I'm looking into programs that will let me create my own ebooks, yes.

>>Plus, people have the sense that nonfiction is free, since so much of it is these days.<<

That's fine, if the information you want is readily available. If you want something obscure, or something that is usually unwritten, or something that people try to describe but don't really succeed in teaching very well, or something on a cutting edge ... then you're out of luck.

Those are the kind of gaps I look to fill with my nonfiction. I suspect this will help make it marketable whether I go with crowdfunding or ebooks or some combination.