A guide to publishing a successful ebook

I have been writing technical articles since 2004, but never really thought about monetizing my work until two years ago. I own more than a dozen websites, and it really becomes hard to maintain all of them. In the 4th Quarter of 2010, I have started selling advertisements on Web Hosting Resources, and Geolocation websites and started generating passive income from them on a monthly basis. Due to time it takes to find quality advertisers, and running and maintaining of an Ad server is somewhat troublesome; I have decided to convert all of my Ads into Google Adsense. I have been running Google Adsense for nearly 8 months, and I am pretty happy with its results as compared to other advertisement networks I've tried including Adbrite and Chitika.

Up until this year, I have been focusing on writing technical contents such as PHP, MySQL, Linux and Java related subjects. Beginning in 2013, I am going to shift a gear and write about personal development topics as well as topics relating to increasing website traffic and making money online. I have been contemplating about writing an ebook since 2009, and have written a series of articles that I intend to create an ebook but never had a time to complete my goal. In the 1Q of 2013, I am going to publish an ebook for real, and offer it to the web hosting community at free of charge. My very first ebook will be about "A complete guide to starting a successful web hosting business" and my target release date is January 31, 2013. I am writing this article so that I have a written record of my goal, and deadline for completing my very first ebook. Once completed, I will be spending next two months promoting it on the Internet and I will share my experiences with you on this website.

Whether you are a full-time journalist or a part-time blogger, you may have thought about writing an ebook one time or another. I have been contemplating about it for more than 3 years, and I am finally getting it done. Writing an ebook is a great way to publicize your work, and give strong authority to your audience and allow your readers to return to your website for more information.

1. Why would you write an ebook?

Writing a book requires a lot of research, upfront planning and hard work. Why would you consider writing an ebook? Every author has different reasons for writing one, but here are a few good reasons why you might want to write one.

1. You may want to encourage your website visitors to subscribe to your mailing list. You may use the opt-in email list to send newsletters and special offers to your subscribers.
2. You may want to build additional traffic to your web site by offering a free ebook.
3. You may wish to monetize your work by selling it on your website, or offer it on Kindle Marketplace.
4. Publishing an ebook on your website will strengthen your authority with your website visitors.

2. What are the key things to consider when writing an ebook?

I have never written a book before, so I did some research on the Internet. Interestingly enough, I was able to find good resources and identified several key things to remember when writing an ebook.

1. Content is the king: The first and most important thing to do before writing an ebook is deciding on the topic. You should find a topic that you know about, and the information that people need and want to learn about. A topic with large demand is better than the topic that satisfies a niche.
2. Know your audience: It doesn't really matter what you want to get out of your ebook. The matter is knowing what your readers want. Everyone has busy life, and their time is very valuable. Don't waste your and your audiences' time by describing your problems. Provide the solutions and the contents your audiences want.
3. Eye Level Education: I remember hearing a term, "eye level education", advertised by one of the renowned Korean tutoring academy. It doesn't matter how much you know about the topic, but what matters is delivering the content your students can easily understand. Several years ago, I have volunteered to teach senior citizens on how to use Internet, email and world-wide-web. At the end of the course, I did a short survey and everyone thought my teaching was very hard. The reason was very simple. I tought 3rd grade material to 1st grade students. The key is writing the material your audiences want in the format that they can understand it.
4. A picture is worth a thousand words: I cannot stress enough that your readers are the king. They don't have the time to read every words in your ebook, and they will more than likely browse though the topics that they have less interest. Adding pictures, diagrams and flowcharts to your ebook will make the book a lot easier to understand. If you are adding images to your ebook, make sure you're not violating a copyright of the image. Be sure to use loyalty free images offered by free sites, or buy the images from stock photo websites before you use them.
5. Hyperlinks: One of the benefits of publishing an  ebook is that you can include your website link on your ebook that your audiences can click on. The back links to your website will drive targeted traffic to your site.

Conclusion

Writing an ebook is a relatively easy task, and the benefits outweigh the effort you'll be putting in. If you are writing articles on your blog website, why don't you write a series of articles and create an ebook out of it. Remember you are writing an ebook for your readers, not for yourself. Create the content that your readers want in the format that your readers can easily understand, and you'll be successful in publishing an ebook.