Last updated on March 12th, 2019

In my last post on eBook marketing mistakes, I delved deep into the underbelly of selling eBooks, scratching at the painful mistakes that many authors make once they’ve written an eBook.

The idea for this post came to me while writing that other one. Yes, the joys of having an ISFJ brain;)

Here’s what I’ve realized… An increasing number of service entrepreneurs are launching eCourses, which while being a fantastic thing to do, aren’t so good for the budget or sometimes, your sanity.

Now, let’s be honest here… 6-figure and 7-figure launches are GREAT but they need an investment to begin with.

An investment of the holy trifecta of launches: time, money and effort.

But when you’re starting out as say, a coach, a consultant, digital marketing strategist or even, a yoga trainer or a photographer, do you really have the dollars to pour into hiring a copywriter, a designer, a FB ad manager and of course, a VA? Do you have the hours to dedicate to shooting videos, hosting webinars, wrangling with tech stuff to set up the freakin’ eCourse? Do you have the energy to create an eCourse that will do justice to your brand, your customers and your income?

Yeah, I thought so too.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love eCourses as much as the next entrepreneur and I will be launching one of my own, sometime this year, for sure. BUT when you have time, money and energy at a premium, then… eBooks is an obvious, yet oft-overlooked choice.

They are a breeze to create.

You can create them for free using a tool like Canva or good, ol’-fashioned Microsoft Word or Apple Pages.

If you want it to look prettier, an affordable tool, like Beacon makes it a blast to create.
Sidenote: I created Easy-as-Pie eBook Marketing Recipe Book in Beacon and made nearly $6K on its launch. Total expenses, including FB ads: $75. Do the math.

While I did talk about how eBooks can hugely benefit a product-based business, it was time for me to address the elephant in the room.

Entrepreneurs with service-based businesses need to put away their eCourse-tinted glasses and start looking at eBooks in a new light.

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5 Reasons Service-Based Businesses Need eBook Marketing to Magnify their Presence, Elevate their Expertise and Make More Money

eBooks are client magnets. Period.

Repeat it to yourself.

Let that idea sink in nice and easy.

Now dig into the 5 reasons you need an eBook right now to close those sales calls without feeling like you’re being dragged through quicksand.

1. eBooks Establish Trust

There’s a reason why nearly every top entrepreneur that I know of has an eBook. Michael Hyatt, Pat Flynn, Ramit Sethi and even, the folks at CopyHackers have or had eBooks at one stage or the other.

Could these hugely successful business owners not create eCourses? Of course, they can and they have.

BUT… an eBook is an instant trust-builder, especially when you give it away as a gift or for an insanely low price.

eBooks are quick and easy to consume and people walk away feeling they’ve learnt something, begin to trust you and have more respect for your expertise. Which kinda brings me to point number 2.

2. eBooks Increase Expertise

eBooks are great for establishing expertise. Ruth Soukup of Living Well, Spending Less wrote How to Blog for Profit Without Selling Your Soul, an eBook she sold on Amazon and an eBook I bought and loved. Till then, Ruth had been someone whose blog I enjoyed because of the simple living and home management tips it shared.

But reading her eBook meant Ruth, instantly, became my go-to expert for building a blog while keeping my sanity intact. She went on to launch Elite Blog Academy, I think after that and it’s quickly become one of the leading blogging courses.

Can you see how she started with an eBook/book and established her expert status and then, created a massive eCourse?

It’s brilliant.

3. eBooks are Inexpensive to Create

Do you know what it cost me to write my very first eBook How to be a Work-at-Home Mom? A grand total of $0.

That’s right.

I wrote it in Microsoft Word, slapped on a simple cover and sold it for $9 to begin with and upped it quickly to $17.

I only got a cover designed for it when it had sold for a while.

THAT is how cheap eBooks are to create.

You don’t have to be the Scrooge McDuck I was but you can keep your costs low easily when creating an eBook.

4. eBooks are Easy-to-Sell

Since eBooks are inexpensive to create, you don’t have to charge thousands of dollars for them. You can sell them for $29, $39 or like me, $49 dollars and sell hundreds of copies without having elaborate launches that involve videos, forty different emails, webinars, dancing around the fire naked. 😉

5. eBooks are Client Magnets

Remember what I said at the start of this section.

eBooks are client magnets.

I cannot tell you the number of clients I’ve worked with who have at first read an eBook that I’ve written.

In fact, if you use it as a free gift to get on to your list, you can easily have a simple COFFEE autoresponder sequence in place to engage with them and build a relationship, so when they look to hire, you’re the first person they think of.

So, not only do they make you money should you sell them, they make you money even if you give them away for free.

So, whether you’re trying to gain a foothold in the industry, establish your authority, add an additional stream of income, eBooks are an easy-peasy way to do all of that and then some.

Think eBooks are easy-to-create but difficult-to-market? Think again, Easy-as-Pie eBook Marketing Recipe Book is coming back SOON. With ALL the plug-and-play templates you need to sell your eBook, this is the easiest way to triple your sales in half the time. Hop on to the VIP list to be notified as soon as doors open, because this baby sells out FAST.