A guide to publishing a successful e-book

I have been writing technical articles since 2004, but never really thought about monetizing my work until two years ago. I own more than a dozen websites, and it really becomes hard to maintain all of them. In the 4th Quarter of 2010, I started selling advertisements on Web Hosting Resources, and Geolocation websites and started generating passive income from them on a monthly basis. Due to the time it takes to find quality advertisers, and running and maintaining an Ad server is somewhat troublesome; I have decided to convert all of my Ads into Google Adsense. I have been running Google Adsense for nearly 8 months, and I am pretty happy with its results as compared to other advertisement networks I've tried including Adbrite and Chitika.

Up until this year, I have been focusing on writing technical content such as PHP, MySQL, Linux, and Java-related subjects. Beginning in 2013, I am going to shift a gear and write about personal development topics as well as topics relating to increasing website traffic and making money online. I have been contemplating writing an ebook since 2009, and have written a series of articles in which I intend to create an ebook but never had time to complete my goal. In the 1Q of 2013, I am going to publish an ebook for real and offer it to the web hosting community free of charge. My very first ebook will be about "A complete guide to starting a successful web hosting business" and my target release date is January 31, 2013. I am writing this article so that I have a written record of my goal and deadline for completing my very first ebook. Once completed, I will be spending the next two months promoting it on the Internet and I will share my experiences with you on this website.

Whether you are a full-time journalist or a part-time blogger, you may have thought about writing an ebook at one time or another. I have been contemplating it for more than 3 years, and I am finally getting it done. Writing an ebook is a great way to publicize your work, give strong authority to your audience, and allow your readers to return to your website for more information.

1. Why would you write an ebook?

Writing a book requires a lot of research, upfront planning, and hard work. Why would you consider writing an ebook? Every author has different reasons for writing one, but here are a few good reasons why you might want to write one.

1. You may want to encourage your website visitors to subscribe to your mailing list. You may use the opt-in email list to send newsletters and special offers to your subscribers.
2. You may want to build additional traffic to your website by offering a free ebook.
3. You may wish to monetize your work by selling it on your website or offer it on Kindle Marketplace.
4. Publishing an ebook on your website will strengthen your authority with your website visitors.

2. What are the key things to consider when writing an ebook?

I have never written a book before, so I did some research on the Internet. Interestingly enough, I was able to find good resources and identified several key things to remember when writing an ebook.

1. Content is the king: The first and most important thing to do before writing an ebook is to decide on the topic. You should find a topic that you know about, and the information that people need and want to learn about. A topic with large demand is better than a topic that satisfies a niche.
2. Know your audience: It doesn't really matter what you want to get out of your ebook. The matter is knowing what your readers want. Everyone has a busy life, and their time is very valuable. Don't waste your and your audiences' time by describing your problems. Provide the solutions and the content your audiences want.
3. Eye Level Education: I remember hearing the term, "eye level education", advertised by one of the renowned Korean tutoring academies. It doesn't matter how much you know about the topic, but what matters is delivering the content your students can easily understand. Several years ago, I volunteered to teach senior citizens how to use the Internet, email, and World Wide Web. At the end of the course, I did a short survey and everyone thought my teaching was very hard. The reason was very simple. I taught 3rd-grade material to 1st-grade students. The key is writing the material your audiences want in a format that they can understand.
4. A picture is worth a thousand words: I cannot stress enough that your readers are the king. They don't have the time to read every word in your ebook, and they will more than likely browse through the topics that they have less interest in. Adding pictures, diagrams, and flowcharts to your ebook will make the book a lot easier to understand. If you are adding images to your ebook, make sure you're not violating the copyright of the image. Be sure to use loyalty-free images offered by free sites, or buy the images from stock photo websites before you use them.
5. Hyperlinks: One of the benefits of publishing an  ebook is that you can include your website link on your ebook that your audiences can click on. The backlinks to your website will drive targeted traffic to your site.