Creating a Successful E-Book That Readers Will Love

Regardless of why you’re writing (or planning to write) an e-book, your success will be at least partially defined by the number of readers you draw. You need readers if you want to:

Make money

Build an online platform

Convey your message to a wide audience

A successful e-book isn’t necessarily one that makes a lot of money for its author — it’s one that is useful or enjoyable for a number of readers. To give your e-book a good chance of success, you should know your intended audience and then tailor your content and your writing style to them.

When you write fiction, you should be familiar with your chosen genre. Writers sometimes make the mistake of trying a genre that’s popular, such as crime or romance, without first reading enough books from that genre to have a good grasp of common conventions (and done-to-death plots). Pay attention to market trends, of course, but also choose a genre that you as a reader enjoy. You’ll produce a much better book, and you’ll be less likely to abandon it in frustration when you’re only halfway finished.

If you want to write nonfiction, focus (ideally) on a subject for which you already have an audience. If your blog or website has an existing readership, you can easily produce an e-book that’s of interest to those people. If you don’t already have a web presence, you can find out more in Chapter 9 about establishing yourself online.

As you write or edit your e-book, keep your readers in mind. For real success, you need their reviews and testimonials, so be sure to give them what they want. In fiction, it’s strong characters, a gripping plot, and (perhaps most important) a strong climax and conclusion. In nonfiction, it’s easy-to-digest information, with chapters in a logical order, and with extra material such as exercises, examples, and further reading lists to help your readers fully understand your topic.

Your e-book should be well written and well presented, whatever its subject matter. Obviously, a literary novel must meet different standards from a straightforward, factual e-book — but both must be carefully constructed, edited, and proofread to ensure that your book offers a fulfilling and engaging reading experience. You may have written a deeply moving novel or an extremely useful nonfiction book, but if it’s riddled with typos and awkward sentences, readers will give up after a few pages (and leave you negative reviews).

These suggestions for creating a successful and enjoyable e-book may seem intimidating — and with millions of e-books in the world, you may suspect that many of them don’t necessarily meet these standards. Sadly, plenty of poor-quality e-books exist. (Some of them even manage to be successful.) But if you want your e-book to stand out from the crowd, keep your readers in mind throughout the writing, editing, and publishing process.