I’ve been asked more than once how to create an eBook. If you’ve published a series of blogs on one topic you already have an eBook just waiting to be published. Here’s an example, The Fleet Managers Guide to Fleet Graphics. This eBook was compiled from 19 previously published blog posts.
How to Create an eBook
Choosing a Topic
If you want to reach an audience, you must give them something they’re looking for. Solve a problem, answer a question, or share fun facts. However, content doesn’t have to be limited to your product or service. Why do banks sponsor golf outings and not only banking seminars? They do so to meet and engage a target audience that’s not reached by banking seminars.
For example, if a small bank wanted to reach a younger audience they’d find that 77% of millennials are on Facebook, Social Media Today — New Research Shows Facebook Still Holds Sway With Millennials and Gen Z the information that millennials search for on Facebook includes:
- News 75%
- Food 62%
- Travel 59%
If we add to that, the knowledge that millennials want to partner with organizations that show corporate responsibility and serve the community then we have four topics where content could be created to reach younger people: News, Food, Travel, and Community service.
Let’s say the bank chose travel as a topic to share with younger prospects and patrons. When the bank has reached anywhere from one-half dozen to twenty published posts, there’s an eBook waiting that can be shared on Facebook to reach millennials.
Pick your posts
Not every post on any given topic will fit an eBook. For example, when I put together The Fleet Managers Guide to Fleet Graphics there were more than thirty posts to choose from, I picked nineteen that fit the topic and worked well together.
Re-write it to your audience
Most of the posts used in the Fleet Guide weren’t originally written specifically for fleet managers. Therefore, I re-wrote the posts to talk directly to fleet manager’s, changing the point of view, and developing a voice that speaks to the target audience.
Don’t toss those images
Each chapter in the Fleet Guide shares an image. Most of the photos were taken directly from the original blog posts. The images add excitement, in this case to a comparatively dull topic.
Format it like a book
I recommend reviewing a few business books you enjoy and make notes about how they’re formatted. Was there a foreword, introduction, or acknowledgements? Here are a few of the formatting options that will help change your blog posts into a book.
- Title page
- Introduction or foreword
- Table of contents
- Page numbers
- Acknowledgements
- How to use the book, which may contain contact information
- Chapter pages
- Images
- Conclusion or last word, which could include a call to action
- About the author
- Back cover
It’s the book you didn’t know you had
Taking advantage of the copy you’ve already created can be a great way to feed your audience the content they’re looking for. How to create an eBook begins by repurposing blog posts into an eBook. It may be easier than you think. For example, the Fleet guide took me and my editor less than a week to publish and post on the TKO Graphix website.
How Can I Help You?
So, if this post struck a nerve check out, How to Stay Ahead of Your Business Blog Forever. The book is full of action plans to create a blogging/writing system that works for you.
And please don’t hesitate to contact me if you’d like to discuss this post.
If you enjoyed this post you might also like, How to Create Content When You Don’t Have Time.
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
