Do people still read marketing ebooks? Does anyone care?

According to NetLine's 2024 State of Content Consumption report, ebooks are STILL the most popular content format for B2B professionals, representing 39.5% of all demand—with registrations increasing 34.5% over the previous year.

Yes, people still read marketing ebooks. Yes, they do care.

And despite the fact that my eyes glaze over when I open most ebooks, people still find them useful.

Or, shall I say, people still HOPE to find them useful.

That single word — HOPE — sums up my philosophy on ebooks (and on all content, really).

My philosophy is that, despite the crappy shape of most of the ebooks I download these days, people download them by the dozens because they HOPE.

They hope to get useful nuggets.

They hope to understand, in a deeper way, whatever topic the ebook covers.

They hope to be inspired, to be motivated, and to see themselves reaching new heights.

And they hope to do so without having to trudge through walls of text, without having to struggle through bloated paragraphs thick with jargon, without having to feel the frustration of yet another ebook written without empathy for them in mind.

At least, that’s how I approach each ebook I download—and I download a lot of them.

But, in most cases, my hope turns out to be empty.

In most cases, I get ebooks that make me feel like this:

Can you relate?

If so, allow me to restore your hope by introducing you to the most amazing ebook I’ve ever seen.

One day, while wallowing in this ebook sickness … this plague of poor content … I came across an ebook so amazing, so astounding, that I determined right then and there never to create an ebook in “the old way” again.

The ebook “sounds” long at 48 pages, but I read it in less than 10 minutes. More importantly, I enjoyed every minute of it. And I understood and retained what I read.

Here it is, the ebook that changed my outlook on ebooks: The New B2B Marketing Manifesto by Velocity Partners.

What’s so amazing about it?

Here are just a few ways that this ebook pleases me.​

And I haven’t even mentioned the writing itself. Don’t get me started!

Bottom line? The key to creating an excellent ebook is to take the time to do the work for your readers so they don’t have to do it themselves.

• Break things up.

• Use smaller chunks of content.

• Make the pages look light and airy.

• Use appropriate imagery.

• Annotate graphics so readers quickly get the message.

• Use bullet points.

• Say YES to large headings.

• Say NO to $5 words and jargon.

Yes, your readers are smart.

They can figure out what you’re saying — if they try.

And therein lies the kicker – IF they try.

Your readers are not only smart. They’re busy. Super busy. And if given a choice between reading an ebook that looks like this:

Or an ebook that looks like this:

Which would you choose?

I think you know which style I’d choose!

If you’re reading this because you’re considering purchasing one of my ebook development packages, I hope you’ve been inspired and uplifted, whether we ultimately work together or not.