If you have spent any time on the internet you have probably come across the phrase 'e-book' and you may have even downloaded one. So just what the heck is an e-book and why in the wide world of sports would you want to write one?

An e-book is simply a book whose contents are in an electronic format. With the explosive growth of the internet, e-books have carved out a niche for self-published writers. There are no expensive production costs, no having to dig up a publishing deal and NO REJECTION. You can write what you want and distribute it on your website or someone else's.

That also means that you are responsible to deliver on the success of your e-book. Your content, the topic(s) that you are writing about should be relevant to something you are knowledgeable about and already has an existing market. Another option is looking for business opportunities in the marketplace that bigger companies are overlooking. For example, the current rage on the internet is online dating, but it is mostly targeted towards young people, what about creating an e-book on successful dating tips for seniors? You could tie in a dating service and all kinds of extras.

The advantages of selling an e-book are hard to beat; no shipping charges, instant download for the customer, instant cash for you and most importantly a source of passive income that works for you even while you sleep. Passive income simply means earnings which you are not actively involved in. Once you have developed your e-book and have a digital distribution method for it, you are no longer actively involved in the operation of it. You can just sit back and watch your bank account get bigger. Go for a trip or on holidays, it doesn't matter, this will still make money from you even when you are not there.

Now that you have a general understanding of what an e-book is and why creating one can help generate wealth for you and your family, there are some options that you can use to distribute it. You can sell it on a website, have it bundled as a bonus for another product you are selling, or use it as a promotional item like a free course to help build your subscriber list.

If you have a website and you are selling items on it already (e-commerce) than you probably know all about Clickbank at www.clickbank.com. If you do not have a sales mechanism in place, ClickBank is the way to go. They take care of all the credit card sales, they have an affiliate network and they have an existing marketplace for you to add your product. All you have to do is set an account with them and they will generate the HTML code for you to place in your website that allows people to order your product online. Once this is set-up, it is an automatic process, customers order your e-book and ClickBank sends you a cheque.