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Help! Need ideas for formating my digital product

by Sean Fry
4 replies
So, I've written a 175-page ebook that I'm getting ready to launch. My original plan was to price it at $37.00. Then I thought, "I'll try $47."

But really, I want to be able to price it for $97.00. So I'm trying to figure out a way to add something to the book to justify the price and here's where I'm kind of hitting a roadblock.

I could include say, two 90-minute audio CD's of all extra material. Downside to that is, I'd have to ship them (or go through a fulfillment company) and that defeats my whole original plan of not having to worry about shipping a physical product. I'd really like this to be digital only.

I could include a 1 or 2 hour long video presentation with the ebook, put it on DVD, but I'm up against the same problem. I could make it a downloadable file along with the book, which probably makes the most sense. Here's what I'm wondering, what format is best for that? Mp4? Flash?

Also, ideally I'd like this to be pretty secure. I mean as secure as I can make it without annoying my customers. (I've seen other IM'ers offer their videos, books or workbooks that work with adobe media player, password protected with DRM...but I'm not sure if that pisses a lot of people off or not.)

How do most gurus do it? Is it better to have your customer download the video in a .zip file, or is it better to host it on your server, link it up through amazons hosting service, and provide a special link for the customer to watch it online?

Can anyone please tell me how the big gurus are doing their products (I'm assuming they do it through memberships sites via kajabi, and also making them downloadable (what format?), how Deiss does his, and what works for you or has worked for you?

Thanks!!
#digital #formating #ideas #product
  • Profile picture of the author tecHead
    Providing your customers with audio and/or video content doesn't necessarily mean you have to ship a physical product. Most people do this as a measure of security; as it makes it harder for the average 'trying to be cool with their buddies' misguided weekend digital thief to upload your content to a free for all forum. It also means blatant theft; which is easier to detect, as well as combat.

    That being understood; it also lessens your profit margin and raises your production costs. As well as; as you stated; defeats your original purposes of providing purely online digital content.

    Providing this content online; (as you've noted); brings up security issues. Now, here it strictly depends on your operating budget; as there are many different methods of protecting your content with varying levels of cost.

    The Cheapest option would be to open an Amazon S3 account and upload your content to your bucket. You could then assign access keys; either universally or individually. Universally assigning keys would be the less secure option. Either way is going to require you to have the technical aptitude to understand and accomplish this task OR the funds to hire a technical assistant with the knowledge needed to do it for you.

    The next step up would be to utilize the S3 account in conjunction with a password protected download page. You could do this via a single page protected via .htaccess; (the cheapest option); or go as far as employing a full blown Membership app/script; (more expensive option). Again, you'll need the technical aptitude and/or the funds for a technical assistant.

    I won't go any further than this; as other options are outside the scope of this post. Either of the options above will help you accomplish your goals, though.

    HTH
    PLP,
    tecHead
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    • Profile picture of the author Sean Fry
      Thanks for that info.

      I just had an idea, adobe acrobat extended lets you integrate flash movie files into a PDF document, and the current version of adobe reader supports video.

      So, I could insert a bunch of video clips into the ebook itself, and readers would be able to watch the videos right there within the PDF, without requiring a separate video player. Interesting.

      Anybody ever do that?
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  • Profile picture of the author tecHead
    Just be careful with new technology; as it means all of your buying Customers will need to have the mechanisms to utilize that new technology. If you don't have readily available alternative solutions available; it could turn into a Customer Support nightmare.
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    • Profile picture of the author The-English-Webmistress
      Originally Posted by tecHead View Post

      Just be careful with new technology; as it means all of your buying Customers will need to have the mechanisms to utilize that new technology. If you don't have readily available alternative solutions available; it could turn into a Customer Support nightmare.
      TecHead's right. I've bought e-products in the past that were kitted out with all kinds of bells and whistles and interesting functionality that meant they were difficult to use depending on the software setup on the particular laptop or pc I happened to be using.

      For instance, that I couldn't access a product unless I were connected to the internet (so you can't read an ebook YOU'VE PAID GOOD MONEY FOR if you haven't logged on.

      I'm highly tech-literate, but I found all of this deeply annoying. To the point where I didn't bother buying anything more from the sellers.

      Andrea, The English Webmistress
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      The-English-Webmistress is really Andrea, who went backpacking the world, accidentally landed in Panama, Central America, and never left. (Beaches! Mountains! Hot latin music! Piña Coladas!) She doesn't miss the London commute AT ALL...
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