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Kindle vs Clickbank

by davejug1
12 replies
Ok so I'm writing something and am going to place it on one of these two platforms for the following reasons.

Clickbank - To use the affiliate network. My experience (limited) and knowledge (intermediate) of Clickbank is that you really need to position your product right for the half-decent affiliates to get involved and the super-affiliates just plain won't bother no matter how good it is.

Kindle - Utilizing the borrow function you can get your content viral by getting it into the best "sellers"

I'm definitely going to use one because I want to run some very serious tests but which would you choose given the above points?
#clickbank #kindle
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by davejug1 View Post

    My experience (limited) and knowledge (intermediate) of Clickbank is that you really need to position your product right for the half-decent affiliates to get involved and the super-affiliates just plain won't bother no matter how good it is.
    I think this may be a pretty fair summary!

    Originally Posted by davejug1 View Post

    Kindle - Utilizing the borrow function you can get your content viral by getting it into the best "sellers"
    Yes indeed ... and that is tempting, isn't it?

    Originally Posted by davejug1 View Post

    I'm definitely going to use one because I want to run some very serious tests but which would you choose given the above points?
    I don't know. It's a good question, and I'll be interested to see others' replies. The main reason I'm replying is just to express the hope that you'll ignore anyone who says "Why not do both?" (and it seems likely that someone will, eventually, if the thread goes on for long enough? :rolleyes: ). That would be a bit poisonous to the ClickBank side of the "tests" and you therefore wouldn't learn much from it, of course. :p
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  • Profile picture of the author davejug1
    Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

    The main reason I'm replying is just to express the hope that you'll ignore anyone who says "Why not do both?" (and it seems likely that someone will, eventually, if the thread goes on for long enough? :rolleyes: ). That would be a bit poisonous to the ClickBank side of the "tests" and you therefore wouldn't learn much from it, of course. :p
    Absolutely Alexa and thank's for crystallizing some of my thoughts on this one. My own research suggests that if you go on KDP Select which is the best way to get your words out there, is that it needs to be exclusive to Amazon for 90 days, so that would at least temporarily rule out CB.

    Edit - Now I come to think of it, if I remember correctly, if you place something on Clickback, they officially are the owner of it, so that would definitely rule out using both.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by davejug1 View Post

      Edit - Now I come to think of it, if I remember correctly, if you place something on Clickback, they officially are the owner of it, so that would definitely rule out using both.
      Noooo, not nowadays, anyway. ClickBank has no problem at all with vendors listing products there and elsewhere, including Amazon. (Affiliates do, though, obviously!).

      It's true that ClickBank becomes the owner of the individual copy a customer buys, during the sale process, in that ClickBank is a retailer rather than a payment processor: you're thinking of this, I think?
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      • Profile picture of the author Dawn Wise
        Why not do both?
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      • Profile picture of the author davejug1
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        Noooo, not nowadays, anyway. ClickBank has no problem at all with vendors listing products there and elsewhere, including Amazon. (Affiliates do, though, obviously!).

        It's true that ClickBank becomes the owner of the individual copy a customer buys, during the sale process, in that ClickBank is a retailer rather than a payment processor: you're thinking of this, I think?
        I think it might have been different once. Anyway, it's good to know they don't anymore.
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        • Profile picture of the author Benjamin Norman
          You need to weigh up which one will make you more money long term. Kindle is definitely the easier option with respect to being found but expect to charge less for your book. I personally prefer Kindle but it does depend on the niche you are in as well.

          Alternatively, if it is a how-to book, why not sell the book on Kindle and have a link to a website with a video series on Clickbank/your own website? At least if the book does go viral, you can get backend sales. I have been testing this of late with mixed results.
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          • Profile picture of the author davejug1
            Originally Posted by Benjamin Norman View Post

            You need to weigh up which one will make you more money long term. Kindle is definitely the easier option with respect to being found but expect to charge less for your book. I personally prefer Kindle but it does depend on the niche you are in as well.

            Alternatively, if it is a how-to book, why not sell the book on Kindle and have a link to a website with a video series on Clickbank/your own website? At least if the book does go viral, you can get backend sales. I have been testing this of late with mixed results.
            Thanks Benjamin, good input. This would be good reason to have a page on my site kindle compliant.
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  • Profile picture of the author imdomination
    I'd do both for sure. However, if you want to be a part of the borrowing thing on Kindle you need to make it exclusive to them for 90 days. Run it on Amazon for three months then add to Clickbank.
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  • Profile picture of the author charlesburke
    Benjamin's suggestion is good, strong marketing. It doesn't really have to be either-or. Instead, why not use them in tandem?

    Sure putting your ebook on Clickbank lets you capture your buyers' emails, and you can even charge more. But with the Kindle, Amazon's reach is amazing. You don't know who buys your books on Amazon, but you can find out easily enough. Just insert an offer for a "special free gift" or "followup information" at your website (behind an opt-in page) and you're good to go.

    At the download page for the free gift, you put a sales blurb for your upsell product or a premium version with audio and "extra strategies" specially developed for readers of your book. This takes them to a true sales page, and some of them will buy.

    Use Amazon where they're strongest, and use Clickbank for their special strengths. Best of both worlds.

    Hope this helps flesh out your plans.

    Cheers from warm and smiling Thailand,
    Charles
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  • Profile picture of the author absplittesters
    Dave - I don't understand why would limit yourself to using just one platform especially if it's an ebook...

    As for getting super affiliates to promote for you it's really not that hard... If you have something that is quality and converts + your offerring affiliate prizes hit one of them up, get them to promote then the rest will follow suite...

    Matt
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    • Profile picture of the author davejug1
      Originally Posted by absplittesters View Post

      Dave - I don't understand why would limit yourself to using just one platform especially if it's an ebook...

      As for getting super affiliates to promote for you it's really not that hard... If you have something that is quality and converts + your offerring affiliate prizes hit one of them up, get them to promote then the rest will follow suite...

      Matt
      Because to go mass market on Amazon you need to be exclusive for 90 days.

      Also if you give your customers a different way to pay, affiliates see that as a bad thing. Why should they do all the promoting to lose the sale to Amazon. I believe Alexa referred to this when she mentioned poisoning the CB side of the stats.

      Originally Posted by charlesburke View Post

      Benjamin's suggestion is good, strong marketing. It doesn't really have to be either-or. Instead, why not use them in tandem?

      Sure putting your ebook on Clickbank lets you capture your buyers' emails, and you can even charge more. But with the Kindle, Amazon's reach is amazing. You don't know who buys your books on Amazon, but you can find out easily enough. Just insert an offer for a "special free gift" or "followup information" at your website (behind an opt-in page) and you're good to go.

      At the download page for the free gift, you put a sales blurb for your upsell product or a premium version with audio and "extra strategies" specially developed for readers of your book. This takes them to a true sales page, and some of them will buy.

      Use Amazon where they're strongest, and use Clickbank for their special strengths. Best of both worlds.

      Hope this helps flesh out your plans.

      Cheers from warm and smiling Thailand,
      Charles
      Thanks Charles, I have actually been referring to multiple editions of the book as I've been writing it. I'm going to review it every six months and strip out the stuff the no longer works and replace with other things. Then replace the book with that edition. I can easily offer these updates for free to those who sign up to my list which makes it a valuable asset I can market.

      I'm thinking placing it on Clickbank first and selling the heck out of it and when sales dwindle, move it to Amazon.

      Thanks chaps.
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  • Profile picture of the author gareth
    It all comes down to money - profit.

    Kindle books are expected to be cheap. Also despite all the crappy hype not that many people are really making a living off kindle - despite the volume of amazon traffic.

    On kindle you will not get affiliate sales like clickbank.

    One of my products sells through e-junkie & I will soon put it on clickbank.

    That PDF sells at $37 its made more money than the $9.97 KDP version

    So there we are I have it on KDP & e-junkie and the PDF makes more $$

    Next I will set it up on clickbank, nook, createspace and several other places. The exception is that I will only promote one outlet.

    The one that makes the most money.

    The thing is that the kinds of info products we marketers make usually sell better on clickbank than KDP.

    If you write novels, recipe books etc - amazon is the choice

    Certain genres will do better on clickbank - it depends on the product I think
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    Gareth M Thomas
    Serial Entrepreneur
    Auckland, New Zealand

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