Forget About Selling Ebooks. Here’s Something Better…

14 | Posted In Make Money by David

So, let’s do a tiny bit of math here. Yeah, I know. But, this is the fun kind of math. :-)

So, a lot of bloggers think about selling an ebook to make money. They’ll drop a brain bomb into a word processor and turn around and offer it for some low price.

Let’s say $17. Nice round-about price which ends in 7. Heheh… ;-)

So, you go through all this work and you make some sales. Let’s say you manage to sell 100 copies. Gross revenue $1,700.

With me? Cool.

Here’s the problem…

Once you’ve sold it, you’re DONE. No more revenue coming in unless you keep pitching it to your list over and over again. That can get annoying really fast.

In other words, you go through all this work to make a single sale, then you likely have nothing else to sell them.

Now, let’s consider turning the SAME basic topic into a nano continuity model. Let’s say you’ll charge $4.99/month.

Since it is continuity, you’ll add ongoing forms of value. An email list to keep them up to date on your topic, perhaps a forum or email group for them to interact.

So, if you sell the same 100 people, that’s about $500 in your pocket.

Per month.

And, done right, it is almost on autopilot.

Now, don’t you think you’ll be able to sell more on an “impulse buy” basis? The risk is so low that, in all likelihood, the answer is yes.

So, let’s say you’re able to enroll 200. Even maybe 300 people in the same span of time.

That’s $1,000 to $1,500 PER MONTH.

And it’ll keep growing. Keep compounding. The income stream gets higher. And the retention rate is pretty high because you’re providing value and it is a small amount of money that they don’t worry about.

Realize that all you’ve done is repurposed what you WERE going to put into a PDF file, and instead split it up into an ongoing model. Or perhaps you sell the ebook at a cheaper price, and offer nanocontinuity along with it.

Either way, you’ve just increased the perceived value of your offer, reduced the perceived risk, and set yourself up a recurring revenue stream which will add up over time.

Bam!

The mainstream blogging business model of the future.

Of course, you’ve got to do it right, otherwise things could backfire on you…

Check this out. Learn more about Nano Continuity.

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  • Steve

    David,
    This is great if you can figure out how to create a product/service that works well in the continuity model. Why is it that so few people have these set up? We see soooo many eBooks, yet very few recurring programs from bloggers..

  • Andy

    David, your blog has turned into spam. We all know (or should know) it is better to have reoccurring income of a dollar over a one off payment of two dollars for any product or service. You don’t take into account TIME and the work therefore it losses value to YOU. If you think creating a mailing list and forums adds value to a product think again.

    “Nano continuity” It sounds like shoemoney, john chow or you pulled that out of your arse to make sound attractive
    Way to many assumptions and no idea how to create value to a product.

    Unsubscribe

  • http://twitter.com/bluepop13 Eric

    This sounds like it could be good if you can pull it off well and provide enough consistent value.

    Unfortunately a lot of bloggers aren’t in the mindset of making this successful imo. I mean, the way I see it you really have to have had that first sale with an ebook or something alike to even feel as though you can make this kind of thing work.

    Great if you can but for many they’ll find it a waste of time.

    I do think that the $37 is a good price but after signing up I don’t, so far, think it’s worth over a thousand. Albeit I haven’t gone all the way through it just yet.

    Looking forward to hearing more about this.

    Last note here, I also think that this will probably be much easier to set up and make work than a huge membership site worth the price of something much more expensive than around $5 so this could be in more people’s favor actually.

  • http://Mazzastick.com Justin

    I had read before that having a price point ending in 7 is more comfy to the buyer, guess you already knew that. Nano Continuity sounds like the next step for blogging.

  • http://twitter.com/bcoelho2000 Bruno Coelho

    Hello David!

    Monthly payments in a business model is obviously a good thing. Membership or online subscriptions are great.

    I just don’t see where’s all the excitement about this Nano Continuity concept. It’s being sold as a revolutionary marketing tactic but I only see it as lowering the price variable at $4.99.

    Would you agree that lowering prices is a race to the bottom? Next thing you know, you’re giving it for free. Lowering prices is the easiest way to increase your business competitiveness in the short-term view… but it can hurt you in the mid-term view when your competition lowers it even more…

    What’s your opinion about this?

    Thank you for your time!

    Best regards,
    Bruno Coelho

  • http://hpshappyhomebusiness.blogspot.com Hpvanduuren

    Yes, I do agree that a continuity model definitely sounds attractive, only you still would have to constantly produce enough value to constantly keep your subscribers Happy.

    Currently I am not only – thinking – about selling an ebook, I actually am already selling
    a tiny little ebook – and Yes – I do sell it for a really low price….:)

    (Actually it’s more like a little
    - front end sales – promotion)

    With in it an – active link – to my Blog, So my blog – where I also (pre) sell all kinds of topic related products – is what currently intended as my ‘Continuity Program’, that offers the chance to make affiliate commissions, and possibly gets me enough readers feedback to inspire me to create new valuable posts, products, and/or services. A possible future service to consider (to add)
    could indeed be an (Extended) Continuity Program for a low monthly fee.

    All the Best,
    To your Happy – Home Business – Inspiration,
    HP

  • http://twitter.com/Qoyyuum Abd Qoyyuum

    Actually when it comes to pricing strategies, its really up to the business and its branding. I’ve seen websites trying to deal with this. They see their competition lowering their prices because they need the extra members to pay them. IMO, if you’ve already set up a member’s fee, don’t go lower. I say, stay where you are and improve your position. It’s all about branding. Don’t be like Wal-mart. Be more high-end and have your members back you up on your word and promise to deliver high-end goods and services.

    My two cents.

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Andy, you have an itchy trigger finger, my friend.

    First off, not everybody knows the power of recurring versus one-time. Mot of my audience is still pursuing their first product, which is usually a 1-time ebook. So, I write for where my audience is at.

    Secondly, as for creating value to a product, a forum or email list can most certainly add value to a product – especially using a “nano” model. Not sure why you say it can’t. You’re even seeing it as an upsell from within printed books these days. So, Andy, you’re just not paying attention.

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Exactly.

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Yeah, if it makes sense for your market, you might want to consider a nano continuity bump with the sale of that ebook. Give them the option. :-)

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Bruno, here’s the thing… nobody is saying that you’re taking what you might already be doing and lowering the price. Yes, that’d most certainly be a race to the bottom. You’d become a commodity and it is dumb business.

    I think I might need to write a post to clarify this, but the idea is to build “nano” into your sales funnel – not to drop the price of your stuff.

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Hehe… I don’t know. Seems that everybody ends in 7, and I admit I do it sometimes, too. But, I think its just become a tradition at this point. :-)

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Sounds like that is an issue of self-confidence and ability to stick to what you start. And that’s a completely different thing than whether it’d work or not.

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Right. That’s kinda why I’ve been hammering this thing.