eBooks are simply electronic books, usually published in PDF format and are created to provide information and/or education on a particular topic or set of topics.

There are two types of eBooks:

Free eBooks

Some internet marketers abuse the term eBooks – in some cases the eBooks they create could be better termed as eVertisements, with little valuable information and a lot of self-promotion.

Free eBooks are usually 20-30 pages in length. Many free eBooks require you to provide your name and email address before you can download them i.e. you essentially become a warm lead for the owner. There is nothing wrong with this approach as a marketing technique, however, if you develop promotional eBooks, you should just be clear about what the eBook provides and doesn't provide to ensure you don't deceive potential readers.

Paid eBooks

These eBooks will contain comprehensive information about a topic or set of topics and will include very little self-promotion e.g. a single page with your company logo, a blurb about your business and information on where your customers can go next for more information if they wish. Paid eBooks should generally be 30+ pages long and will usually include other tools like templates and a glossary.

Once you have developed an eBook you could also have it printed and sent out to your existing customers as a gift e.g. for Xmas, essentially turning it into a self-published physical book.

Some businesses on the internet have developed whole revenue models just around eBook development and sales; or promoting eBooks people have developed for a commission. For example, apart from physical books Amazon.com also allows most countries to upload their eBook and sell it in their marketplace.

Benefits

The benefits of creating eBooks and selling them to your customers include:

• Positioning you and your business as an expert.
• Providing another method of delivering your services e.g. Mary from ACME Personal Styling sells Fashion Styling services, however, for customers who may not be able to afford her 1-to-1 consulting, she offers the eBook which contains her 101 Best Personal Styling Tips.
• Creating a passive income – eBooks are generally low maintenance once developed and can be promoted in regular communications with customers and posted on your website with an automatic payment system to handle purchases anytime day or night, from customers anywhere in the world.
• Providing value-add or competitive differentiation to existing services e.g. the eBook is complimentary with your one of your consulting services.

eBooks are generally pretty cheap to develop if you do it yourself – you just need a word processor, a PDF file converter and images, however, they do take quite a lot of time to write. However there are other options and you can hire someone to write an eBook for you including doing the research, writing and formatting.