15 Kinds of Ebooks You Can Write To Start Your Infoproduct Business
There’s a good chance you’ve been kicking around the idea of writing an ebook for years.
You love the idea of having a digital product that you create one time and can sell over and over again. You realize how powerful this would be for building passive income and growing an online business that gives you freedom.
But maybe you’ve dawdled long enough that you’re starting to wonder if writing an ebook is still a profitable venture, or if that ship has sailed.
The good news is the opportunity is greater than ever. In fact by 2020 the market for ebooks will hit $29 billion!
So the only question left is… what will you write your ebook about?!
To get your gears spinning, here are 15 kinds of ebooks you could start writing today.
1. The How-To Book
Are you great at a certain skill? Have you accomplished a goal other people want to achieve? Break your process into X steps, and each step can become a chapter. Additional chapters can be what obstacles you’ll face along the way and how to overcome them, how to speed up your success, what are the next problems you’ll face after this one is solved, etc.
2. The Compilation/Curation Book
Maybe you don’t have the skill yet, or you haven’t accomplished the big goal yet, but you’re desperate to learn the answer. Go out and research from dozens of different authorities. Learn from all the best experts. Dig up the hard-to-find sources. Compile everything you’ve learned in one ebook, and tell your readers “You don’t have to spend hundreds of hours digging through thousands of sources, because I already have. It’s all in my new ebook…”
3. The Guinea Pig Book
Does all of that research sound excruciating? Or maybe the information you’re looking for simply doesn’t exist in resources out there. Take a similar approach and treat yourself as a science experiment. Find all of the best ways to accomplish XYZ, and try them all yourself. Document what works and what doesn’t, and break it all down in your ebook. Hal Elrod researched the best morning routines and tried everything- meditation, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading, writing- and he wrote about his findings in The Miracle Morning, which become a multi-million dollar business.
4. The Reverse Engineering Book
Study successful people who have accomplished something you’d love to do yourself. Dig deep and learn everything about how they did it. Find commonalities between all of them. Are there certain steps that appear in all of their stories? Do they have unique habits or beliefs that contribute to their success? Break their methods into a steps, and map out the blueprint in your ebook. Check out Chris Guillebeau’s The Happiness Of Pursuit to see an expert example of this strategy.
5. The Case Study Book
Sometimes people don’t need knowledge or teaching, they simply need inspiration. In that case, compile a series of case studies. Find people who have moving stories about overcoming adversity and making their dreams come true. You don’t need to break down their process into replicable steps, just tell their stories in a compelling way that show your readers that the goal they want to accomplish is truly possible.
6. The Call To Arms Book
Here’s another idea based around inspiration. Maybe your readers already have the information they need, they just struggle to take action. They lack the motivation to get started. In this case, write a book that is your call to arms or your manifesto. Share a rousing message that lights a fire in your readers’ bellies, and makes them finally start taking action on the knowledge and skills they already have.
7. The “Rock The Boat” Book
Russell Brunson talks about “The Switch” versus “The Stack”. The Stack is “Here’s more of what you already have, stacked on top.” We like The Stack when it comes to good things. “More friends, fun, money, status, fame… yes, stack it up!” But let’s say I’ve been on the keto diet for 4 months and I haven’t lost any weight. I don’t need more recipes or more tips. That’s where The Switch comes in: “If what you’re currently doing isn’t working, here’s how to switch to a completely different strategy.” Controversy sells, so write a book that presents an attention-grabbing switch. “Are you trying to accomplish XYZ? Here’s why common strategies don’t work, but here’s my weird alternative that gets crazy results.”
8. The Interview Collection Book
Mentorship is a huge subject today. Everyone would love to learn the secrets or get the insider advice from the people they look up to. So find 5, 10, 50, or 100 people your readers respect and interview them. Compile their insights in your book, just like Tim Ferriss did in Tools For Titans. Or even better, ask your interviewees to write their own answer to one simple question. For example: “What is one business opportunity you see on the horizon that no one else is talking about?” Then take 150 one-page responses and compile them into a book. You only have to write the intro!
9. The “Little Bites” Book
Many people are intimidated by writing a full-length book. They say “I have to write 200 pages?! The most I’ve ever written was 15, and that was in college! And it was painful!” The thing is, many people like reading for just 5 minutes when they wake up or before bed. So you can write a ton of bite-sized passages- positive affirmations, motivational quotes, daily inspiration, nightly prayers, thought-provoking anecdotes, or whatever else you can think of. Tie them together with an overarching theme. A great example is Tools For Titans by Tim Ferriss.
10. The Reference Guide
What were the most valuable books in your school library? The reference books. They weighed nine pounds and you weren’t allowed to check them out! They were invaluable to look up important information, yet you didn’t read them cover to cover. You can write an ebook designed to be used in the same way. Compile a ton of research or data in an ebook. Or simply make lists of important tools, links, websites, articles, contact information, etc. Tell your readers “Are you trying to start a business in this specific niche? I have everything you need to look up, all in one convenient place.”
11. The Memorable Allegory
The Richest Man In Babylon is one of the most famous entrepreneurship books of all time. But unlike business books of today, there are no interviews, no case studies, and no actionable strategies. In fact it’s a fiction book! But what George Clason did was tell important lessons and principles in the form of an unforgettable story. Humans are designed to remember stories. Facts and figures go in one ear and out the other, but good stories stay lodged in our memories forever. Find a way to share your message in the form of an unforgettable story.
12. The Listicle Book
Listicles are incredibly popular: “10 Ideas To Accomplish .” “The 7 Reasons Why .” “23 Things You Didn’t Know About __.” While people like to make fun of list articles, there’s a reason why you see so many of them: people love reading them! And the good news is, they’re perfectly viable for books. In fact, most of us love a book that we can easily read a short chapter or two before bed. And when you think about it, many of your favorite books are nothing more than listicles, presented in a more high-value way.
13. The Big Idea Book
Chances are you really don’t have 200 pages of things to say. You just have one big message you believe in that you want to shout from the rooftops. So what are you to do, write your important message and pad it with 199 pages of fluff? Of course not! Look at all of Seth Godin’s books. Each has a clear core message, but each short chapter expands on the idea, explains a nuance, answers a question, addresses an objection, describes a benefit of following his advice, and on and on.
14. The Life Lessons Book
Many people dream of writing their memoirs. But the cold hard truth is, unless you’re famous or people are already somewhat familiar with your story, it’s really hard to grab their attention and say “You should spend 6 hours reading about ME!” The key is, how can you package your story in a way that benefits them? Pull out the important lessons so you can say “By reading my story you’re going to learn how to , or be able to overcome problem.”
15. The Study Guide/Tutorial
Did you ever have to take an important test, like the SAT, GMAT, or LSAT? You probably saw study guides or courses that sold for several hundreds of dollars. That’s because the author wasn’t selling a book, he/she was selling an outcome. “If you use this book, you will get a high score and get accepted by your dream university or hired by your dream company.” Is there a certification or test in your industry you can make a study guide for? Even if there’s not, think creatively about how you can create a tutorial that sells an outcome, rather than simply selling a book.
Picking the right one for you and getting started
These are only a few ideas. The options are limitless!
No matter what you choose to write about, it’s important to keep a few things in mind:
It’s not about you. Your reader is the center of his/her own universe. We’re all trying to move towards pleasure and away from pain, and we feel our own pleasure/pain the strongest! So focus first on adding value to your reader.
Solve a problem for your reader. A book is just a stack of papers. It’s worth a few pennies at best. An ebook is just bits and bytes and worth even less. But if you can solve real problems for your reader, your words can be invaluable. Try to generate tangible results for your readers.
Sell an end state. Once you’ve clarified the results you offer your audience, now you can say “How much would it be worth to you to improve your marriage, or get a job you feel fulfilled by?” And then you price your ebook accordingly. Because they’re not buying book, they’re buying the outcome.
Turning this into a business
The real key to making money with an ebook… is to not sell just an ebook.
You need two more things: bonuses and upsells.
Bonuses. What if instead of selling a single ebook, you told your customer…
“When you buy this special package today, you’re not only going to get the ebook that shows you how to [accomplish the huge goal they strongly desire], but you’re also going to The Insider’s Guide that shows you how to overcome the most common obstacles that make most people fail. You’ll also get the Ultimate Shortcuts Report that will help you get twice the results in half the time. And you’ll also get the Mentorship Interview Book with secret advice from 50 of the most successful people in our industry. This package is worth over $1200, but today I’m going to give it to you for only $X.”
This turns a regular book into a massive solution, and it helps you address objections before they even have time to pop up. We have a worksheet called the Brilliant Bonus Builder. Just fill in the blanks and it’ll help you come up with a ton of great ideas fast for your own bonuses. Click here to grab it.
Upsells. Once someone buys your ebook package with the bonuses, you’ll want to send them to an upsell page- or at least make the offer later via email- that says “Thanks so much for buying the ebook, here’s the download link. If you want to accomplish XYZ, you made a great choice because it’s going to help you do exactly that. BUT, once you’ve overcome that problem, you’re probably going to run into this next problem like nearly everyone does. If you want to remove that problem before it even has a chance to pop up, we’ve created this other product you’re absolutely going to love…”
Successful online entrepreneurs don’t have a single product, they have a “value ladder”- a series of products that logically flow from one to the next. If you’d like some ideas for other digital products besides ebooks that you can use as upsells, take a look at this article.
The idea of writing and selling an ebook is simple on the surface… but you quickly realize there are a ton of elements that go into bringing it to life and turning it into a profitable business.
That’s why I’ve created the 7-Day Challenge. It’s the exact blueprint we use in the digital publishing businesses I work for. And it’s broken down into 7 short lessons.
Each day you’ll receive a video and a worksheet. Watch the video, fill out the worksheet, and in just 7 days you’ll have a crystal clear gameplan for bringing your infoproduct business to life.
Click here to learn more about the challenge, and click “Join Now” to get started today.
