

Ask HN: Ebook or Membership website which is better? - EdgarF

Hi HN Community,<p>I have written a well researched content on a particular web design niche, to monetize the content I have 2 options either I can sell it as an ebook or create a membership website, but I am confused which one to go for<p>Ebook:<p>Pros:
&#62;Easy and fast to implement
&#62;Simple HTML page + e-junkie
&#62;Easy for users to buy and download<p>Cons:
&#62;Once it is downloaded it will be uploaded on all file sharing servers<p>Membership Website:
Can use WP + membership plugin<p>Pros:
&#62;Membership content usually doesn't get copied
and uploaded on file sharing servers<p>Cons:
&#62;Implementation will take some time
&#62;Users have to create a separate userid/pwd which seems to be a bit of work for them<p>Plz share your 2cents, advice and experiences :)
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nextparadigms
I think the biggest pay off may be from the membership site, but you'll have
to keep it updated. You should update it with a lot of content like once every
6 months. And you should probably do big launches that day with a limited
number of seats (but "leak" information about what's coming during the 6 month
period). When doing the launches you should also partner with other big sites
in your niche to bring you traffic, and so you can let a lot of people know
about it at once.

This model comes from <http://teachingsells.com>. He also owns
<http://copyblogger.com> which has over 100k subscribers, but he also
partnered with others, and in the 2 launch days they managed to make $800,000.
They have a in-depth course on how to make membership sites, but it's pretty
expensive. It was $1600 lifetime membership fee then. However, they also have
a forum where all those members can partner up for other projects and so on.

So you could go this route, too - charging a pretty high fee if you're content
is very good, but it will be very hard to grow it from the ground up if you
don't partner with some big sites.

As for the e-book idea, you might have a chance to make a lot of money if you
make it a Kindle e-book and sell it for $0.99 or $1.99, which is the limit for
impulse buy. If you're market is not that big, it might not be wise to price
it so low. Either way, I think it's best to partner with some sites that can
let a lot of people know about it at once.

If it's really good content, and it's good for their readers, and they also
stand to make some money from it, I don't see why it wouldn't work. It's
probably best to coordinate this so you have a "launch day" where everyone
writes about it in the same day or so. If you can make your e-book sell a lot
at once, you might get picked up into Amazon's best sellers, and then you'll
get even higher volume. Again, one of the ways you can manage that is by
making the e-book very cheap so it sells in bigger volume.

I would prefer the membership route because it has bigger potential for growth
in the long term and more "stickiness". But it's probably not a bad idea to
start off with an e-book, become a "renowned" author, and then get some of
your readers to join your new membership site.

~~~
EdgarF
Thanks a lot

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LocalPCGuy
You might consider a "micro-continuity" style website. The user pays like a
membership site, but it is a fixed number of payments, and they get new
content fed out in increments as they pay. So if you can split your content
into 6 modules for instance, you could see it for 6 equal payments over 6
weeks, or something along those lines.

Pro -> Less up front commitment than a membership site (assuming recurring
billing as long as you are a member), gives you reason to contact users over
and over again for the duration of the mini-course, potentially creating
opportunities for subtle upsells.

Con -> Cap on earnings, potential for users to cancel before the course
completes to try to get whatever guarantee is offered, users have to follow
the pace you set, also a little harder technically to setup.

Your call, just wanted to give you another option. As to the choices listed,
ebook prices seem to be watered down. If you are very good at writing sales
copy, an ebook may still be worth doing, but IMO, if priced right a membership
site should give you a better return.

~~~
LocalPCGuy
Oops, forgot the other main pro -> no need to update content unless you are
updating to keep it current as users don't expect anything more than the
content you sell, where-as with a membership site users generally expect
continual updates.

------
james_fairhurst
I would personally go the ebook route, getting people to sign up for a
recurring membership to a site that may or may not be frequently updated would
probably be the biggest hurdle.

A one-off payment for something they can download and keep is much more
appealing imho.

Regarding the piracy issue, try ways of dynamically creating a PDF that will
embed the users name & address in the footer of each page. Seen it done before
and can act as a deterrent.

~~~
EdgarF
Thank u very much

