How to create an eBook may be easier than you think. 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. I compiled this eBook from 19 blog posts published the previous two years. Here’s how to create an eBook.

How to Create an eBook in 5 Easy Steps  

  1. Choose 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 millennials, 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 to be shared on Facebook to reach millennials.

  1. Be Picky

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.

  1. Re-write it to your audience

Most of the posts used in the Fleet Guide weren’t originally written specifically for fleet managers. I re-wrote the posts to talk directly to fleet managers, changing the point of view and developing a voice that speaks to the target audience.

  1. Don’t toss those images

Each chapter in the Fleet Guide shares an image. I took most of the photos directly from the original blog posts. The images add excitement, in this case, to a comparatively dull topic.

  1. Format it like a book

I recommend reviewing a few books you enjoy and making notes about how they’re formatted. Was there a foreword, introduction, or acknowledgements? Here are a few formatting options that will help change your blog posts into a book.

  • Title page
  • Introduction or foreword
  • Table of contents
  • Page numbers
  • Acknowledgments
  • 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. Repurposing blog posts into an eBook may be easier than you think. For example, the Fleet guide took me and my editor less than a week to publish and post.

How Can I Help You? 

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 Spencer on Unsplash