E-Books are big business on the Internet these days. If you are not familiar with ebooks, they are simply books (usually less content than a printed book) that are available for immediate download after purchase from a website. E-books are great because they are easy to create, free to distribute and have a high profit margin. Even if you are not a writer, you can write, or hire someone to write, an e-Books for you to sell online.
E-Books are usually "how to" manuals about virtually any topic. If you have expertise in almost anything, you can write an e-Book on the topic. If the knowledge you have is in demand, people will often pay $20, $50, $100, even $500 for a copy of your e-Book. When someone buys an e-Book, they download it from your website (or you can email it to them) and read it on their computer. Of course, a $500 e-Books better be pretty comprehensive and have information you can't find anywhere else or you will get a lot of refund requests.

Here is how to get started:

Think of a topic for your e-Book. What kinds of things do you know a lot about? Sit down and write an outline of what you want the book to say. When you have a good plan, write your e-Book using your word processor on your PC. We generally use Word or WordPerfect. You can make it as long or short as you want. We have seen e-Books that are just 15 pages and some that are over 400 pages. Try to keep the e-Book strict and to the point, especially if you aren't that great of a writer anyway.

When the book is finished, convert the document into a PDF file. There are several programs out there that can do this for you. This just makes a more professional looking document to sell. There are also e-Book compilers out there, eBook Pack Express is a professional eBook creation software. It is very user-friendly and has all the features needed for professional eBook creation. You will then want to build a website, register yourself a catchy domain name, find a good web host, and put up a couple of pages. It doesn't have to be fancy, but try to make the sales copy on your website convincing enough to get people to buy your book. You will need a way to accept credit cards. We usually use PayPal because it is free to open an account and the fees are reasonable. Open a PayPal account here.

Now that the book is finished and your credit card accepting website is up and running, you need to begin promoting your website. The members area of this site has the best ways to promote websites for little or no cost. This is a good starting point. Your best bet is to learn all you can about Internet Marketing. You can learn almost everything online for free, so you don't need to buy those $300 training courses unless you are looking for a quick guide.

E-Book businesses can earn up to $150,000 per year or more if you have a good product and a good marketing plan in place. This is one of the easiest to start, low cost businesses to begin. We highly recommend trying this one out. Since this is such a profitable business idea, we have created an entire category for E-Book Ideas in our exclusive members area. 

Reason #1 - Ebooks Give Consumers Instant Gratification
In the age of "instant gratification," ebooks are perfect for those "I want it now" moments. Order an ebook and it's in your hands immediately… no need to go to the bookstore or wait for an online source to deliver your copy.

Reason #2 - Ebooks Are Never "Out of Stock"
Ebooks mean that you never have to wait for a "back order" to come or for the publisher to order a second run of printing. Ebooks are always available.

Reason #3 - Ebooks Mean More Books
Authors want to get their books "out there" and earning as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, publishing houses set their "lists" months, sometimes as many as three years in advance. Ebooks can be launched at will by the author so that eager readers don't have to wait.

Reason #4 - Ebooks Can Be "Ripped from the Headlines"
Because ebooks can easily be changed without requiring an expensive "second run," authors can update the contents regularly, making your ebook more up-to-date and more useful than a print book that's been "set in stone."

Reason #5 - Readers Get More with Ebooks
Offering a "bonus book" with a print book is likely to be too expensive for most authors/publishers to consider. There would be additional expenses for printing, packaging, and shipping, too. With ebooks, however, "information bonuses" -- such as attachments, templates, resource lists, special reports, etc. -- cost nothing to produce. This allows authors to be extra generous, so you're likely to wind up with a windfall of additional valuable information -- all FREE!

Reason #6 - With Ebooks, There's Always "Room For One More"
There's no need for massive bookshelves to store ebooks, and a special climate-controlled library isn't required to help keep leather volumes in peak condition. Ebooks can be stored by the thousands on your hard drive, with a "shelf life" that puts Twinkies to shame. (Twinkies are believed to remain "fresh"…or at least "edible"… for anywhere from 25 days to 30 years, while ebooks stay "delicious" forever.)

Reason #7 - Moving Men LOVE Ebooks
If you've ever seen a moving man huffing and puffing under the weight of a box of books, you know why ebooks are popular. Lightweight and portable, ebooks will never "break your back" when you're moving them across the room, across town, or across the Atlantic Ocean.

Reason #8 - Ebooks Help Save the Planet
No trees will be cut down, no land will be deforested, and no woodland creatures will lose their homes when an eBook is published. Compare that to the deforestation caused by print publishing. According to the Singapore Science Center, it takes a whole tree to produce just 8,330 sheets of paper!

Reason #9 - Ebooks Promote Free Expression
Authors can create their own ebooks and don't have to follow the advice -- usually "change this so it will sell" -- of publishers and agents. That means that readers get the "uncensored" version of an author's work… exactly as he/she intended it to be, without concern for advertising needs, marketing concerns, or publishing house guidelines.

Reason #10 - Ebooks Are Easy To Take On the Go
Have you carried a copy of Dostoyevsky's "War and Peace" to the beach? Even the most comprehensive ebook is lighter than air and can be read on a home computer, laptop, or even in a cyber café over a cup of java.

Reason #11 - Ebooks Can Be Safely "Deconstructed"
With an ebook, it's easy to print a few pages or a few chapters to take along with you wherever you want to go and not "destroy" your original copy. That's impossible with a print book.

Reason #12 - Ebooks Take Readers Beyond Their Pages
With more of us taking advantage of wireless networking, ebooks with active links have become more than just books… they're portable resource libraries that connect readers to expanded information from wherever they're based. Compare that to going to your local library and searching the stacks!

Reason #13 - Ebooks Are A Snap to Search
When you want a specific bit of information or are looking for all entries related to a certain word or topic, the searchable nature of ebooks (using a simple "Find" query) make them a hit. With a print book, you have no alternative but the time-consuming process of hunting through page after page of text and getting eyestrain in the process.

Reason #14 - When It Comes To Ebooks, The "Eyes" Have It
With the click of a button, an ebook page may be re-sized on a computer -- larger, smaller, different margins, different font, etc. -- which gives every consumer the opportunity to "customize" his/her copy for easy reading at no extra cost.

Reason #15 - The Price Is Right
The costs for publishing printed books -- paper costs, printing, binding, etc. -- are exorbitant and that's reflected in the prices you see at the bookstore. The expense of publishing an ebook, on the other hand -- whether it's one copy or one hundred million copies -- is a fixed expense, usually nothing more than the cost of a software program. (In fact, many ebooks are created as simple MS Word documents.) That translates into big savings for you with cover prices that are so low you'll be shocked!

Reason #16 - Ebooks Don't Demand A "Mass Audience" to Earn A Profit
The simplicity and low-cost of publishing ebooks allows authors to create specialized "niche" ebooks, regardless of audience size. This means you get information tailored to your needs with a surprising low price tag tailored to your budget.

Reason #17 - Ebooks Can Never Be Lost
Ever lend a book to a friend only to have the book… and sometimes the friendship… lost forever? With ebooks permanently installed on hard drives, this isn't a problem.

Reason #18 - Ebooks (and Software) Are the Internet's #1 Sellers
A large and responsive audience of consumers is proof positive that ebooks are delivering exactly what people want -- a new and exciting alternative to print books!

Reason #19 - Ebooks Reward Your Favorite Author, Not the Publisher
When you purchase a book, instead of earning just 6% to 10% of the book's cover price and watching the lion's share of income go to a nameless/faceless publishing house, your favorite ebook author keeps a whopping 100%.