Here are 6 ways you can start selling e-books. Most of them are free and easy to follow. Some will require expertise or a modest investment. In any case, the benefits and profit from selling e-books make it worthwhile to try them all.

Selling e-Books on Your Blog

Writing comes natural to eBook authors. Blogging is an easy way to turn your writing skills into a traffic magnet, attracting prospects to your website where they can get your eBook.

Blogger.com offers a simple blogging system that is easy to learn and effective at pulling readers to your blog. Write about topics related to your eBook, include a 'soft sell' pitch for your eBook, and then provide a link selling e-books on your blog.

Selling e-Books to Your List

if you already have a mailing list of subscribers, previous buyers or prospects, you can start selling e-books to your list. Just a simple email or letter mailed to them can result in a fair number of them buying your e-books.

Start building your list today. When you write articles, invite readers to join your list. When you create special reports, ask for contact details before handing over the report. Offer to mail out a sample chapter of your eBook to anyone who gives you their mailing address.

Selling e-Books through Joint Ventures

Even if you're starting out with no list, no contacts and no marketing budget, you can leverage your relationship with other 'players' in your niche by selling e-books to their contacts.

Approach the top names in your niche. Offer to help them out. Write an article for their website. Create a report they can give away. Proof read their writing. Do anything else that builds rapport. Then ask if they will help in selling e-books to their list, even share in the profits.

Selling e-Books via Classified Ads

Not easy to do, but could work in some markets. A lot depends on the content of your eBook, the nature of your audience and the power of your ad copy.

Place your classified ad on websites, in newsletters, evinces, even print them in your local newspaper or run cable TV and radio ads. Well targeted audiences will buy in large numbers through such exposure.

Selling e-Books on Forums

online communities are good places for advertising and selling e-books - though you'll have to be smart about doing it. You can't walk into a discussion group and blatantly pitch your eBook.

Instead, participate meaningfully in discussions. Share your expertise and insight into topics being debated. Casually, even 'accidentally', slip in a mention of the eBook you've just written on the topic. Then, offer a way for readers to buy it if they like - most often by including a link to your sales website in your signature link.

Selling e-Books by Direct Mail

Expensive, if you don't know what you're doing - but potentially very profitable if you do. The advantage is you can target your audience by interest, and avoid the clutter of web-based or email advertising. The drawback is the cost of printing and mailing out advertising copy, and the expertise needed to convert a meaningful number into buyers.