If you’ve spent anytime here at One Spoon you’ll have undoubtedly read posts about how to create eBooks. The method I use – which I called The Outline And Bundle Method – is a great way for bloggers to write an eBook.
Now back in the day – and back in the day in Internet terms is only 18 months or 2 years ago – you could create an eBook, and get it up for sale on your website for anything from $27 to $97.
At the higher end of that price range just a few sales per day makes a significant boost to your bottom line.
However, that was then and it’s a much, much harder to sell eBooks above the $30 mark.
Why Is It Harder To Sell eBooks At $30 And Above?
One word answer – Kindle.
See, back in the day it was possible to sell eBooks above $30 because most eBooks answered specific problems that people were having. Plus you were paying for the instant answer to that problem – you paid your money via Paypal or credit card and get directed to a download page, and could literally go from purchase to reading in less than 5 minutes.
And that was a big part of the reason you could price an eBook substantially higher than a print book put out by a publisher whose pricing structures aren’t based on the value of the books they publish.
But now Kindle is firmly in the mainstream most people’s eBook buying experience has totally changed – they pay with one click on Amazon and their Kindle book gets automatically loaded to their Kindle device.
And Kindle prices are always cheaper than print book prices. And often a lot cheaper.
So the Kindle experience is setting the expectations of the eBook buying market in terms of price. And as I just said, that price is often a lot cheaper than eBooks used to be sold at.
So where does the eBook fit into the Selling Strategy of product creators in the Kindle Age. Well, there are three strategies that I think Product Creators can use to build leverage with their eBooks.
1. If You Can’t Beat Them – Join Them!
Kindle isn’t going away anytime soon. In fact it’s only going to gain bigger market share over the next couple of years. And a Kindle book is simply an eBook that is formatted specifically for Kindle.
As the process to publish your own eBooks on Kindle is relatively straightforward then you can take your eBook and upload it to Kindle.
The main advantage is that your book is now listed on the world’s biggest marketing platform for books and eBooks. The main disadvantage is price – although I’ve seen Kindle books priced over $50, they’re the exception and not the norm.
To succeed on Kindle I think you’ve got to follow their pricing structure – and that means pricing relatively low (under $10, and probably under $5).
One of the beauties of publishing eBooks back in the day as that the profit margin was high – if you sold a $97 via Paypal then assuming that wasn’t an affiliate sale you’d get to keep around $93.
By selling on Kindle your per sale royalty is literally just a few dollars per sale. So you’ve either got to make high volume sales OR you have to build some form of Product Sequence into your Kindle Book. That way you are using Kindle as a way to build a highly targeted list of buyers in your niche.
For more on Product Sequences, see my subscriber only article:
Boosting Your Bottom Line – The Power Of Sequential Selling
However it is still possible to sell eBooks directly and charge higher prices. But you have to work harder.
2. Justifying Higher Prices With Additional Value
I wrote an article that touches on this back in June. You can read it here:
How To Price An eBook In The Kindle Age
To sell an eBook directly from your website now and charge greater than $50 you really have to do two things:
- (i) Really sell potential clients on the value and uniqueness of the information contained in that eBook. If they can get similar information on Kindle for a 10th of the price, most of them will.
- (ii) Add additional elements that increase the perceived value.
Again, read the post on pricing in the Kindle age that I linked above – but the kind of material that you can add to your eBook package could include audio of the book itself, audio interviews with experts (and get it transcribed and put in PDF format too), workbooks, checklists case studies, critiques and the like.
So if you are going to go this route – and it can still work – you really need to create additional materials that expand on the topics covered in the basic eBook.
(And if you read the subscriber only post on Sequential Selling – you could merge steps 1 and 2 and have a shorter and more basic version of the book selling on Kindle – and have an upsell within the book pointing to the version with audio, checklists, workbooks, etc.)
There is another way to leverage your eBook – and that’s to use it as a building block for something more involved (and therefore, more valuable).
3. Turn Your eBook Into An Online Course
The third way to truly leverage your eBook is to turn it into an online course. This route is something that I’ve been seeing more and more on the old Interwebz in the last few months.
In a nutshell here’s how it works: you sign up for the course (prices typically range from $97 to $247). You get directed to a Members area. The course is laid out in modules. And the course is taught via predominantly screencast style (powerpoint or keynote) videos backed up with audio versions and transcriptions.
Again you could combine this with Step 1 and have a stripped down version of your eBook selling on the Kindle Store with a built in upsell to the modular, ‘course’ version.
(Paul’s Note – as well as creating these courses from eBooks, I’ve also seen a few courses recently that back in the day would have been eBooks, but now are just created immediately as courses.)
There’s more work in this step – but it’s potentially more lucrative. It’s the online version of ‘distance learning’ – and as a result you don’t have to justify the higher prices.
Early in 2012 I’m converting one of my existing Bass Guitar courses to this format – when I do, I’ll create a detailed tutorial out of it and post it as a Subscriber Only post, so that you folks can follow along and see exactly how I did it.
Summary
As we head into 2012, eBooks are becoming mainstream mainly due to the influence of Kindle.
Whilst Kindle is a great platform for authors – what it has done is eroded the price that Product Creators can charge for eBooks. Back in the day the standard price was $37 or $47 – now it’s more like $7.
Or less.
But eBooks are still viable. In this article we’ve looked at three ways you can use them to build leverage for your business:
- Sell on Kindle and use those sales to build a targeted list of buyers.
- Sell on your own website – but create a high value package by bundling extras like audio, checklists, worksheets, critiques, case studies, interviews and the like.
- Turn into an online course for higher perceived value.
And as we saw you can use a stripped down version of an eBook on the Kindle Platform as a way to attract buyers to higher priced versions of that eBook – either the bundled version or the online course version.
Your Shout
What do YOU think? Is selling eBooks for $50 a thing of the past? Do we have to bow to Kindle and charge $5 for our eBooks? Do you know any other ways to leverage eBooks for online (or offline) businesses? Take aim and fire away in the comments….
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{ 26 comments }
I have heard a lot about putting your blog posts on Kindle and eBooks as well. I know a few friends who have done this as well but I have yet to get that far Paul.
You really laid this all out and I know I always appreciate how thorough you are with your research and explaining these things to us. I think the pricing would be the biggest issue for me since of course, I’m not familiar with selling anything through Kindle.
The way I look at this is because it’s a digital version of a book it would be a little less expensive then purchasing a physical book. Only because we all know that the publisher didn’t have to go to the expense of putting it into book form and distributing it. But that doesn’t mean that the value of the content isn’t worth a good price. Determining what that price is would be my issue. I have a hard time figuring out what I believe my content is worth.
Putting your content on Kindle is definitely a step I think most people should head if they are creating content online. I guess I need to buckle down and just decide what I intend to do from here myself. Too many irons in the fire I guess.
Great post and thanks again for sharing this with me in particular. I need that little kick in the right direction.
Hey Adrienne
It sounds like you need to lay down some goals for yourself and your website….you’re building a good audience (I’m guessing from your Alexa rank???). And I know you’ve put some affiliate offers out there…don’t know how well you’ve done, but I truly believe that creating your products is where is at. You’ll make the most money – and funnily enough it’s also rewarding from what you’ll learn. Teaching something at the right level deepens your own understanding of the topic – it’s like having your clients pay for you to get masterclass level education!
It all needs to start from your goals though…I can point you in the right direction if you want. But there are a ton of resources on goal setting out there already…maybe there’s someone who’s already produced a ‘goal method’ that’s right for you, and you just need to go discover it!
HTH
Paul
Paul,
I have a free short eBook that I’ve been giving away for an email address for about 3 months now.
I have been considering putting a deadline on the free download and then launching on Kindle for like $0.99.
The goal is two fold:
1) I want to get my name and material on the Kindle system and I want to learn the process for putting material on Kindle.
2) Early 2012 I will have a much longer Solution based book that I will be releasing. I want to start to condition my subscribers to understand that not all of my content will be free. Additionally this will let me work on the kinks is marketing a “product” on my site (i.e. content marketing, conversions, etc)
I have never sold a “product” on my site before. I’m an insurance agent and I have picked up clients from my site but I wouldn’t necessarily consider that a product.
What are your and anyone else’s thoughts on this?
As always thank you.
Ryan
Firstly don’t think ‘product’ singular – think ‘products’ plural. Because it will take you a few to really understand the process and fine tune it. Plus like everything, as you do it more, you’ll get better at it.
Secondly I think what your exact strategy should be will depend on what your exact goals are. And I wouldn’t want to advise you without knowing those. (For example if your goals were to release products to make revenue then I’d advise something very different than the advice I might give you if your goals were to get your name out so you can do high level consulting).
See also what I wrote to Adrienne above. So my main piece of advice is work out precise goals. Everything flows once you clarify your goals.
The guy who I’m following for Kindle publishing advice is called Sean Platt of http://www.ghostwriterdad.com – he’s planning to release a bunch of Kindle info for free early in the new year. Plus he knows his shit and he’s a nice guy to boot. So if you don’t already follow Sean, I’d head over and subscribe to his list and wait for him to start publishing that info.
If you wanna post some goals here I can give you some more detailed advice. (Though whether that advice will be right for you is another story!!!).
Paul
Paul,
Thank you for your thoughts. Sean Platt is also on my Google Reader and you are completely right he kills it…
My Goal for the eBook and the longer eBook is to make money and expand my brand as it relates to Business Blogging.
I have conversion methods in place for my insurance business but nothing in place for the Business Blogging readers. (My site talks about “Insurance Buying” and “Business Blogging Strategies”)
Right now I have no way convert revenue from the people that will never be insurance clients, these are the people that come to read about Business Blogging Strategies…
Does that make sense?
Ryan
It’s possible that if this is your goal that you actually need to have two web sites. One web site is your web site that attracts people for your Insurance Business. And the other web site deals with the ‘business blogging’ audience.
Imagine the confusion on the Sales Lion if Marcus dispensed swimming pool advice as well as content/inbound marketing advice? I think this is something that you need to think about before you can make serious progress. (And I know it’s probably now what you want to hear because of the workload….but each time you post an article for your insurance clients it turns off your business blogging audience and vice versa).
That IMO is the first thing you need to work out…
Paul
That is actually in the works… I’ve been given permission to take over the Online Presence for the Insurance Agency I work for. That is where my insurance content is going to go up from now on… (Which makes more sense to me) I think my boss wanted to see that I could get results first in my own forum before giving me the keys to the Jaguar…
So it will be split up from now on.
Ryan H>
Ryan
That’s good….provided you maintain control of that. Here’s a scenario, let’s say both of your efforts succeed – and I’m pretty confident they will! – you may find in the future that you don’t want to do the Insurance thing anymore and you just want to work for yourself.
IF – and you can ensure this is the case – IF you retain copyright on all your writings then you can leave the insurance company but get them to keep paying you for your writings….effectively ‘leasing’ your work from you. If they don’t want to…then you threaten to delete all your articles or issue them with a DMCA notice to get them taken down if they won’t comply.
Another thing – if you start writing in ‘work time’ then your company could argue that they paid for those articles and it becomes a greyer area. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AN AGREEMENT IN WRITING before you start posting about what happens to those articles if you ever leave – AND make sure every article has YOUR copyright on them. That way if they are bringing in traffic and clients then there is a financial incentive for your company to keep those articles.
And you keep earning from them.
Most people you meet and deal with are honourable – even so, it never hurts to have a gentleman’s agreement transferred into writing. That way you’re protected.
Paul
Hi Paul,
I think that the question is how hard is it for you to impart the value proposition to the marketplace. If I can find 16 books on the same topic for a cost of $2 than why would I pay $50.
Unless you have something special to offer it is a tough sale to make so making it part of some sequential course might offer more opportunity, at least in the short term.
Ideally we would find ways to continue to build our brand and our influence to such a point that we could begin charging more for our work. Even better would be to do this while simultaneously increasing the volume of books sold.
Jack
I didn’t really talk about this in the article itself, but your comment and a couple of others have raised the subject.
The ‘price of information’ is set by an archaic business model dictated by publishing companies – and is not related to the value of the information itself. For example let’s take a self help book – let’s assume you wrote a self help book that if people followed your guidelines would turn their life around in 100 days.
How much would THE RESULT of implementing the book’s information be worth to you? A $100? A $1000? $10,000? More? There are people who would gladly pay at all of these price points for the same information – yet we’d find it in Amazon at $10.
The problem comes when you get that information for $10 – most people treat that information as if it were the SAME VALUE as say a movie ticket, which is $10 or so. Whereas if you charged more you’d get more people actually implementing the information.
(This btw is based on a real life example with a consulting client of mine – he had a program that in my opinion should be on sale for at least $1000. But he felt that because people like Tony Robbins don’t charge anything like that…he couldn’t either. So he charged $49…which IMO sold both himself and his ideas way, way short of their potential).
There is no ‘answer’ to this conundrum – but if you believe you have valuable information the easiest way to justify higher prices in the minds of potential clients is by repurposing it away from eBook form.
Sad. But true. Be interested in your thoughts….
Paul
I think it’s still possible to market your ebook at a premium. You just have to influence market perception that they are getting more value from it.
Kevin
I agree with you. I have an eBook that sells for $77 – and IMO is worth hundreds more to the people who implement the information. I would have paid thousands for it twenty years ago.
But that’s a tough sell.
See the comment I replied to Jack with above….wrote about this in more detail there. Thanks for stopping by.
Paul
I don’t think I’d be interested in buying an ebook for more than $10. I can always find a lot of relevant information from the internet. I just need to go through a lot of trash, but still, that’s part of the learning process.
Jim
I think your opinion is the mainstream opinion. And whilst I respect your opinion, personally I think it undervalues the power of information.
I’ve written a lengthy comment above to Jack about this, so maybe check that out – but I believe that when put into book form, information is priced based on an archaic pricing model imposed by the dinosaurs of the publishing world.
For example, if you had a business problem and I told you I had an eBook and a system that would guarantee to solve it, but would cost you $1000. You’d probably be reluctant to buy it. But if I guaranteed that if you implemented it you would earn $100,ooo, well now you’d be much more ready to invest. (Note the change of perception – you’re not buying, you’re investing…with a guaranteed potential return of 100 Fold).
Suddenly the archaic pricing model of publishing dinosaurs goes out the window….information is incredibly valuable. And it’s sad that information is presented and sold as a commodity.
Paul
paul, your # 3 really appeals to me
i’m digitizing and uploading nearly 30 years of writing (poetry, short stories, etc) via groupings with each group into its own ebook
i realized ’bout mid-way through my more dense ebooks, filled with creative writing modules and other features as extras, that i needed the “streamlined poems-only” versions too
what i hadn’t thought of, is, instead of producing alternative “deluxe” editions for each streamliner
to create an online course
anyway, i’ll keep tuning to in to get more how-to ideas; it’s been very helpful thanks!
adan
Hey Adan
I’ve just written a few lengthy responses above on the value of information….I won’t rehash them here, but please scan my answers above.
Courses are a better way than books/ebooks for information providers to both: increase their prices so that their information gets the kind of financial return it warrants; helps the client implement the information and get the kind of results that they want to achieve.
In the bass guitar field I haven’t stopped producing eBooks – but more and more I’m working out how to convert them to courses with written, audio and video content. That way I can charge higher prices – and also that way the people who actually buy those courses have got a greater incentive to actually use the information. So leads to greater consumption – and with that greater consumption comes the increased chances of creating more long term buyers.
So there’s another great benefit of producing courses.
Paul
Hey Paul,
A couple thoughts for you today. One of the people I follow is Kathleen Gage. She is a marketing expert and has both published on Kindle and teaches a Kindle class. I didn’t see a current sign up for it though. I will double check. It’s a great course as it is directed at non-fiction topics and those authors who want to use ebooks in their marketing strategy.
Just a few months ago she did an experiment with a Kindle book. What she found that she sold more at the $2.99 price point than when she dropped it temporarily to $.99 even though some authors have done well at the lower price. A couple of others chimed in on her blog with similar findings. So the lesson there is test and see what works.
I also agree with you that the days of 2o or even 30 dollar ebooks are pretty much gone. I’ve been online long enough to remember that but, as you said, back then, the average person had little idea as to what an ebook was or should be, there was no standardization. That’s a lot of what Kindle & Nook have done. There’s now a standard. Like the rest of marketing, the rules change all the time, you just need to do your best to stay in the game.
Cheryl
Thanks for the mention of Kathleen. Her name rings a bell…but I’ll have to go check her out.
The rules do indeed change…and a more involved teaching is the way to generate both higher revenues and greater client engagement. See some of the responses I’ve written above for more thoughts on this…
Paul
Great tips, I have left a lot of ebooks behind because of there very high prices, i guess that we have to put the price that fit the product and put information that worth more than the product price and not the opposite.
I’m working on my ebook and these pricing tips will really help me so much.
thanks Paul for sharing this with us
Hey Faissal
You’re welcome – glad you found some value here. What we really need to do is to re-educate people as to the value of information!
Paul
Hi Paul- I updated my first paperback book (originally published by large pub company years ago) and released it as a download on my site for $7.99, as a Kindle and a Nook book, and as a paperback. I’m selling more of the Kindle, Nook and paperback versions than the download version on my site. It’s strange because they all have the same content. Anyway, I don’t think it would be easy to sell a $50 ebook. There are so many people giving away ebooks that people are starting to equate ebooks on sites with short PDF files. Your blog post has helped me clarify a few things. Thanks.
Hey Lisa
Glad I could help.
My own personal belief is that Information Creators/Product Creators need to ‘decommoditize’ their offerings. And ‘sell’ people on the value of what they’re offering.
But it’s a difficult struggle because of the archaic pricing model that’s been imposed by the dinosaur publishing industry. It’s far easier to sidestep and repurpose a book into seomthing that has greater perceived value like a course.
Paul
Hey Paul:
The concept of cutting up your blog posts and making a course for an e-book is an interesting idea. It’s fairly different, but as they say: Go For It! I, especially, someone who is actively writing an e-book is having the most difficult time thinking of ideas to promote one’s ebook – let alone make the right price.
Do you have any suggestions?
Hey Jonathan
What are the goals of your book? Without knowing those I can’t advise you on either price or promotional strategies. Also what kind of book is it – and who is the intended target audience?
paul
Hey Paul,
Wow, I am blown away by this idea of putting ebooks and even blog posts on kindle. It never even crossed my mind.
You are right, kindle isn’t going anywhere and the best way to ensure you dont fall behind is to join the movement.
I am actually working on my first really big (and serious) ebook. Maybe I will give it a try with kindle to see what happens. I love new challenges and new methods of diversifying income streams. Thank you Paul.
Hey Satrap
Kindle DP (Direct Publishing) is potentially a revolutionary device system in so many ways. I have nothing but praise for it. The only ‘downside’ is that it lowers the perceived value of an eBook.
That’s a small price to pay for all the advantages it has though.
Paul
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