
• blog marketing
• affiliate marketing
• search engine promotion (natural and pay-per-click)
• social media marketing
• article marketing
• resellers and distributors

Give Your eBook Away

Sometimes you will get more value from your hard efforts by giving your eBook away. Perhaps you could use it as an incentive for website visitors to subscribe to your newsletters and build up your mailing list or to get leads for other products and services or even to gain credibility and to expand your reach as an author and expert.

When you give your eBook away remember these three techniques to maximize your returned value:

1. Opt-in email required in order to receive your free eBook
2. Use auto responders for follow-up such as Infusionsoft
3. Actively promote your website or other products within the eBook

In Summary

Generate revenue, greater profits, and passive income by writing an eBook. Sell it or give it away to gain credibility and expand your reach as an expert as an author. In doing so, build up an email list to use to promote other products or services or other peoples products and services. Happy selling!