Free Or Not For Free

It's a good idea, used by many. You can also use affiliate links within the ebook, and maybe use some kind of backend offer. I've seen these before, I'm pretty sure they make money.

I would only give it away for free if you have something that can build your business on the back end.

1.) First I'd ask you what is your e-book about?
2.) Next could your ad write up be the main problem? ...Maybe your e-book is not selling, because you have no idea of how to write a SUPER POWERFUL selling ad?...a real MASTERPIECE...... I have seen many people great at writing ebooks, but they have little skill at writing ads that sell. A great seller knows how people react and think, and they come across as your best friend...it's a gift in judging human instinct.....Remember this a great ad is one which can reach out and grab a potential customers attention and make them act, because they must know a secret and they can't live without the answer.

Here's and idea to try......Try a - SHOCKING Truth Revealed - type of ad...and watch people come flying in masses.You only have to go to the store and read a few Tabloid front page headlines to get the picture, of what I am talking about.
They don't print those year after year if they weren't selling......

3.) Next....I don't see a link to your ad?
so I can't tell you what I think is the trouble.
4.) Are you getting a ton of Internet traffic, over 1500 people a day?
Or are your numbers much lower?
5.) Also....Why give anything away for free.....if you don't know the real reason why it's not selling.
6.) Here's a thought....put it in CD format and try selling it on ebay. See what happens....

hope this helps

Based on your niche, I can see that it's a profitable market. If you are really sure that nobody wants to pay for your ebook, then what you suggested is a good alternative. Another idea is to include affiliate links in your ebook and encourage your readers to share with others.

GoinDeep..

I do not really know your market, so it would be hard to comment, but here are some suggestions for you to try.

#1 Get a good copywriter and or graphics person to remake your salespages.
The reason I say this is most hard core gamers are visually stimulated as well as wanting good gaming, so a well designed image will go a long way in your niche.

#2 Create a report series that gives GREAT Inside information, but still leaves them wanting your ebook. Use that to build your list, do not give away the farm

#3 Ignore rule #2 above if you have great backend product ready to go on the upsell that will make you the income. Do not give away your product with nothing to sell them already made. ALWAYS have something else ready.

#4 Have you considered contacting potential JV partners on this one.
Not your typical IM partners, but going to the sites where Gamers hang out that are really into the industry. Cheat sites, walkthrough sites etc. Those site owners may have tens of thousands of people on their list and be more than happy to promote your book to their list in return for affiliate commissions.

#5 Have made great affiliate tools for your product (this then works in hand with point #4 above.

#6 Take a look around the web. See if there are comparable products to yours on the market. Really dig in the search engines for this information. Look to see if there are products that compliment yours and vice versa, you can then approach these people about promoting your product.

If you can contact a few (say 10), you have some leverage.
You can agree to have a special "gamers area" in the download section, which will link back to the people who promoted you. The benefit to them in this case is that they will not have everyone from all 10 sites on their own lists, so a chance to build their DB up and get more members, plus make some commissions on your product.

If you have another product ready to upsell, consider giving your JV partners 75% commissions to promote (highest you can offer in CB).

All the best to you

Martin

A few things real quick. Don't get it as discouragement.

If they're not willing to pay for it giving it away for free most likely won't do any good either because - these people just don't spend money in this market and/or the information you provide doesn't have any perceived value for them. Building a list of such people rarely is a worthwhile investment of time and money.

This said - it's just an opinion so don't take it as something absolute. There are always exceptions. Even if what I said is true you could "teach" these people to buy. But for me that's the "forcing things" approach. I much rather prefer the natural approach - where you give what is already wanted.

And good job on taking action - keep it going!

The one thing I find a problem with building your list on freebies is that although your list will grow at a fast rate, it will be full of people who DONT want to part with cash (who does, but hopefully you get what I mean).

So what's the point of having a list of non-buyers?

I would rather have 100 people in a list that bought things from me than a list of 10,000 that wouldn't.

I recommend you to use the book to build your list, but I would create another product, one worth selling and one that people would buy and then link to that book in the free one. You could then also build a list of buyers.

So you would end up with 2 lists, one full of non-buyers and also a smaller one (the smaller being likely to be more profitable).

Daniel

Give it away and get them on your list and then there are TONS of gaming sites that give a nice commission that you can sell them on the backend.

Looks like you've made up your mind. Good luck with it all. I personally use Getresponse, but I've heard Aweber is quite reliable too. Let us know your results.

Gamers are notoriously cheap when it comes to info products. If you are hawking a new game controller, ahh... now that's a different story! Use CJ and point them to reviews you do of all the new hardware and put the article link in the emails.

TomG.