By: Melanie Mendelson
Writing and selling "how-to" e-books is a very popular Internet business model, and rightfully so. Here are the top 10 reasons why you should consider getting into this business:
1. Work From Home
You can sell your e-book on the Internet, so all you need is your computer with Internet access. You don't need to have an office - you can do everything from home in your spare time.
2. Set Your Own Hours
You can spend as much time as you want on this business. You can take it slowly and spend only a couple of hours per day writing and promoting your e-book. Or you can do it full-time, creating and selling multiple e-books and building a huge Internet empire. You set your own hours and nobody tells you how much to work. The choice is yours.
3. Huge Profit Margins
E-books are delivered electronically – customers download them to their computer once you receive their payment. There is no shipping or printing cost, which means that the profit is 100% yours.
4. Automated Income
Once your website, payment processing and e-book downloading are set up, your business can run with almost no intervention from you. The only thing you need to do is drive traffic to your website. Once people start visiting your site, some of them will decide to buy your e-book. Since everything is electronic and automated, sales will happen at any time – even while you sleep.
5. No Inventory Hassles
You don’t need to stock any products or deal with boxes, packaging and shipping – and no trips to the post office!
6. Very Low Startup Cost
To write an e-book, the main cost is your time. However, with proper guidance and speedwriting techniques, you can create a saleable e-book in less than 1 week. Since e-books are electronic, there is no printing cost. Other costs are webhosting (under $20/month), creating a simple website (can be under $100) and payment processing (free setup). This makes it one of the cheapest businesses to start.
7. Ease Of Entry
Anyone can write an e-book. You don’t have to deal with any publishers or agents, and don’t need to depend on anyone but yourself. No approval processes, bureaucracy or red tape.
8. Full Control Of The Product
If you are in a business of reselling other people’s products, you don’t have any control over those products. You are basically putting the livelihood of your business into other people’s hands. Having your own product (in this case, an e-book) gives you complete control over the product itself, pricing and marketing.
9. No Face-To-Face Selling
People will decide to buy your e-book based on the information you provide on your website. If you are the kind of person who hates direct sales, face-to-face contact and talking on the phone, this is a perfect business for you. Everything is done through the computer, so you don't have to talk to or see anyone.
10. Positioning Yourself As An Expert
Being an author carries a lot of clout. It doesn't matter how long your e-book is – most people are impressed by the mere fact that you've written something. Having your own e-book will help you get established as an expert in your field and gain credibility.
