Sell your first e-book without an online shop

For many business owners, an e-book is the first product they sell. It makes sense: the knowledge is already there. You need time to put it on the page.

The tricky part is selling it. You have a PDF on your desktop, then you start wondering whether you need an online shop, a checkout, a delivery email and a new accounting setup. You do not. Here is how to sell an e-book without a shop, from choosing the content and price to delivering the file and getting your first order.

Why you don’t need an online shop

An online shop handles stock, shipping, sizes and colours. You need none of that for a digital file, yet you still pay to maintain the shop and make your buyer go through a basket.

You need a page that shows your e-book, a button to pay through iDEAL and an email that delivers the file after payment. Those three things are already in one link page.

This is how you sell from your Instagram bio without anyone leaving your page. How that works is explained below digital products.

What makes an e-book worth buying

The difference between an e-book that sells and a PDF that no one wants is in the promise, not the length.

What works is one problem, fully worked out. “How to find your first ten coaching clients in eight weeks” sells. “All about coaching” doesn’t sell because no one knows what they’re paying for.

Thirty to eighty pages is enough. More doesn’t make it more valuable and it makes it more likely that someone won’t finish reading it, which means they won’t buy your next product. Rather, include a worksheet or template that someone can use immediately.

How to make it

Write it in a tool you already use and export it as a PDF. You can make a cover in Canva. Don’t pay for design before you know whether people want the topic.

One thing is worth it: put your name, your website and a reference to your other offers on the last page. An e-book is circulated and each copy should point back to you.

What to charge

For a first e-book, consider charging €19 to €39 including VAT. It is an accessible price for someone who already sees the value.

If you go lower, you work too hard for too little and attract buyers who mainly want cheap. If you go higher, someone will want to know who you are and what others thought about it. You don’t have that yet with your first.

Here is an example. An e-book costs € 29 and four posts bring a hundred visitors to your page in a month. Ten orders make € 290 in revenue. On Free, Findori charges 5%, or € 14.50, before Mollie transaction fees. On Growth at € 10 per month, the Findori fee on digital products is 0%, so € 290 remains before Mollie fees. The figures are rounded and based on patterns I have seen across several customers.

How delivery and payment work

This is the step many business owners dread, but it can be the simplest part.

Connect your Mollie account to accept iDEAL, card payments and whichever other methods you enable. Once the buyer pays and Mollie confirms the payment, Findori Links emails them the file. You do not have to deliver it manually, even at three in the morning.

The file is located behind the order and not at a public address, so it does not circulate automatically. No one can completely stop it and this makes a significant difference.

What you need to know about VAT

If you sell an e-book to a Dutch consumer as a business, VAT generally applies. Cross-border digital sales to EU consumers have their own rules and thresholds. Ask your accountant which rate and reporting method apply to you.

Show the total price including VAT so buyers know what they will pay. Before you launch, ask your accountant to check your setup. Findori Links records the price, VAT rate and VAT country on each order at the time of purchase.

How to sell the first one

1. Put your e-book on your link page, with the price, three points about what is in it and a sample page as an image.
2. Connect Mollie and place one trial order with your own card or iDEAL, so that you see the email your buyer receives.
3. Put it in your bio, with one line about the promise.
4. Create three posts in which you each give away one piece from the book. Those who find that useful want the rest.
5. Email your list, if you have one, with the discount week in it.
6. After two weeks, look at visitors and orders and adjust your price or your promise.

Create your link page for free and put your e-book on it. If it sells, then the course on the same subject is your next step, as in launch your first online course.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an ISBN for an e-book?

Not for sales from your own page. You need an ISBN for bookstores and libraries. If you sell yourself, you don’t have to.

Can I also sell my e-book in a store like Amazon?

You can use this alongside your own sales. Bear in mind that a share of the sale is deducted and you do not get to see the customer relationship yourself. Selling from your own page gives you the buyer’s contact details so you can offer your next product later.

What file format do I deliver it in?

PDF is the most convenient for most buyers, because it opens on every phone and laptop. If you also supply an EPUB, please include both files with the same order.

What if someone wants their money back?

You may exclude the cooling-off period for digital products if your buyer expressly agrees to this in advance and you record this. Arrange that in your conditions and be generous with someone who is genuinely dissatisfied, because that will cost you € 29 once and it will give you a good story.

How many followers do I need?

You can start with a few hundred followers. See the calculation in how many followers you need to earn money on Instagram.