I once co-authored a book called Beyond Blogging that my co-author and I took great pride in writing. It was the first book I'd ever written, and we wanted it to be the "Think and Grow Rich" for bloggers. We put a lot of time into writing it, and felt it was a great product.
We opted to do what Nathan did and sold it for $30-$50 for a PDF. I can't remember the cost exactly.
We took a lot of heat for the price, but it did do well, and people still buy it and email me about it, many years later. We've since quit selling the PDF and posted it on Amazon and BN via Createspace, but at the time, the cost of producing a nice looking and readable PDF was not cheap. Launching was hard, as was keeping up with support.
While I don't regret our decision to price high and launch PDF only, as we needed something meaty to get launch partners involved, I often wonder what would have happened if we took a long view and opted for a book proposal and/or gone to print first, at a reasonable price of say $9.99 or $14.99.
It's my thought that we'd be selling more today than we currently are, would probably have a 2nd or 3rd version, and might have received a follow-on book deal to write a follow-up volume.
Instead, I have a book that once made me some decent cash, but isn't really part of my average day's business plan.
It feels like a waste.
Moral of the story is:
If you want to make a ton of quick cash, this pricing model will work, and you'll be happy as people laud you for the strategy (which really isn't new) and the amount of money you made. But I don't think it's a good long-term strategy, and I don't think it helps you build authority of any lasting kind.
Or you could have built a list of buyers and survey them on what else they want to learn and have an instant market for your 2nd book since they already like your writing.
Comments
I once co-authored a book called Beyond Blogging that my co-author and I took great pride in writing. It was the first book I'd ever written, and we wanted it to be the "Think and Grow Rich" for bloggers. We put a lot of time into writing it, and felt it was a great product.
We opted to do what Nathan did and sold it for $30-$50 for a PDF. I can't remember the cost exactly.
We took a lot of heat for the price, but it did do well, and people still buy it and email me about it, many years later. We've since quit selling the PDF and posted it on Amazon and BN via Createspace, but at the time, the cost of producing a nice looking and readable PDF was not cheap. Launching was hard, as was keeping up with support.
While I don't regret our decision to price high and launch PDF only, as we needed something meaty to get launch partners involved, I often wonder what would have happened if we took a long view and opted for a book proposal and/or gone to print first, at a reasonable price of say $9.99 or $14.99.
It's my thought that we'd be selling more today than we currently are, would probably have a 2nd or 3rd version, and might have received a follow-on book deal to write a follow-up volume.
Instead, I have a book that once made me some decent cash, but isn't really part of my average day's business plan.
It feels like a waste.
Moral of the story is:
If you want to make a ton of quick cash, this pricing model will work, and you'll be happy as people laud you for the strategy (which really isn't new) and the amount of money you made. But I don't think it's a good long-term strategy, and I don't think it helps you build authority of any lasting kind.
Or you could have built a list of buyers and survey them on what else they want to learn and have an instant market for your 2nd book since they already like your writing.