14 easy tools to create eBooks

Writing a book can establish yourself as a credible source of knowledge and generate passive income. Many knowledge commerce entrepreneurs use books and eBooks to market their business and capture email address information. 

In this article, we’ll share helpful tools you can use to produce an eBook.

EPUB Creation Tools

To publish an eBook to ereader devices, you’ll need a tool that can create or convert a document to an .epub format. This will ensure it’s ready to be uploaded to services like Kindle Direct Publishing, B&N Press, or Apple Books that distribute the book to readers. 

If your eBook is intended as an electronic version of a print book, this could be the right format for you. Plus, by having the eBook available to find on other paid channels, you can market your business and create another income stream.

Let’s take a look at some tools for this format:

Adobe InDesign is great for those already familiar with other Adobe programs like Photoshop, since they all integrate well. However, it’s not very intuitive or user friendly, so it could take some time to learn. 

Scribus is a free, open source page layout program available for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Ubuntu operating systems. 

Pages is a word processing program for Apple users that includes visual templates. 

Scrivener is a manuscript tool that makes it easy to stay organized within your document. They describe it as “tailor made for long projects”. Its formatting options are tailored to different formatting submission guides. 

Draft2Digital is a formatting tool that can convert other file formats into the .epub format. So, if you typed up your work in a word processor, you can use this tool to get it ready for publication. They also distribute eBooks if you’re looking for an aggregator. 

PDF Design Tools 

If you’re creating an eBook that more closely resembles a report or whitepaper, a different tool may better suit your needs. If you plan to create a lead magnet rather than write an electronic version of a full book, consider using a tool that can create and export to PDFs. They can be visually appealing and preserve links.

You’re likely familiar with at least one. Here are some options that can create great PDFs: 

Adobe Acrobat is a household name when it comes to PDF software. It is easy to format, edit, and collaborate.

Microsoft Powerpoint is likely the best-known presentation software. It includes helpful formatting tools like SmartArt and templates called Slide Masters that can make for engaging PDFs.

Google Slides is a web-based presentation tool but can make nicely formatted PDF eBooks. It’s easy to collaborate in real time. If you are working with anyone else to produce the eBook, this could be a convenient tool. 

Keynote is the Apple slideshow software that fits well within the Apple ecosystem. It also comes with great templates, charts, and shapes to help illustrate your point.

Canva is a web-based design platform that allows you to create a variety of visual assets. It includes templates and both free and premium design elements like illustrations and photos to personalize your document. 

Designrr takes your existing content and automatically formats it into an eBook. It can take a URL, social media post, video or audio file, then puts the text into the editor where you can use templates and make adjustments to the PDF. This tool can speed up the production time of repurposing content.

Helpful Writing and Publishing Resources

Writing and promoting a book is a big undertaking, and there are lots of resources to help knowledge commerce entrepreneurs and aspiring writers with this accomplishment. Check out these resources for broader aspects of ebook production: 

Self Publishing School is a service to help people write and sell books. They also have lots of free and paid writing and publishing resources, including this calendar with optimal publishing times:

Source

BookBaby produces physical books, formats ebook files, distributes ebooks, offers book design and copy editing services, and more. If you need some help taking your ebook from copy to completion, it may be worth utilizing a service like this. 

Blurb offers lots of tools including physical book printing, a layout tool, file conversion, ebook distribution, and they even have their own bookstore. 

Using Your eBook with Kajabi

Kajabi Heroes both sell eBooks and distribute them for free as lead magnets to grow their email list.

If you’re selling the eBook, you can upload it as a Product and choose a price. 

If you’re offering it as a free resource or lead magnet, you can use an Offer. You can deliver the Offer via email by using an Automation to trigger an email followup Sequence and attach the eBook file to the email. 

Kajabi Hero Thirty Three Percent uses a free eBook to generate leads. They discuss what value the eBook has to the reader to entice them to download. And, they quantify the length to help ensure the reader doesn’t feel overwhelmed at the prospect. 

“The biggest challenge in creating an eBook is the balance between creating something substantial but not overwhelming,” said James Adam, founder of Thirty Three Percent. “We spent a lot of time on the content to make sure it contained actionable information someone downloading it could easily use and get results from. The eBook has helped us gain lots of new sign ups and we’ve sold some courses on the back of it as well.”

It’s also possible to use the Freebie Kajabi Pipeline to speed up the distribution of your lead magnet.

Get started growing your knowledge commerce business with Kajabi.