E-books are big business online – especially if they teach other people how to do things. How to earn more money, how to sell on e-Bay, how to write a bestseller… the possibilities are endless if you have the knowledge and the perseverance to actually write a book and then get out there and sell it.

What’s more, you can apply exactly the same principle to creating a course too. By splitting it up into sections you are creating more value – and you can charge more as a result.

If it’s done properly it can be a real money spinner.

You don’t need to be an expert on e-books to know they sell extremely well if you pick the right subject. “How to…” e-books and courses are particularly good at shifting lots of virtual copies, since they reveal the answers to things that people want to know.

The first thing to remember is that you need to pick a topic that isn’t going to suddenly become unpopular. The topics are obvious here – money, sex or health. Those are the three biggest selling topics around. If you look at all the e-books and courses online, you’ll see that they all revolve around one of those topics in some way. The successful ones do, anyway.

But it’s not just a case of picking a good topic. You need to pick a great title and get the best information to go in it as well. If you want to write a whole course then you need to ensure you’ve got plenty of material and you can divide it naturally into separate sections.

It helps if you already have some knowledge of the subject you are writing about. One of the keys to success is to find your own unique angle, as this is what will sell copies. Don’t try and tread over the same old material that is already out there. It will only be a waste of time. If you have tried something yourself or come up with your own foolproof method of doing something, and other people you know have tried it and got the same results… now that is something worth writing about.

Along with writing the product itself, you’ll also need to write the sales page to go with it. If you’re no good at writing you can always hire a ghostwriter to do it for you; this will cost money but if it’s ghostwritten you can still put your name to it at the end.

Now you need to decide how much to charge for it. The more value it has the more you can charge, and it’s important not to price it too low otherwise it won’t be taken seriously. When it comes to pricing the course you can charge more; it’s up to you whether you supply the whole thing for a flat fee, or set up a payment model where you dispatch one part every month (perhaps via email) in exchange for a monthly payment. This can sometimes result in more people taking you up on the offer, since a smaller monthly amount is easier to pay than one large fee up front.

While you can and should do plenty of research and plan your book or course carefully before you even start to write it, there is still a degree of risk involved. Even ideas that you think will be guaranteed winners might flop, whereas other ones you’re not so sure about could sell massive amounts.

But you will learn plenty from your first effort, and you can use that knowledge to launch your second e-book. And your third, and your fourth…

Fancy giving it a go? Like the idea of being a published author? Why not check out the possibilities now? But leave us a comment first! Good luck.