Publishing E-Books For Dummies

Including Crucial Elements on Your E-Book’s Sales Page

Whatever type of e-book you’ve written — whether it’s a specialist, in-depth nonfiction guide or a genre novel — you need to put in place on your sales page all the essential elements described in this section.

A clear explanation of your e-book

Readers need to know what they’re buying. That means giving them more than simply your e-book’s title and its cover image. It might seem obvious to you what your e-book’s about, but don’t make assumptions about what the reader is and isn’t familiar with.

For example, if you’ve written a thriller novel, use the word thriller somewhere in your description. (You probably want to be more specific, too. Is it a psychological thriller? A supernatural thriller? A technothriller?) Offer readers a hook to entice them — in the way that the blurb on the back of a book does.

If your e-book is nonfiction, clearly explain its scope. Rather than say that it’s “advanced” or “for beginners” (which are rather subjective measurements), try to indicate the level that the reader should already have reached. If you’ve written a guide to basic plumbing, for example, you might simply say, “I walk you through it step-by-step, and I don’t expect you to have experience.” If you’ve written an advanced e-book on website design, you might say, “I assume that you have a working knowledge of HTML and CSS.”

Explain how the e-book will be provided. You might need to offer extra guidance if your readers may not be used ...