How to Create and Sell Digital Products Like E-books & Courses

As we shift toward a more digital economy, marketing digital products can be a way to create passive income, foster the sharing of knowledge and expertise, and build a personal or professional brand. Whether you consider yourself an expert in a particular subject, you’re a creative and looking for ways to monetize your craft, or you’re an entrepreneur looking for scalable models of business, digital products are low-risk, highly scalable, and can reach a worldwide audience.

In this article, I will walk you through the entire process of creating, marketing and selling digital products like e-books and online courses — even if you don’t have any content to start with.

Step 1: Select Your Niche and Audience

Identify Your Skills & Interests

Make a list of your skills, subjects you know a lot about, and things you like to do. You want your digital product to be about topics that you feel confident speaking about and are enthusiastic about. Consider the areas where your friends and family most frequently ask for your help or guidance.

Test The Market

Before you waste any time or money – wait until you know you have a market. Use the following research tools:

• Google Trends
• Amazon Kindle Store (if it is an e-book)
• Udemy of Coursera (if it is an online course)
• Reddit (for questions around the community)
• Quora (for questions around the community)
• Keyword research tools (Ahrefs, Ubersuggest)

You should search for problems that people are actively investigating and think about if and how your digital product could solve those problems.

Step 2: Choose Between an E-book, Online Course, or Both

E-books

• Good for a more in-depth understanding of subjects.
• Great for thought leadership and building email lists.
• E-books are relatively inexpensive to create.
• You can sell on Amazon Kindle, Gumroad, Payhip, or your own website.

Online Courses

• Better for visual/audio based learners with a step-by-step process.
• Perceived value for online courses is higher, so the course can be sold at a premium.
• You can use Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, Skillshare, etc. to host, manage, and sell.

Pro Tip: Consider doing both! Create an online course with a bonus e-book or an e-book with a bonus online course for added perceived value.

Step 3: Build Your Digital Product

For E-books:

• Outline Your Material: Decompose the topic into chapters or sections.
• Write Consistently: Leverage tools like Google Docs, Scrivener, or Notion to compose your material.
• Edit & Proofread: Use Grammarly or hire an editor.
• Design a Professional Layout:

Use a layout tool like Canva, Vellum, or InDesign.

Ensure it’s readable across all screen interfaces (PDF, EPUB, MOBI).

• Create an Intentional Cover: Spoiler alert: People do judge a book by its cover.

For online courses:

• Outline Your Course: Break the course into modules and lessons.
• Prepare Scripts or Bullets: Know what you’ll say and show in each video.
• Create Your Course’s Content:

Use a screen recording tool (Loom, Camtasia, or OBS) for deliberate capture of your digital content.

Deploy a good microphone, good lighting, and a good recording setup.

• Edit Your Videos: Tools to use are Final Cut Pro, iMovie, or DaVinci Resolve (to simply polish your lesson content).

• Most often you’ll want either:

Supporting materials, such as:

Worksheets, quizzes, slides, and PDFs.

Upload your materials to servers, like Teachable, Thinkific, or Kajabi.

Step 4: create the channel to sell.

E-books

• Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP): They have tremendous audience reach, but it is low margin.
• Gumroad or Payhip: Good for all independent creators. You have full control of pricing and customer information.
• Your own website: Use WordPress + WooCommerce or even shopify for 100% control.

Online courses

• Self-hosted platforms (Teachable, Thinkific, Podia): Good branding, good flexibility, and you get to monetize.
• Marketplace platforms (Udemy, Skillshare): They already have audiences built-in, but you have very limited control over pricing.

Step 5: Price Your Product Appropriately

• When deciding on pricing think about perceived value, competitors’ guidance pricing, and if your audience can afford to pay.
• E-books will generally be $5 – $30.
• Courses can be priced from $50 and higher, depending on depth/allure.

Use pricing psychology:

• Give different tiers (basic, pro, premium).
• Have a limited offer discount or bonus to create urgency.

Step 6: Promote Your Product

Building an Audience

There are a number of things you can do to start building your community before you ever launch your product.

• Social Media: The best platforms to build an audience: Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
• Blogging or Youtube: Start a blog or Youtube channel.
• Email List: Grow a list using a lead magnet (free mini e-book, checklist, or webinar).

Launch Plan

Don’t forget to build anticipation

• Pre-Launch Tease: Create some excitement with behind-the-scenes updates.
• Soft Launch: First, give access to your beta users or email subscribers only.
• Hard Launch: Create with email campaigns, social media posts and ads, webinaars, and partnerships.

Marketing Platforms

• Content Marketing: Blog or video or podcast.
• Email Marketing: Mailchimp, ConvertKit, or Beehiiv is possible.
• Affiliate Markting: Allow your course or book to be promoted by someone else and pay them a commission.
• Paid Ads: Facebook Ads, Google Ads, YouTube Ads, all will give you effective exposure for your readers/customer demographic.

Step 7: Optimize and Scale

Get Feedback

• Encourage reviews or testimonials.
• Examine where users interact, where users drop off, and the features they enjoy most.
• Make adjustments accordingly to both your product and marketing.

Upsell and Cross-sell

• Offer coaching, templates, advanced offerings, or membership access.
• Bundle products to give discounts on related items.

Automate Sales Funnel

• Use automation software like ConvertKit or ActiveCampaign to deliver ongoing lead-nurturing if you’d like.
• Evergreen funnels with time-limited offers are a great way to keep selling on autopilot.

Conclusion

Creating and selling your own digital products, like eBooks or online courses, is one of the best ways to build a scalable, sustainable online business. Although there is some initial work to do to plan, create, and promote your product, the benefits of building passive income while emerging as an authority with a global audience will pay off, for sure.

Start small, iterate quickly, and focus on delivering genuine value. Eventually, consistency, the right tools, and a desire to serve others with what you love can lead to significant transformations in both your business, as well as your audience’s life.