Here are 5 quick steps which will get you on your way to writing your very own e-book:

1. Write what you know

2. Act quickly

3. Set up an E-junkie account

4. Launch it on your social media

5. Promote and market your ebook

First things first – write what you know. Sound obvious? A lot of people don’t follow this rule. If you want to write a quality book, make sure you know your subject.

Second, act quickly. If you have a great idea or topic for an e-book, then get it written! All great ideas share one common enemy – time. Don’t let your idea die on the vine, or worse, be claimed by someone else. The only resource needed at first is time. Sit down and write out your outline, or do what I do and just start writing. Get it all on paper, you can edit it later, for now just write. Your e-book can be as short or as long as you want it. 10 pages is perfectly fine, so is 200. Just make sure you’re writing quality info and not just fluff.

Third, get yourself an E-junkie account. While you can setup a PayPal BUY NOW button for your new book, E-junkie will give you a lot more options and security. For as little as $5 a month you get features like secure downloads to help prevent copying and pirating, multiple payment options (like PayPal, Google Checkout, AuthNet, and TrialPay), coupon codes, and easy affiliate set up. In my opinion it’s well worth the small fee to be to manage your e-book download and payments from one simple interface.

Fourth, launch it on social media. Now that your book is written and you are set up to sell it, you need to launch it on your social media. Your facebook account, while great for playing games, can also be used to connect with your network. Who knew?

Harness that power. Let your circle know about your book. Tweet it. Now, don’t be obnoxious about it. No one wants to hear about your new book every hour. But done with the proper balance you can start to spread the word very effectively.

Finally, promote and market your book. This step is ongoing. Have a blog? Great, do a write-up about your book. Create a website or landing page with a summary (and eventually, testimonials).  Distribute complimentary copies to people in your industry to get early reviews. Setup an affiliate program to get others to sell your book for you. If you pursue the latter, be sure your commission rate is generous enough to keep people motivated. 50% is a good place to start. Remember that once your book is written, there is no additional product cost. Sales = money. So pay your affiliates well to keep sales rolling in.

Follow these 5 steps and you’ll have a quick start to selling your e-book online. Who knows? By this time next week you could have an extra stream of income!

Photo Credit: Flickr – J Wynia’s Photostream

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