How to Create an eBook Lead Magnet

Seven Steps to Publishing an eBook Lead Magnet Without Writing a Word (Almost)

An ebook lead magnet can be an effective device for attracting and engaging with qualified prospects, as a result, Small businesses can benefit greatly from publishing their own ebooks.

Oh great! Another marketihg expense.

Don’t worry – our how-to-create ebooks process won’t be expensive or involve even a second of writing. (Well maybe a few seconds, minutes, but not much.) 

Self-publishing is as old as publishing itself. In the past, a few publishing companies used to dominate the book market (including ebooks), but since Amazon launched Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) in early 2008, the ebook market has been open to anyone interested in sharing valuable information.

What does this mean for marketers?

All this demand tells us that it’s the perfect time for small businesses to become self-published authors. It also tells us that prospects will value an ebook lead magnet.

With our seven-step how-to-create ebooks technique, any small business can create an attractive ebook and afford to be super-flexible about its pricing. This approach will allow you to produce ebook lead magnets quickly and with hardly any effort.

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How to Create Ebooks

Step 1 – Choose a Topic That Resonates with Your Audience

When creating an eBook, the first step is crucial: choose a topic that truly matters to your target audience.

As we’ve just covered, you can do this the old-fashioned way, but since you’re one cool dude, here’s how to use AI to uncover the perfect topic.

Use an AI to Analyze a Subreddit

Reddit is home to vibrant, topic-specific communities where people share genuine concerns, ideas, and questions. These discussions are a content marketing goldmine. Use subreddits to identify what resonates most with your audience.

Here’s a simple, actionable approach.

1. Identify Relevant Subreddits
   Find a subreddit your ideal customers are likely to frequent. For instance, if you own a small fitness business, check out subreddits like r/fitness or r/bodyweightfitness. Many of the subreddits are large, so adding a search term into the process may be useful. For example, we have a client with a line of fitness equipment that senior golfers can use to reduce pain and improve performance. The r/golf subreddit is huge: 1.4 million members. So, we use the search terms ‘senior’ and ‘fitness’ to give us a more focused set of threads to review.

3. Run an AI Analysis
   Use an AI tool to analyze these discussions. Tools like ChatGPT or others can extract key themes, trending questions, or common pain points by analyzing recent posts or threads. Copy the URL, which includes the search terms, paste the URL into the AI, and ask the AI to analyze the thread and list the top concerns with a brief description.
4. Quoting Real Consumer Language
   One powerful advantage of analyzing subreddits is finding authentic consumer language. Look for comments or phrases that stand out and resonate with your audience. These can be incorporated into your eBook’s title, headings, or promotional material, making it feel like a direct response to your audience’s needs. For example, if a user asks, “How can I grow my Instagram followers without spending money on ads?” you might title your eBook “Grow Your Instagram Followers – No Ads Required”
   
   If you are using an AI to facilitate the research, ask it to pull quotes from the topic area that you want to use for your ebook.
5. Validate and Refine
   After identifying a potential topic, validate it in two ways. First, considering your expertise, are you qualified to be writing the ebook? And once you’ve picked a topic, create some social media posts or use your email newsletter to ask folks what they think. If you don’t get engagement, you should either refine your title or look for another topic. To succeed, the topic you pick must be relevant and engaging.

Step 2 – Create an Outline 

Write an outline about your product, service, or any other information you want to share in your ebook lead magnet. The outline should be headlines, subheads, and a brief description of your message. Nothing fancy.

Outline Structure

What are the concepts your ebook wants to convey? Jot down five to six basic concepts.

So, you have 5-6 major concepts (sub/topics).

Under these concepts, you have 5-6 more bullet points (action items). 

A total of 25 items topics to speak about. 

Keep it simple. Write these paragraphs in the basic draft. Just a few lines to keep you on track for the next step. 

For more guidance, the folks at Designrr wrote an article that describes how to write an ebook lead magnet (affiliate link) well. Later in the post, we’ll discuss Designrr’s services.

Step 3 – Talk and Record 

Use the outline as your guide and record yourself talking about each item on the document.

Think closely about the topics in the draft document. Experts of particular fields won’t have any trouble speaking their minds on specified topics, and you are an expert in your field. The draft will keep you from straying off-topic. If you spend one and a half minutes speaking on each sub-topic, you’ll have anywhere between 37.5 minutes and 45 minutes of recorded content. If that content is transcribed to text, you’ll get at least 50 pages of reading material. That’s the average length of the best-selling self-published ebook on Amazon. 

Silence everything, put your phone in airplane mode, get close to the microphone, do a few trials, and start recording. Don’t read off the draft – talk as if you’re giving a presentation in front of an audience. The objective is to speak as much as possible about each topic and sub-topic within two to five minutes. Does the teacher ever take on too many topics in one class? No, and neither should you. Explain each topic in detail, use examples, and try to be concise and clear. 

Step 4 – Transcribe the Recordings

Now, you have 45 minutes of valuable content in your hands. It’s time to get the audio transcribed. Google Docs offers a free audio recording transcribing service. This feature doesn’t produce high-quality results (the speech-to-text algorithm is weak), but it’s a good platform for practice, and free is always nice. Otter.ai has a free option that may be sufficient. The paid subscription isn’t expensive, so if you expect to do this often, it will be worth the investment, as Otter.ai will do a good job transcribing your audio file.

For higher quality, we recommend using services like Rev.com (affiliate link) for professional-grade transcribing. This company doesn’t offer free transcribing, but its services are the best in the market. For as little as $1.50 per minute for human transcription (99% accurate), you can get a spelling/grammar error-free document containing timestamps, labeled speaker names, and no verbatim speech (‘uh’, ‘like’, etc.). Automated transcription (90% accurate) is only $.25 per minute.

Step 5 – Receive But Don’t Read the Transcriptions 

Get an Editor/Proofreader Involved

You will need help from grammar experts (proofreaders) to ensure your ebook draft is error-free and reads well. Websites like Grammarly.com offer human proofreaders who can convert the transcript into a document that’s easy to read. You can also use Upwork to find editors and proofreaders. If you send the draft to an SEO expert, even better. ebooks full of keywords are easier to find using Google search. Have these third-party experts create the first draft. Don’t expect to spend more than $50 on these services. 

Review and Adjust the Edited Copy

Read the resulting document. If you still aren’t pleased with the document, send it to a professional editor. Most freelance ebook editors work for $20-$30 per hour. To edit a 45-60-minute-long document, they’ll charge $40 – $50. Do an edit of your own as well. Make sure the content published is accurate, useful, and informational. Receive the final edited version of the transcript. 

The ebook lead magnet is coming into existence.

Step 6 – Give the Final Copy to a Designer

Now, the final copy is ready to be converted into a downloadable resource. Look at some of the best-selling ebooks on Amazon—they all have appealing designs, images, charts, etc. Your ebook must also have a cover and a call to action.

Finding a Designer

Some designers specialize in book design. Given the design’s impact on engagement and sales, this will be worth the investment. If you are using the book as a lead magnet, then any competent designer can do the job. The lowest cost option is to use one of the many thousand cover design templates available in Canva. There’s more on Canva below.

Design Stuff That Matters

• Visually appealing covers
• Words clarifying the intended audience (for instance, an ebook on physical fitness should feature those two words on the cover) 
• Author Page with social media links
• Table of Contents
• Text treatment – headlines, subheads, paragraphs, font selection, and weights

If you plan to sell your ebook on Amazon’s Kindle Store, you’ll have to conform to certain format-related requirements. The Kindle store prefers ebooks with simple designs, limited illustrations, and formatting. Consider these details before deciding whether or not you should add illustrations.

If you plan to use your ebook in your marketing efforts, more on this later, then images will boost the ebook’s appeal.

Remember to end the ebook with a Call to Action. Mention your website or social media profile and tell your readers what you want them to do.

Consistency is King

Marketers who use ebooks as vital parts of their content strategies must establish easily identifiable brand styles. Take this consistent approach while deciding on your ebook’s design. Ask a designer for a professional-looking design. Choose carefully if you want to reuse this design for your next ebook.

Take good note of the design elements. For the next ebook, you will want to use the same fonts, sizes, color schemes, border styles, etc. The long-term aim should be to implement a consistent branding style in all of your marketing materials. Don’t forget to ensure the ebook file is compatible with tabs, mobiles, and other e-reading devices!

Finally, if you want to DIY your ebook lead magnet’s design, you can use many resources online to jump-start the process. For example, the good folks at HubSpot provide 18 free templates that will get started. Canva is another good resource. I did a quick search and found twenty thousand templates. Another resource to consider is Designrr (affiliate link). They have a simple-to-use online tool that includes hundreds of templates. You can use existing content like blog posts or several other formats. I used Designrr to produce a 15-page ebook based on our Mid-Funnel Marketing post. Use the button below to download the ebook I created.

Step 7 – Publish the Ebook

Now you have options.

Do you want to sell your ebook?  

It’s understandable why so many self-publishing authors choose Amazon’s Kindle Direct Self-Publishing platform. It currently holds 67% of the worldwide ebook market share so making your content exclusive to that platform is definitely worth it. You can even qualify for their KDP Select program which allows authors to freely promote their products to Kindle subscribers (members of the Kindle Unlimited subscription service).

However, in many countries like Germany or Australia, Amazon’s command over the ebook market isn’t as strong as it is in the UK or the US. So, choosing to avoid Amazon exclusivity is an equally promising option. Platforms like Barnes & Noble Press, Google Play Books, or iBooks (Apple) don’t offer as many marketing perks as Amazon. But not all ebook readers frequent Amazon. So, diversifying your ebook publishing options is certainly a good strategy.

We would suggest analyzing the performance of the ebook on all the top platforms. Then, give exclusivity to the platform that attracts the greatest number of readers for your ebook. 

If selling the book through traditional channels isn’t your objective, how can you use it within digital marketing?

Read on for the answer…

How to Use Ebook Lead Magnets – A Powerful Weapon in the World of Digital Marketing

Repurpose

Parts of your transcripts can be edited and used as blog posts. Remember the “Winning Digital Customers” ebook example? Why not take out certain sub-topics from this ebook, load the content up with keywords, and publish it as a blog on your business website? You can even conclude the blog by redirecting readers to the ebook’s download link. A CTA for such a blog post should read something like – “To read more, get the complete ebook!” Another way to use an ebook as a lead magnet.

Ebook Lead Magnet

Every reader of your ebook is a potential lead. Use the perceived value as a mid-funnel microtransaction that builds trust and builds your list; give us your email for this valuable ebook.

Ebooks as Part of the Marketing Funnel

By adding call-to-actions at the end of your ebook, you can propel readers further down the marketing funnel. As long as the call-to-actions are relevant to everything discussed in the ebook, users are guaranteed to click on them. Hopefully, they’ll make the purchases you suggest. 

Ebooks as Offers 

“Book a call with us and we’ll send you this 60-page ebook.” – who wouldn’t be attracted to such an offering? Ebooks can be used as free or low-cost offerings to attract qualified prospects.

Ebooks as Products

You aren’t going to sell the ebook through a traditional channel, but that doesn’t mean you can’t sell it. An ebook can be a product that’s sold in your online store. It can also be used as an order bump in a sales funnel. It can be used as a product in a conversion campaign, which can often pay for the media or go a long way toward paying for the media. Imagine that! Media is paid for by the revenue generated by the ebook and you gain a qualified, warm prospect.

Ebooks as Rewards

The fourth relationship marketing principle says “Good customers expect to be rewarded.” Your ebook is a fine way to say thank you. Give a copy to your best customers. Bring value to the relationship that goes beyond transactional benefits.

Create a White Label Version of the Ebook

Why not allow resellers to insert their branding details into your ebook? You’ll receive a percentage of their sales. Plus, the resellers’ readers get exposed to your brand without you putting in any effort. It’s a win-win! We’ve had small business marketing consultants ask us if they can co-branded our ebook, Journey to Success: Digital Marketing for Small Business Owners.

Share Ebook Content on Other Channels

You can record yourself reading the ebook for podcasts, social media videos, etc. ebooks give authors a stamp of authority. Readers realize that the author is a “legit” source of information. Users who listen to your podcasts or watch your marketing videos on the internet can find your ebook and get exposed to your brand. 

Give Audio and Video Presentations

Record yourself giving presentations based on the information in the ebook. At the end of the presentations, direct viewers/listeners to your website or ask them to download or purchase the ebook. 

Create Presentation Slides

Use the ebook outline you created in step one to create presentation slides. You can also outsource this to a contractor on Upwork. With your outline and the finished ebook, a freelancer specializing in presentation slides can quickly (inexpensively) produce a high-quality presentation.

Conclusion – How to Create an Ebook Lead Magnet

Using modern technology and internet-based resources, anyone with a book idea can create an ebook and even become a self-publisher. The investment is small (usually less than $750), and the ROI is high. Ebooks provide monetary and non-monetary returns that far exceed the investment required to create them.

This seven-step how-to-create ebooks technique offers small businesses the perfect way to add value to marketing efforts.

Author: James Hipkin

Since 2010, James Hipkin has built his clients’ businesses with digital marketing. Today, James is passionate about websites and helping the rest of us understand online marketing. His customers value his jargon-free, common-sense approach. “James explains the ins and outs of digital marketing in ways that make sense.”

Use this link to book a meeting time with James.