Sell your ebook or guide straight from your bio

Short, practical guides that promise one clear outcome. Fans buying from a phone want something they can use this week: "The 6-Week Beginner Running Plan" or "30 Brand Pitch Emails That Got Replies". Aim for 20 to 60 pages, with checklists, examples and templates rather than long essays, and a title that names the result.

Formats that do well for creators:

• Playbooks: your step-by-step method, with screenshots of how you actually do it.
• Collections: 50 recipes, 30 hooks, 12 workouts. Easy to skim, easy to value.
• Itineraries and city guides: your real spots, with addresses and maps.
• Workbooks: prompts and exercises the reader fills in, often printed.
• Swipe files: real examples the reader adapts, such as captions, emails or scripts.

Use a PDF. It looks the same on every phone, tablet and laptop, keeps your layout and fonts, and opens without anything to install. EPUB reflows text to fit e-readers, which suits long novels but breaks designed pages, tables and checklists. If readers ask for EPUB, add one to a ZIP alongside the PDF.

Preparing the PDF:

1. Design pages at A4 or US Letter if readers may print them, or at a 4:5 portrait size if it is mostly read on phones.
2. Use body text of at least 11 point, with short paragraphs and clear headings.
3. Export with "reduce file size" or screen quality; aim for under 20 MB so it opens quickly on mobile data.
4. Add clickable links to any tools or videos you mention, and a contents page that links to each chapter.
5. Name the file after the book. Buyers receive it in lower case with hyphens, such as the-6-week-running-plan.pdf.

Canva, Google Docs, Pages and Word all export a decent PDF. Canva is the quickest way to a designed look if you start from one of its ebook layouts.

Most creator ebooks sell for £7 to £29. Price by the value of the outcome and how specialist the knowledge is, not by page count. A 25-page guide that helps someone land their first paid brand deal can reasonably cost more than a 120-page general book.

Rough guide:

• Mini guide, 10 to 20 pages: £5 to £9. A good second product or order bump.
• Core guide, 25 to 60 pages: £12 to £24.
• Playbook with templates or worksheets: £19 to £39.

On a £12 ebook bought with a UK card you keep £11.62; at £24 you keep £23.44. stall.bio takes nothing, so that is Stripe's fee only.

In the UK, e-books and other e-publications have been zero-rated for VAT since 1 May 2020, the same as printed books. If you are VAT registered and your store sells only ebooks, the VAT on those sales is 0%. Workbooks meant mainly to be written in, and planners or diaries, can fall outside that relief.

stall.bio applies one VAT rate to your whole store. If you sell a mix of zero-rated ebooks and standard-rated products such as presets, talk to an accountant about how to set your rate and report the difference. EU countries set their own rates on e-books, and VAT on sales to EU consumers follows the buyer's country.

Design the cover for a thumbnail. It shows as a small square on your store and a wide banner on the product page, so the title must still read at thumbnail size with the key image in the middle. Use two or three words in large type, one strong photo or colour, and nothing in the corners.

A mock-up of the book on a tablet or phone helps buyers understand it is a digital file. Export the cover as a JPG or WebP, around 1600 by 1000 pixels and well under the 10 MB limit.

Tom coaches beginner runners and has 9,000 TikTok followers. He packages his plan as follows.

• Free lead magnet: "Your First 5K: Week 1", a three-page PDF, so followers can try the method.
• Main ebook: "The 6-Week Beginner Running Plan", 42 pages, at £14. The subtitle reads "42 pages · 18 sessions · stretching guide · PDF".
• Order bump: a printable training log for £3.
• Reviews: three quotes from runners who finished it, each with the time they ran.

His TikTok bio says "Free week 1 of my plan ↓" with his stall.bio link. People who claim the free week see the paid plan as the next card on his store. Tom is a made-up example to show the set-up.

Before you publish:

• The title names the result the reader gets.
• There is a linked contents page and the chapters are short.
• Every link inside the PDF has been clicked and works.
• The PDF is under 20 MB and opens on your own phone.
• The file is named after the book, not "final-v3"; it arrives in lower case with hyphens.
• The cover title is readable as a small square.
• The subtitle lists the page count and format.
• The description lists what is inside as bullet points.
• Your VAT setting is right for e-publications, if you are registered.
• A free sample chapter is set up as a lead magnet.
• A smaller companion, such as a printable log or checklist, is ready as an order bump.