How to Create an Ebook to Sell

Length, structure, cover and the sample chapter — how to write and package an ebook someone will pay for, and the formatting mistakes that get refunds.

27 September 20266 min read

The word "ebook" sets the wrong expectation. It suggests a book, and a book is 60,000 words, which is why most people who decide to write one never finish.

What actually sells is 5,000 to 15,000 words that solve one problem completely, laid out properly, with a cover that does not look homemade. That is a fortnight of work, not a year — and at £12–£25 it outsells the ambitious version almost every time, because the ambitious version never ships.

The short version

Write the outcome on the cover, not the topic. "Know what to charge" beats "A guide to freelance pricing".
5,000–15,000 words is a product. 60,000 words is a project you will abandon.
Structure it so it can be read in one sitting and used in five minutes — chapters, then a summary, then the checklist.
Format as PDF for reading and EPUB for devices, and check both on a phone before you sell.
The sample chapter is not a marketing extra. It is the thing that closes the sale.

What actually sells

Type	Length	Who buys it	Typical price
The specific answer	3,000–6,000 words	Someone stuck on one decision	£7–£15
The short guide	8,000–15,000 words	Someone starting something	£12–£25
The reference	15,000–30,000 words	A professional who will return to it	£25–£49

The top two rows are where almost all the money is. The bottom row sells to businesses and to people who already know they need a reference — and it needs to genuinely be one, with an index and sections you can navigate, or it will be reviewed as padded.

The most common failure is not writing too little. It is writing a comprehensive guide to a broad subject, which nobody searches for and nobody finishes.

Build it

Write the contents page first, then the cover

Ten to fifteen chapter titles. If any two of them overlap, you have found a structural problem before writing a word. If a chapter does not serve the outcome on the cover, cut it.

Then write the cover, because the title is the product. Include the outcome and the audience: "Pricing for freelancers: how to stop undercharging without losing clients" is a product. "The freelance handbook" is a category.

Write the shortest version that fully answers it

Every chapter should be the length the subject needs and no longer. If a point takes one page, give it one page — padding is the thing reviewers punish, and they punish it in public.

The test for a chapter: could the reader act differently after reading it? If not, it is context, and context belongs in the introduction or nowhere.

End every chapter with three things

A two-sentence summary, the one action it implies, and — if the chapter had steps — a checklist.

This structure is what turns a document into a tool the buyer returns to, and it is what makes the difference between "I read it" and "I used it" in the reviews.

Format it properly, then check it on a phone

Readable body text — no smaller than 11pt — generous line spacing, real heading styles so navigation works, page numbers, and no wide tables that overflow.

Then open the PDF on your own phone. Most buyers will read it there, and most sellers never check. A layout that only works on a desktop is a layout that gets refunded.

Export both formats

PDF for reading and printing, EPUB for e-readers and phones. Both, every time — it costs one export and it is the second most common cause of a refund request after "it was not what I expected".

Keep the EPUB simple: no fixed layouts, no fancy embedded fonts. Reflowable text is what works across devices.

The cover

Not a design project. Four things, and then stop:

Title and subtitle that state the outcome and the audience
Your name, so it looks like a product rather than a file
One strong colour and one clear typeface
No stock photo of a person looking at a laptop

A clean cover in a single colour with good typography outperforms most designed covers, because the buyer is judging whether it looks like a real, finished thing — and busy covers read as amateur more often than plain ones do.

The part that closes the sale

Give away the first chapter or two. Not a summary, not a teaser — the actual first chapters, as a real PDF, with the same layout as the paid file.

It works for a reason that is easy to miss: the product is the writing, so the sample is the product. A buyer who reads two chapters and wants the third is already sold, and there is nothing left for a sales page to do.

What it is. A short, complete guide to one outcome, with chapter summaries and checklists, a proper cover, and a free sample chapter that does the selling.

Who buys it. Someone who is about to do the thing you have already done and would rather not learn it the way you did.

What you need. The knowledge, a word processor or a Google Doc, and the discipline to stop at 12,000 words instead of planning 60,000.

What to charge. £7–£25 for most guides; £25–£49 only for a genuine reference a professional will return to.

Time to build. A fortnight of writing and an afternoon of formatting, and most of the value is in the formatting.

Price it

Length is a weak anchor, because buyers cannot see it before they buy. Outcome is a much stronger one.

The three anchors that work for a written product:

An hour of a professional's time. If the guide saves a consultation, it is worth a meaningful fraction of one. For most trades that puts the floor around £15 and the reasonable price well above it.
A cheaper guide on the same subject. If there is one at £7 with good reviews, you are either better or cheaper, and being better is the only one of those that sustains.
The cost of getting it wrong. For anything regulatory or financial, this is the anchor, and it is why the same word count can sell for £49 in one subject and £12 in another.

How to Create a Spreadsheet Template to Sell — if the answer to your subject is a tool rather than an explanation.
How to Price a Digital Product — the anchors in more detail, including when to raise the number.
What ebooks sell for — who buys, what to bundle, and where to share it.