

$39k in eBook Sales Part 2: Design, Testimonials, and Traffic - nathanbarry
http://nathanbarry.com/39k-ebook-sales-part-2/

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patio11
Let me excerpt a really, really important part:

 _I got the email list up to 800 subscribers at the time of launch. My goal
was 1,000, and I didn’t quite make it. That list converted really well. I’m
not sure the exact numbers, but after sending out an email to that list
announcing the book I had $1,000 worth of sales in 10 minutes._

If you hypothetically know you have a product coming out, you _really_ want to
start with a built-in fanbase rather than starting from zero. This counsels
collecting emails early and keeping them warm by sending them things they will
enjoy, then reminding them a few times prior to launch a) what it was you were
doing again and b) why it is going to make their lives better, after it
launches, which is happening in a week.

P.S. Already launched? That is no reason to not start an email list today,
since you will eventually have something of mutual interest to say to people,
so start getting their permission to say it.

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nathanbarry
Exactly. It's amazing how well this can convert. For anyone wondering how to
collect the emails, I found the simplest way is to write a very useful article
or tutorial on your topic and have a signup link at the bottom. Pretty
straight forward. You can also use the "free report" giveaway or something
similar. I did this with a CSS3 course I put out last week.

It has taken me years to learn how important email is (and I'm just getting
started).

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sgdesign
This is part 2 of me (Sacha Greif) and Nathan's podcast about eBook marketing.
As usual, feel free to ask us questions. And here is a link to the HN
discussion about part 1: <http://news.ycombinator.org/item?id=4600394>

~~~
nathanbarry
Yep, I'm happy to answer any questions as well.

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dooped
Thanks for taking the time to write the transcript!

Nathan, how did you get your first few sales? You stated that you "..released
the book. Sales started coming in." Those first few sales seem to be the most
difficult (I'm currently trying to market an eBook myself), and I'm interested
to see how you achieved your first batch of sales prior to your HN post.

~~~
nathanbarry
Yes, the prelaunch list of 800 signups was the most valuable. Other sources of
traffic were my own blog, Twitter, and Reddit.

