5 Places to Find Free PDF Ebook Templates

Looking for free PDF eBook templates? Check out these 5 resources, plus find out what you need to know before you even start designing your eBook to make sure it’s successful!

(Guest post by Ana from The She Approach)

Creating valuable content for your audience and your customers is hard work. You have to handle the research, the copywriting, the editing, the formatting, the designing & everything in between.

If you’re truly passionate about the topic that you’re writing about, the content creation & the copywriting will be a breeze! But what happens when you get to the design portion of the eBook creation process?

What if you don’t have that eye for design?

What if you don’t have the time to learn how to do it?

What if you don’t have the money to hire a professional?

What if you don’t even know where to start?!

Well, welcome to the wonderful world of templates.

Templates allow you to drop your carefully created content into already made layouts. They can save you time, energy, and frustration! Sure, they won’t be completely customizable, but if that’s the last thing on your mind then templates are the way to go.

Looking for free PDF eBook templates?

I’ve scoured the web to find you resources that allow you to download them without spending a dime! The template that you choose will rely on 2 main things: the topic of your eBook & the design software you have available.

Why does the topic matter?

Well, the layout for a magazine isn’t the same as a fictional novel. Same goes for eBooks. The layout of a mechanical product catalog won’t be the same layout as a graphic designers PDF portfolio. Not all templates are created equal so you’ll have to pinpoint what features you’re looking for & which layouts will showcase your content effectively for your audience.

Alright, let’s get to the free goodies!

PowerPoint:

• HubSpot – 18 Free PDF eBook templates for PowerPoint

InDesign:

• HubSpot : 18 Free PDF eBook templates for InDesign
• Stock InDesign: This website has eBook templates, flyer templates, brochure templates, and more!
• Best InDesign Templates: The free section of this website has a handful of layouts to choose from! If you don’t mind spending a little money, you should take a look at their paid templates too.
• BONUS: Found this beautiful PDF eBook template when I was searching on Pinterest! And Possibly Dinosaurs: Free Book Template

Don’t Forget About Canva!

If you don’t want to use Adobe’s InDesign program or Microsoft’s PowerPoint software to create your eBook then you should totally look into Canva! It’s a free graphic design creation software and it has a ton of templates for eBook pages, social media graphics, and printables.

It’s almost as easy as a drag-and-drop template and it’s my personal favorite for short eBooks with tons of visual design elements.

• Existing Canva eBook designs: You can access their library of templates here, to create not only your eBook cover for free, but also play around with their eBook pages templates.
• Full 30+ Pages Ebook Template: If you’re looking for a full eBook template, that also have a table of content, author page and worksheets pages, this is the one for you. I’ve created it myself with new eBook authors in mind, so it’s really easy to customize, change the pages around and turn your simple eBook into a stunning PDF ready to sell or share. (It’s free!) 

Don’t mind dropping a little cash?

If you’re looking for a more specific template & don’t mind spending a little money, take a look at these resources:

• Envato Market: Their InDesign Template section isn’t the biggest section but it has a few options for eBook templates for $10 or less.
• Etsy: Etsy has a handful of cheap templates that you can use for your PDF eBook. Just type in “Presentation Template” into the search bar and you’ll be hit with quite a few results.
• Creative Market: Creative Market has a wide variety of templates that you can use for a PDF ebook. If you go to their “Presentation Templates” they’ll show you templates that are suitable for PowerPoint. Depending on the topic of your ebook, you could also take a look at their “Brochure Template”  section and the “Magazine Templates”. Both of them have a TON of options for PDF ebook templates that are relatively cheap.
• Stock Layouts: They have a whole section of InDesign templates with editable layout files & artwork. They have their templates organized by product & by industry.

Which Template Will You Choose?!

When it comes to the design of your PDF eBook, you have plenty of options to choose from! It just depends on what you’re looking for. You can stick with a free template for PowerPoint or InDesign, play around with Canva & create your own using their templates, or you can dish out a little cash and purchase a paid (but still cheap) template.

The hardest part now is figuring out which direction to take your design & what your next steps should be.

What you need to know before you design your eBook:

Before you dive in and start moving your eBook content to the platform of your choice to make the final edits and complete the final product, you also need to make sure to:

#1. Finish writing your eBook.

Because your entire eBook design is going to be built around your existing content, you need to make sure you have the final outline & version of the eBook written in a Word document (or wherever you wrote it in the first place) and ready to go.

Otherwise, every time you want to add a new paragraph or change the order of the chapters, your entire design is going to change to accommodate that. And that can be time-consuming and frustrating. If you need help getting things done, use my strategy for writing eBooks quickly. 

#2. Be crystal clear on your eBook topic & target audience.

These two decisions can massively impact what eBook template you should choose. For example, if you’re putting together a recipe eBook, you want something with loads of photos, that’s quick & easy to read. But if you’re writing a mental health eBook, your audience will get more value from detailed chapters, rather than pretty pictures – so you’ll want to choose something that allows you to add more text, and highlight quotes or certain stats. 

#3. Decide where you’re going to share or sell your eBook.

The platform that you’re going to sell the eBook on and your means of distribution (how you’re going to send copies of your eBook) also need to be taken into consideration.

If you’re planning to use your eBook as a lead magnet or sell it on your own website, you can easily design it using the recommendations above and save it as a PDF. But if you’re planning to sell your eBook on Amazon, for example, they require a .mobi format that’s readable on Kindle devices, so you’ll need to use something like Pressbooks to put it together and design it because other design tools are won’t be compatible. 

So before you choose one of the gorgeous design templates available, make sure that they fit with your long-term goals for publishing this eBook.

A quicker way to make your eBook successful

I’m assuming that if you’re reading this article, you love to take advantage of ready-made templates and systems put in place to save you time & effort when creating your eBook.

And there’s nothing wrong with a good shortcut!

In fact, I wish I knew about these free PDF design templates when I wrote my first eBook. But in 3 years of being a self-published author, and 4 eBooks later, I’ve learned a thing or two and created my own step-by-step systems to not only writing and designing my eBooks swiftly but getting them published and selling successfully. 

And I’ve put everything I know and use into my new online course – Ebook Bestseller Bootcamp. 

(Take your first step towards becoming an eBook author and use the code “EBB20OFF” to get $20 off enrollment today.)

Besides giving you the exact process I use to validate my eBook idea, publish it and make sales on autopilot, the course also contains a few handy bonuses and time-saver templates such as:

• An eBook Copywrite Page & Disclaimer Template – two legal pages that every eBook should have, yours and ready to copy-paste
• An eBook sales page 12 step formula –  a blueprint that you can follow to write an awesome landing page that it’s going to make you sales
• A Kindle Self-Publishing Training – my 10 step process for getting your eBook self-published on Amazon and ranking as a best-seller

But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what Claire, a student of EBB, had to save about the resources included in the course:

“Ana’s course came along just at the right time for me. It’s a fantastic course!

I was full of ambition – but also overwhelming doubts – about writing and distributing my first eBook. I had gotten a substantial amount of helpful information from Ana’s newsletter, so I jumped at the chance to take her eBook course. I’m glad I made the investment.

Her course is chock full of information that made sense and was well presented. It gave me the confidence to complete my goals. Besides giving me a best-practices roadmap for creating an eBook, she also saved me hours’ worth of research in figuring out where to go for graphics, formatting help and so much more.” – Claire Hamilton

>> Get everything you need you to design, format & publish an eBook in one place!

Take your first step towards becoming an eBook author and use the code “EBB20OFF” to get $20 off enrollment today.

And if you’re wondering what the next step for you is, once you’ve successfully designed your eBook, EBB also contains an interview with the creator of this blog – Mariah – where we talk about how to use SEO to drive free traffic to your eBook sales page, so that your target readers can find you organically. 

P.S.: Skipped to the end? Here is your free Canva eBook template.

About the Author:

With a degree in Media & Communications and nearly 4 years of experience in the blogging world, Ana – the creator of The She Approach – has a knack for teaching no-fluff blogging tips to women who want to take their hobby blog to the next level. As a blogging strategist & experienced author, Ana has helped thousands of bloggers create and self-publish their eBooks online. Her self-publishing course alone has over 1,500 students enrolled to date. Now it’s your turn!