My introduction to the online world of writing/blogging is relatively new. My story commenced at the beginning of May this year when I made my first ever post on the Medium platform.
Ever since then, I’ve been hooked by the joys of writing content and building up my own personal brand.
This joy ultimately led to the creation of my website – trajectorytowealth.com, which I created from scratch and am ever so slightly improving upon with each passing day.
When I first envisioned creating my own blog/website, I won’t lie – I thought it would have taken me a hell of a lot longer to get it up and running. Now, I’m not saying my website is spectacular or anything, it’s still very much in its early days and there is much work to be done.
However, looking back over the past two months and seeing what I have been able to create is quite humbling, I’ve learned so much along the way already, and the most exciting part is that I am really only just getting started.
Disclosure: My website/blog is reader-supported and may contain affiliate links. If you decide to make a purchase through links on my site, I may earn an affiliate commission, at no extra cost to you. You can read my full affiliate disclosure here.
My Current Focus
Now that I have the foundation for my personal brand laid out (my website), I have started to research and explore ways to further grow my presence in this online world.
Beyond continuing to add to and improve my website, I have been actively focusing on learning about other methods that I can employ to build my brand and expand my audience. Currently, the areas I have been focusing on over the last couple of weeks include:
- Digital content creation (the purpose of this post)
- Email marketing (a later post to come on this)
(1) is what I want to focus on for this post today.
Digital Content Creation
One area I see a lot of people focusing on who are looking for ways to add to their passive income streams is digital content creation. This is a very broad and open-ended topic since there are quite literally limitless ways you can create digital content. Essentially, if there is a topic that appeals to your audience, then you can turn that appeal into digital content in the form of written or visual content, among others.
So given that digital content creation is so popular, I wanted to dip my toes into this space and see for myself what I could produce.
That’s where the purpose of this post comes in, describing my results after having created my first digital eBook!
Creating My First Ever e-Book
The reason why digital content creation is so popular is because of the potential it has to generate you passive income. When you create some form of digital content, it’s there forever, it doesn’t go away. So even though the process of creating the content in the beginning may take a sizeable amount of time and resources, once it’s finished it’s there to earn you potential income for months, if not years, ahead.
That’s a strong motivation as to why I wanted to try digital content creation out myself.
That’s why I decided to start my content creation journey by creating an eBook, since the barrier to entry is quite low and actually creating an eBook isn’t that difficult.
What Is My e-Book About?
Before I tell you how I created my eBook, let’s first discuss what I decided to actually write it about.
When I was coming up with ideas about what to write my eBook on, I wanted to make it about something that could be insightful and add value to those reading it.
I thought to myself “what is it I can write about that I have experience in that could be of use to others?”.
Then it occurred to me that only recently I started out my own blogging journey.
I have gone from a complete newbie – someone with no previous experience in blogging, to someone who now has their own website and is creating their own personal brand.
Sure, I have a lot to learn still, but the foundation is there for me to build upon.
I had to conduct countless hours of research when I was trying to figure out how to get to where I am today.
And you know what would have been a great help if I had from the start? An eBook that documented and described the process!
You see where I am going with this right?
Yep, that’s right – my first eBook is about setting up your own blog!
Now if you’ve ever considered creating your own blog, I’m sure you’ve come across countless courses or guides that claim to tell you how to do exactly that. So given that this is quite a competitive niche, I was hesitant to write about this topic since there’s so many other guides out there already.
But then when I thought harder about this, I realised that you don’t need to be an expert with years of experience to bring out your own course, guide or eBook. In fact, the whole differentiator between me and some of those “guru’s” out there is that I am an extremely ordinary guy.
The whole point of my eBook is showing those who read it that anyone is capable of creating a blog without any prior experience.
Better yet, you have to remember that I was a university student up until relatively recently where I concluded a sizeable 6 years of study. So my mind is still stuck in the frugal ‘save costs wherever possible’ mentality that is often necessary as a student. I’m always looking for the most cost-effective or ‘bang for your buck’ solution. And because of this, I’m extra focused in my research when it comes to selecting products and services where a cost is involved.
That’s exactly what it was like when I was selecting the services required to start my own blog/website. So because it’s still nice and fresh in my mind, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to turn my lessons learned into an eBook that could help others, and maybe earn me a pretty penny here or there as well.
How I Created My e-Book
Once I had decided what to make my first eBook about, actually creating it didn’t take that much time at all.
But that’s because I more or less had all the content required, it was just a matter of compiling it into one document and formatting it into an eBook. Throughout the process of setting up my own blog, I kept notes of all the research I was doing in anticipation that it could have future use for others. So really it was just a matter of sorting through my notes and personalizing it into an eBook-friendly manner.
So I had the content, but how exactly did I convert this into a professional-looking eBook with a pretty cover and nice looking pages?
Well, I elected the use of an online eBook creator, called Sqribble. Unfortunately, this particular tool isn’t free – it does require a one-time purchase to access their services. But I’d previously heard of other bloggers and digital content creators who use this tool, so I had a basis already and knew the type of content it could produce.
Of course, there are free tools out there that could be used for eBook creation. However, in my mind it wasn’t worth the additional research and time that would be required to create the same level of quality that I knew Sqribble was capable of achieving. So for this reason, the small one-time payment I had to make for Sqribble was more practical for my needs, and you’ll see a bit more as to why this is the case below.
The biggest selling point about Sqribble that got me interested in it was it’s ease of use. It’s incredibly easy to create an eBook within their platform, plus you don’t need to download or install any specialised software – it’s all managed through their online portal. All you have to do is select a template from the options they have on offer, and then literally, drag, drop, copy and paste content to suit your needs – it’s super easy!
So basically, once I had my content in order, the actual process of turning it into an eBook only took a couple of hours thanks to Sqribble. And just so you have some sense of what the eBooks you can create with Sqribble can look like, I’ve provided a snapshot of the first two pages of the eBook I created for your reference.
In terms of how Sqribble works and the simplicities of creating an eBook, I could write a descriptive guide of all the functions and capabilities it offers – but let’s be honest, that would be annoying.
So instead, I’ve taken the liberty of linking a thorough demonstration of all the functions Sqribble offers through the below video. So, if you are interested and want to learn more about Sqribble, this detailed video literally shows you step-by-step how you can drag, drop and replace text to form your eBook within Sqribble.
If after watching it you think it might be something you want to look into and use, then I’ve provided a couple of links that will get you discounted prices, which can be found below the video 🙂
GET SQRIBBLE NOW
Get Sqribble For Just $197 $67 Today!
If Sqribble does sound like it is something that interests you, be sure to use my link below so you get a coupon valued at ~$25 that is further discounted from the sale price.
STILL NOT SURE?
If you aren’t fully set on committing to purchasing the eBook creator without having used it before, Sqribble also offers a 7-day trial for just $3. So this is a nice alternative to test it out before deciding to pay the full price. Plus, if during the course of the 7-day trial you aren’t happy with their services, you can just cancel your trial and get a refund as well, which is nice!
How I Am Selling My e-Book
The great thing about having created an eBook is that it now has the potential to earn me passive income for years to come.
Now, I am not expecting this eBook to sell like hot cakes or anything like that, but knowing that it may earn me a penny here or there is a nice feeling to have.
But if anything, the whole process of me creating this eBook was more of a learning experience to open me up to the world of digital content creation. If it does gain traction and sell, well great! That would be a wonderful added bonus, but if not – I’m still happy with what it’s taught me.
In terms of where I’ve actually listed this eBook, currently I’ve got it up on a number of publishing platforms. So far, these include:
Platform 1: Gumroad (You can view my Gumroad listing at the bottom of this post)
Platform 2: Payhip
Platform 3: Google Play Books
All of these platforms have a wide customer base, which means my listing will be accessible to a large audience, who if are interested, could purchase my eBook.
In terms of pricing, I’m only selling this for $1 to $3 depending on the platform. But the whole purpose of this eBook was not so much about making money, but instead to increase my experience and know-how so that I can create bigger and better products in the future.
In fact, on that note, since you’re showing support by reading this, if you are interested in actually creating your own blog, then you can access most of what is contained in the eBook I created (minus all the bells and whistles of course) in my free 7-day email course that I created in parallel to my eBook.
So if setting up your own blog sounds interesting to you, why not enrol – did I mention it’s free!
Next Steps From Here
I mentioned earlier in this post that there are two areas I’ve been honing in on lately. One of those was digital content creation which we’ve covered now, but I mentioned the other area was email marketing. Now, there is a method to my madness.
There’s a reason why I’ve been looking at both of these topics simultaneously. And that’s because email marketing can be paired with digital content creation just about as nicely as wine can be paired with cheese.
Email marketing is all about boosting your following and gaining subscribers. And one of the best ways to achieve this is to incentivize your audience. You know, give them a reason to listen to whatever it is you’re blabbing on about. And most importantly, give them a reason to stay and continue listening to you.
That’s where digital content creation can come into play. It provides you with the opportunity to offer your audience something in return for taking the time to subscribe and support you.
That’s what I’m working on behind the scenes now, improving my email marketing capabilities. So stay tuned for a future post that will cover email marketing and how I am utilising it in my blogging journey!
Talk to you soon
– Nate
View my eBook listing, or if you’re feeling very generous, you can purchase it here through Gumroad! 🙂
