
An eBook pricing model that resulted in $100,000 in sales - dshah
http://blog.asmartbear.com/selling-ebook.html
======
Swizec
I am an author, trying to self-publish and whatnot. After reading this post I
almost bought the book.

Then I didn't. _Because_ of this pricing model.

I wanted to buy the book. The value preposition is awesome and it is exactly
the kind of content I need right now. The first option is super expensive and
includes a bunch of things I don't care about. I want the book, not some
videos I'll never watch, not a 90 day launch plan I'll never use. I want to
read your book Nathan Barry.

The second option is still pretty damn expensive, and it's still shoving a
bunch of things I don't want down my throat. I want the book.

Last option. $30, okay that's pretty reasonable. I will even swallow the
patronisingly added one month subscription to ConvertKit, whatever that is. I
just wanted the book and this option has the least crap with it.

Great.

Oh, for $29 I only get a PDF ... but I wanted a book. For that much money I
_really_ expected at least a paperback, possibly a hardcover.

I'm sorry Nathan Barry, I would love to read your book, heck, I _want_ to read
your book. But none of your pricing options make any sense for me.

PS: I passionately dislike watching videos and find it almost impossible to
learn from them. I mean really learn, not just feel like I've learned.

~~~
count
Maybe it's just different learning styles, but I think most folks prefer video
to text.

Like you, I can't stand it - I jump straight to a transcript or other text to
consume the information: I read and understand WAY faster than people talk (or
I can listen).

That said, I hate physical books, and am much happier with a PDF (or better,
an actual ebook format) for the full price of a regular, physical book. I'm
paying for the content, not the dead tree components.

~~~
obviouslygreen
_...I think most folks prefer video to text._

I'm in the same boat as both of you regarding taking little away from video,
but while I see this statement a lot, my limited experience doesn't seem to
match (of course, neither of these things indicates either position is correct
in any meaningful way). Is there a reason you believe this, or is it just
other people you've met/spoken with who have that preference?

~~~
Swizec
In my experience I read faster than I listen and more importantly, I pay more
attention. Can't focus on video instructions for the life of me.

A two-way conversation or even a live person talking work well enough. But if
I want to understand something in great detail and be sure that I get it, I'm
going to need text.

------
nhangen
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.

~~~
adrianmn
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.

------
dusklight
Is everything only about money?

Is it really ethical to try to get as much money out of your customers? If you
are making a profit after all costs are considered, how much profit is too
much?

The question is maybe not too important when applied to something like an
e-book, but it becomes different when applied to something people think they
cannot do without, like a college education or healthcare. In those situations
we have seen vendors will gouge you for as much as they can get, which ends up
being as much as you have.

We as a society need to rethink whether that should be considered acceptable
behavior. I don't know if legislation is necessarily the right solution (I am
inclined to think it is not) but at the very least people should feel shameful
for being so greedy.

~~~
petercooper
_Is it really ethical to try to get as much money out of your customers? If
you are making a profit after all costs are considered, how much profit is too
much?_

Is this also true with regards to charging more as a consultant/freelancer or
about negotiating a better salary? We see a lot of stories like that on here
too.

The problem is defining 'greed' is hard. Is a software developer asking for a
$100k salary inherently 'greedy' for earning more than double the average US
wage? Is someone earning $20k and pushing for a raise to $30k 'greedy' because
someone in Africa lives on $1 a day?

Earning $100-150k in a year from a few e-books might seem 'greedy' in some
ways, but then you could compare it to the textbook author who supposedly
spent $24m building a house from the profits on some calculus textbooks.. ;-)
[http://castingoutnines.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/where-the-
mo...](http://castingoutnines.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/where-the-money-for-
your-calculus-book-goes/)

Rather than have such (unresolvable) debates, it tends to be simpler to rely
on economics and charge what the market will bear because while it's not
perfect, it's as fair and objective a value as could be arrived at through
even the most perfect of debates.

~~~
dusklight
So because it's hard to be ethical we shouldn't try? Because it is hard to
quantify greed it is no longer a bad thing?

Because other people are doing it too is a good justification?

I recently watched the movie "Django Rising" and the character of Leonardi
diCaprio troubled me greatly. Not because I thought he was really evil but
because I thought he really wasn't. Had I been born in that time, son of a
slave owner who was son of a slave owner, brought up surrounded by the values
of that time, would I have been able to recognize that slavery was evil, would
I have had the courage to do anything about it? Would I have behaved any
differently from how Leo's character behaved?

~~~
tjr
How do you recommend pricing a product?

------
Felix21
First of all, Nathan Barry is an excellent guy. Many people talk, he walks the
walk...

Now back to the matter:

If you follow this strategy you must understand that this is not a method for
long term ebook sales.

 _You'll get a quick burst of cash

_ and not much more after

This isn't a bad thing, this is how this method works. That's why he has 3
books out in such a short period of time....

If you want long term sales, there is another more profitable way to do it
(too long for me to explain here).

Also, In some comments here, some people were complaining that the price was
too high for a book. But he is not selling a BOOK; he's selling a proven
system for making up to $100,000 with your own books. His mistake was framing
"authority" as a book in his sales letter and that's why such problems arise.

~~~
willvarfar
Please summarize the better way for long term sales

~~~
Felix21
It works like this:

I'll create the best book I possibly can and sell it for about 19.99. I still
make a bit of money up front(less money than Nathan with this model... at the
beginning) but a lot more sales because the book wont be perceived as
"expensive" by any customer.

The goal here is NOT to make as much money as possible, BUT to make as many
sales as possible.

Lets call my book The FRONT_END offer and the goal of the front end offer is
just to get people into my marketing funnel.

Next...

I now have a massive list of customers and research shows that once people buy
from you once, they are more likely to buy from you again...

It is to this customer list that I will sell the videos, interviews and in my
case, I'll add bootcamps, one-on-one consulting sessions etc... I'll call
these the BACKEND_SALES.

So, to summarise, you offer: 1\. A low cost FRONT_END product to get people
onto a customer list. 2\. A long list of Higher ticket BACK_END products

You'll be reducing the barrier to entry into your marketing funnel, and you'll
build a large customer list that you can sell to for years...

Over the course of the first year, you'll make significantly more this
way(depending on your niche) than if you tried to make all that money up-front
like this...

I'll do some case-studies and interviews pretty soon with people who I've
marketed for/with who have used this system with great success..

~~~
Vitaly
And what prevents you from cutting the price of the book in half several
months later? This way you still get a big chunk at the beginning, and later
you can still market it to the more price cautious population. My bet is that
even if people know that the price will go down in 6 months, most of the
current buyers wouldn't want to wait, and bought it at the higher price
anyway. And the 'this shit is too expensive' crowd can wait and get it at a
discount.

------
csomar
This is a really flawed analysis. You don't mention here the traffic and the
conversion rate. It's possible for your second venture that you had much more
traffic, better conversions, loyal customers...

~~~
tnorthcutt
He included exact numbers of conversions (sales).

~~~
csomar
Sales are sales and conversions are conversions.

Conversions = sales / visitors (which is a % rate)

~~~
jbigelow76
There is a meaningful difference between the terms "conversion" and a
"conversion rate". A conversion is an action, be it a sale or otherwise.
Marketers and ad serving platforms do not use the terms interchangeably, just
like clicks and click-thru-rate are not interchangeable.

~~~
csomar
I agree that I was not quite precise and I really don't have solid sources
(not sure if there are standards/rules for this).

However, Wikipedia° suggests that conversion might refer to conversion rate.
That's so far the only thing that I found from a few minutes search.

° <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion#Marketing>

~~~
tnorthcutt
"Refer to" is not the same as "means the same as". The linked page is a
disambiguation page, which is not the same as a page that is explaining
exactly what a particular word means.

A conversion is a single thing: an event or transaction. A conversion rate is
a number. The two are not identical.

------
qeorge
Nathan, you're really coming out with some great posts. Please continue.

I saw another great post on this topic on the VWO blog recently which suggests
reversing your pricing table to show the most expensive test first as an A/B
test idea, and relates it to the "primacy effect":

[http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-
blog/pricing...](http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/pricing-
page-testing/)

I'm testing it now (no conclusive results yet), but I think it makes a lot of
sense. I would love to see an A/B test of this on The App Design Handbook's
sales page.

~~~
bennesvig
The advice of showing the most expensive item first is in the book Influence.
They run a few tests, confirming that it does lead to more sales.

<http://www.amazon.com/dp/006124189X/ref=r_soa_w_d>

~~~
qeorge
Very cool, didn't know that. I hadn't gotten around to reading Influence yet,
but I'll probably do that this weekend.

Thanks!

------
bluetooth
This is the same exact tactic employed by many of the e-book authors at
Clickbank. You're basically forcing visitors into purchasing more than they
originally wanted.

~~~
tnorthcutt
Forcing? How did he do that?

------
dmix
This is interesting. I've been following along with Nathan's posts for a
while.

I checked the new website design (<http://nathanbarry.com/webapps/>). I love
the focus on copywriting. My first reaction is that it lacks a strong visual
hierarchy. Everything is blue and the call to actions (price circles) blends
in with the rest of the page. Whereas in the previous design, the
pricing/buttons were more obvious with the vertical table grid design.

The main difference is that package descriptions have been expanded
significantly, which is great. It's no longer just bullet points + price.

More copy is always better.

But by not having a compact table with the 3 package options, it makes
comparing the packages harder.

I'm curious if this is why the sales increased? It seems to have obscured the
notion that it's an ebook that optionally comes packaged with extras. It is
now sold primarily as a complete course of ebook+videos+resources with a
secondary option of just buying the book.

That seems to be a big change in the focus of the product/marketing rather
than just a simple pricing change on the book itself.

------
orangethirty
Sometimes, I just wished people stopped trying to re-invent the wheel. All of
this stuff is not new. It is covered in every DIY marketing book that has been
published since the 70's. I don't get what is the fascination of trying to re-
invent (or _disrupt_ ) marketing. No need for that. Just read a few books,
take a structured approach to testing, and see the money roll in.

Also, if you make a post complaining how the book is too expensive and you
wont buy it, guess what? you are not the target market. The target market is
always people who can and will pay for something. Not people who can and will
complain about the price.

Want to learn marketing? Start with the book Guerilla Marketing.

------
willbill
This pricing model also works for consulting as well. Listen to Obie Fernandez
talk about 321-Launch and you'll understand that value of bundling when it
comes to consulting services.

Simply put, price yourself high. People will attach value to your work because
of this.

Also, from a consulting standpoint:

This accomplishes a few things. It affords you time to spend on non-billable
hours such as taxes and filling your pipeline. Finally, adding a 'special
sauce' packages allows you to eventually de-commoditize yourself and allow you
to start transitioning those jobs that are interchangeable to others under you
without your client objecting too strenuously.

------
jhonovich
I paid $79 for the new 'Authority' release and am disappointed, more so
because it's that expensive. I am sure he maximized revenue for the short
term, but I am unlikely to buy anything else from him again.

------
orangethirty
Your sales funnel approach is deprecated. What is used now is called a sales
ladder. Rather than have people pass through a funnel, you have them take
steps towards purchase. Sounds to be the same, but it is quite different, and
much more effective. Do some research on it.

~~~
boothead
Do you have any links on sales ladder? I've always heard of it referred to as
a funnel before.

------
BHSPitMonkey
> I always ask myself, “If I were to double the price (from $0.99 to $1.99),
> would I lose more than half the sales?”

This isn't very useful on its own; The arithmetic was never the hard part.
Predicting your success is.

------
toothlessjoe
Or you can take a different tack, like this guy:

<http://arttrezzo.com/ebook_pricing.html>

~~~
marcosdumay
Some books appeal a million people, you can ask $1 for those, and be quite ok.

Other books appeal a thousand people, if you get $1 from everybody that thinks
about buying those, you'll get $1k at the bank.

