Yes, B2B buyers still read eBooks. But only the good ones.
Everyone freaks out when they hear the word "ebook." Like suddenly they need to channel their inner Hemingway and produce 140 pages of groundbreaking literature.
An ebook is just a PDF that knows what it wants.
Most of the ebooks I write are 5-15 pages. That's it. Maybe 2,500-5,000 words. Long enough to build credibility, short enough that someone will actually read the thing.
But here's what kills me—marketers spend months agonizing over these things, then slap them on their website and pray to the SEO gods that someone finds them. That's not a distribution strategy…that's wishful thinking with extra steps.
Why you actually need an ebook (not another blog post)
B2B sales changes faster than a startup's business model. Monday you've got your messaging dialed in. Friday? Some executive order drops, or a competitor launches something wild, or your champion at that target account quits—and suddenly you need to reeducate everyone from scratch.
Blog posts are too short. White papers are too formal. Sales teams explaining it one prospect at a time? That's just inefficient.
You need something that can:
String together complex ideas without feeling boxed in by website design
Go as deep (or as salesy) as you want without apologizing
Adapt to whatever crazy thing happened this week in your industry
That's an ebook. It's your multi-page canvas where anything goes.
The formats nobody tells you about
Forget writing from scratch. You know what makes a killer ebook? Taking your three most popular blog posts and gluing them together with some transitions. Boom. Unified resource.
Or create a solutions guide that actually solves something. Write exactly how to fix the specific problem that's keeping your prospects up at night.
Want to get really wild? Make it funny. Make it visual. Shoot, make it both! In an ebook, you can actually sound like a human being who has opinions. White papers force you to be formal. Ebooks let you be real.
I've written ebooks about:
Data science approaches to Black Friday shopping (nerdy but approachable)
Software attack surface management for Docker images (technical but not soul-crushing)
Blockers to developing a data-driven culture (big topic, simple language)
Notice the pattern? Big technical topics explained so a director-level executive won't need a PhD to understand them.
Why your ebook distribution sucks
This is where 90% of ebooks go to die—sitting on page 47 of your resources section, hoping someone stumbles across them.
Your ebook should be everywhere:
Email campaigns (not just one mention—multiple touches)
Social media (more than once, with different angles)
Sales outreach (with clear rules about when to use it)
Conferences, webinars, partnerships
Your sales team should know exactly when to send it and why. Give them specific triggers: "Send this ebook when prospects ask about X, because it addresses their exact concern on page 7."
Chop that ebook into pieces. Turn each section into a blog post. Make infographics from the key points. Record short videos explaining the concepts. One ebook should fuel your content machine for months.
The structure that actually works
Stop overcomplicating this. My dead-simple ebook formula works every time:
Start with one big topic (What is a data-driven culture?)
Identify 2-4 pillars that support that topic (These are your chapters or main sections)
Make each pillar actionable (Show what to do, not just why it matters)
End with a CTA that makes sense (You just educated them—now what?)
That's it. Simple structure. Valuable information organized in a way that doesn't waste people's time.
The uncomfortable truth about gated content
People hate forms. They despise them. They would rather read your competitor's mediocre ungated blog post than fill out seven fields for your brilliant ebook.
So your ebook BETTER be worth it.
The reader should finish it thinking "I would have paid for this, but I got it free." If they're thinking "I gave you my email for THIS?"—you've just burned a lead.
Design matters, but it's there to support the content, not carry it. Good design makes it scannable. Great content makes it valuable. You need both, but if you have to choose, choose substance.
Stop overthinking it
An ebook isn't your magnum opus. It's a sales tool that educates prospects while positioning you as the expert who actually gets their problems.
You can write one in a week if you stop treating it like you're competing for a Pulitzer. Take your best ideas, organize them clearly, make them actionable, and ship it.
Then promote the heck out of it. Because the best ebook in the world is worthless if nobody reads it.
Next time you need to explain something too complex for a blog post but too urgent for a white paper, stop overthinking it. Write an ebook. Make it useful. Make it human. And for the love of all that is holy, make sure people can actually find it.
Need an ebook people actually finish? I write those. anthony@edifycontent.com
