Creators can upload an e-book to sell with just about any content and following. Downloadable e-books are one of the most versatile digital products and applicable to any industry. We’ve seen tons—vrom how-to guides, poems, fiction, e-zines (digital magazines), sheet music, and many more. Aspiring writer Robert McEwen shares how publishing his children’s story book as a downloadable digital product has been game changing.
From 100’s of hardback books…
Beginning his writing hustle and publishing his first ever story book for children in 2014, Robert felt inspired by the virtues and life lessons he teaches his son—such as honor and courage. He printed several hundred and hosted several readings at children’s book shops, selling copies and spreading the word. Although this was an enriching experience, Robert found it challenging to reach communities further than his hometown. Plus, printing and publishing a book is a huge investment, with financial risk involved.
To unlimited digital e-books
Robert needed to rethink his approach and explore other avenues. With the introduction of digital products on Teespring, Robert saw his chance. Distributing his children’s book by sharing a simple URL on social media meant no risk, no expense and allows him to spread the word worldwide. Plus, he benefits from high profits with zero expenses incurred, and freedom to release more e-books which are easily accessible with instant delivery to all fans (or readers). Creating his e-book digitally also opened up the opportunity to collaborate with illustrators worldwide to work on the cartoon-like imagery, complimenting his writing and enhancing the product. Young Spartacus: Virtues Of a Warrior is compatible with a kindle, a tablet, and mobile device and accessible to all readers easily and quickly.
For writers and authors, selling downloadable e-books makes for an incredibly innovative way to test and experiment with their work. By sharing online, creators can very simply gage their popularity, measure engagement, track sales, and get fast feedback. Start by arranging your content into .pdf or .jpeg format, test it out on your devices, then upload it to the Digital Launcher. Designing a book cover and selecting a few sneak-peek pages is also a good idea for your product preview images shown on your digital listing.
Digitally publish (upload to the digital launcher 😉) your e-book ready to start sharing in 2021 and head to Robert’s store to check it out.
Find mock-up templates for your listings, as well as design tools helping you to create digital products from scratch, with no design experience needed.
We’ve teamed up with Placeit to offer you 20% off your subscription, giving you unlimited access to high quality mock-up templates for showcasing your digital products. Your Placeit subscription also gives you access to their digital product design tools.
Find a variety of helpful (completely free) designs below on Placeit that allow you to pick designs and customize them to sell. Use the links below to create these digital products without using any software.
Creating a collection of effective mock-up images is a powerful tool for providing high quality imagery to show your digital product in action, demonstrate its usability, and showcase your amazing designs. If you don’t have a subscription yet for Placeit, find freebies by clicking the images below.
Free poster templates
Free macbook templates
Free phone templates
Free tablet templates
Photo filters and image presets
Consider utilizing image collaging apps such as Canva or Layout
Provide product preview images that show the ‘before and after’, so your fans will know what to expect
Show collages of the filter applied to your own images
Ebook
Feature a preview image of your book cover to generate interest for the valuable content inside
Select a few pages of your book and drop them into an image to make it clear that your product is to be used on certain devices such as an ipad (and is an ebook, not a physical paper book)
As well as the templates linked below (access by clicking the images), try out these free tablet mock-up templates.
Digital planner
Showcase the planner’s design for buyers to see the planner in action and understand it’s usability
If there are stickers included in the digital planner, don’t forget to show them off
Use “in action” pictures (like a person holding a tablet or ipad) using the planner
Try the Placeit templates we’ve collected below for digital planners or check out these free ipad templates. (access by clicking the images)
Wallpaper
Your wallpaper designs on several devices to promote value for money
Show your full bundle of designs if you have several ready to sell
Show your wallpapers in real life situations, like working-from-home desktop setups
On Placeit, you’re able to adjust the background color of your preview image and also add branding such as your logo. Give the mockup templates linked below a go or check out free templates showing phones, desktops and tablets. (access by clicking the images)
Printable posters
Select mock-up Images that show that the poster is printable and that it doesn’t come framed
Show your image printed in a variation of different sizes
It’s a good idea to use mock-up templates that show your poster in an interior setting so users can imagine it in their own space. Having recognizable objects or people next to your poster will show the scale effectively.
Take a look at the mock-up templates below or drop your poster designs into these free poster templates. (access by clicking the images)
Coloring books
Showcase a book cover that summarizes your coloring book or collection of sheets
Feature your favourite pages
Preview your coloring book pages both colored and empty so users know what to expect when they download. Use the templates linked below or use these free tablet templates. (access by clicking the images)
Once you have your mock-ups sorted, head to the Digital Launcher to start uploading your digital product files and preview images ready to sell and begin by preparing your digital products and content for upload.
Did you know you can sell digital content and designs as digital products with Spring? Creators are selling photo filters, e-books, mobile wallpapers, and more from their Spring store.
You can easily enhance your store with digital products. We have plenty of inspirational content and tools available to help you succeed. Continue reading to learn about the most popular digital products creators are selling on Spring. For specifications and guidance on each digital product, check out our 2021 Digital Catalog.
Ready to create and sell your own digital products? Head to the launcher now.
Digital wallpapers are a great product to begin with. Fans can download and use your image files to personalize home screens on their devices such as phones, desktops, Apple watches or tablets.
Consider providing a variety of designs and sizes for multiple devices in bundles to increase your profits per sale, as well as incentivise purchases. Check out Atomic Mari’s wallpaper design below.
Bonnie and Liam, and Jenny all re-use their existing physical product designs by applying them to digital products. You’ll be ready to start selling once you’ve inserted your designs mock-up templates to create your listing preview images on Placeit.
Digital artwork
Turn your most popular designs and art into digital artwork you can sell. Digital artwork is ideal for fans to decorate homes, offices, or events. Fans can instantly download their purchases which saves a bundle on shipping and let’s them enjoy your products right away.
Format your artwork file for high-quality printing on a larger scale, including a variety of size options so they’ll fit any space. Ensure your digital artwork files have a high resolution of at least 300dpi. Create preview images for your listing like Daily Connoisseur below to show how your artwork will look once printed. There are plenty of templates you can use on Placeit perfect for showcasing your digital artwork. There are also tons of other opportunities for creators to utilize their artistic talents. Find out more here.
E-books and e-comics
There are plenty of free online e-book building tools you can use to create the perfect layout for your content, check out free e-book building templates on Canva.
Pinpoint a specific type of content your followers engage with and use images and writing you’ve already got archived. Present the best pages of your product in your listing by putting them into an easy mock-up template using Placeit. Bonnie offers a Swimsuit poses guide for fans to follow for creating content, and Nutritional Sarah sells recipe e-books with simple tutorials her TikTok community can follow.
Photo filters
Photo filters are a quick and easy way for your community to enhance their photos and Instagram feed aesthetic. Simply create a customized photo filter or preset using tools like Lightroom for your fans to apply to their images on mobile or desktop.
Provide instructions in your listing description so fans can start using your product after downloading. Utilize image collaging apps such as Canva or Layout so you can provide product preview images that show ‘before and after’ the filter has been applied. Check out Sadie Aldis’s Full of light preset below.
Documents and gated content
Get fans excited about your digital products by offering exclusive items. From courses and guides to sharing a series of tutorial videos on dropbox, there are no limits to the kind of digital material you can offer. Art with Flo sells downloadable illustration brushes fans can use on Procreate to use for their own creations. Create images for your listing easily by using templates on Placeit.
Coloring books
Coloring books are a simple and easy digital product choice for creators who focus on artistic content. Bring your drawings and designs to life with these fun print out sheets, or alternatively fans can import them into coloring apps and complete them using their own palettes.
Easily transform your drawings and images into coloring sheets by removing the color. Use Adobe programmes such as Illustrator and Photoshop and export your pages as PDFs. Popular free online tools that don’t require software include Pixlr or Gravit. For inspiration, check out the Simon’s Cat’s coloring book.
Digital planners
A great free tool for creating digital calendars and planners is the free Keynote app available on Apple. There are lots of tutorials you can find online for making your product interactive, too. Using this app, create interactive documents or export your file as a PDF for printing. Check out graphic designer and illustrator Ashley Acevedo’s vibrant digital planner below.
Audio files
Audio digital products are perfect for musicians, music artists and songwriters. Upload tracks, singles, mixes and jingles for fans to listen and enjoy on their devices. Effective mobile templates on Placeit to create the perfect product image for your listing. You display your album cover, a book cover with a play button (to make it clear it’s an audio file), or a phone with sound waves behind a phone mock-up to demonstrate a ringtone.
Check out Lady Tina’s Clear speech exercises below and notice that the earphones making it clear fans need to listen to use this product.
