Has Kindle killed the $7 short report concept?

16 replies
I was reading through one of the old threads in the Warroom regarding the short report concept. It basically works on the principle of creating reports on subjects within a certain market and selling them at up to $7 and branding yourself along with the report. There was a wave of $7 reports a while ago when John Leger entered the scene with his report on short reports along with the sales mechanism to drive it.

Many of you will know about this.

I am wondering if this is still working for anyone in the light of the success of Kindle where many short reports are sold for $0.99 to $2.99. There are as you have probably noticed, many products sold within this forum teaching how to sell on kindle.

Any ideas especially from Warriors who are/have been doing this ?
#concept #killed #kindle #report #short
  • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
    Originally Posted by keepitsimple View Post

    I am wondering if this is still working for anyone in the light of the success of Kindle where many short reports are sold for $0.99 to $2.99. There are as you have probably noticed, many products sold within this forum teaching how to sell on kindle.
    I've been doing a lot of Kindle research lately, and here is my conclusion.

    There are an outrageous number of $1 - $3 Kindle reports out there which totally suck the arse of a baboon.

    I decided to get a report about a particular subject. I went in and started reading reviews. I picked one and bought it, but it was garbage. So I did a little more research and bought another. It was garbage, too. All told, I spent about $30 and bought over a dozen reports in that $1 - $3 price range.

    It is my considered analysis that ALL of these reports COMBINED would have made a good $7 report. Once the common information was stripped out, there was basically a bulleted list of twenty or so useful tips. Gussied up with some language, a picture or two, and a little fluffy "YOU CAN DO EET" motivation... that list would make a good $7 report.

    At which point you could get the same value in my $30 of Kindle shopping for $8 - $10. Buy one of those crap books for the common info, any of them will do, and then the $7 report.

    It should not take a lot of brainpower to reason that if I wrote this report, I would only need to sell five of them to make a profit. It should also not be hard to figure out how to write the sales copy: "I did the research, so you don't have to."

    And it also should not have escaped you that gussied up with some language, a picture or two, and a little fluffy "YOU CAN DO EET" motivation, this post would make a good $7 report.
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    • Profile picture of the author keepitsimple
      CDarklock:

      Thanks for your imput. Nothing like practical experience. So it appears that a good quality report at around $7 will be well received. My goal is to establish a brand in the self improvement market based on quality focused simple reports that provide easy to read information on sub niches within the market.

      Cheers
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  • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
    The Kindle revolution hasn't impacted the ability to sell a $7 report at all.

    The price point is just about position more than value.

    If you offer value at a price people consider good - they'll buy it, whether it's online, offline, kindle, ebook, $7, $97......

    In short - Kindle and $7 reports are not related.
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  • Profile picture of the author ryanmilligan
    Banned
    What you've got to understand OP is that, people will buy anything at any price...

    ... Now, I don't mean everybody will buy a $1'000'000 yacht, no, not at all - but if you were selling million dollar yachts, you would try to sell to people that have hundreds of millions of dollars, wouldn't you?

    People who wouldn't particullarly miss a million bucks.

    Now, a yacht has a great deal of value (it's a cool thing to have) - so these people wont mind spending that kind of money on the boat. Just like an IM product, you have to have a target market, and your target market have price-points...

    ... So let's say that you're selling a list building product for $497, now the price tag alone will put begginers off (they are still pretty skeptial that IM will make them any money)

    So you have to try and sell to people who are already making money online (they know IM works, so they wont grudge the 'larger' price tag) - but then you have to make sure your product really is good enough to be selling it at $497, which means the buyer needs to perceive the value of the product way over $497.

    You get me?

    People buy anything, at any price - you just have to find the right people and be selling the right thing.
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  • Profile picture of the author WebPen
    I'm with Caliban.

    I was doing some research on juicing, for example. I bought a few Kindle books for $1-$3 about juicing, because they had good reviews.

    ....they were really, really crappy.

    They were very repetitive, and didn't give ANY specific information. I mean, at least show that you've done a little research. The health benefits of certain juices, compare juicer models/types, etc.

    Instead it was basically "juicing is good for you!"

    So.... yeah- $7 reports still sell. If it's good, useful information. I haven't tried selling $7 reports on Amazon yet, but I'm guessing some warriors here have...
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    • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
      Has Kindle killed the $7 short report concept?
      I don't know about the $7 reports, but I still sell as many $29.95 reports from my web site as I did before Kindle caught fire.

      Many, many people haven't gotten the message that you don't need to own a Kindle device to purchase Kindle content, and many topics don't have good material on Kindle yet.

      Marcia Yudkin
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      • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
        Originally Posted by marciayudkin View Post

        Many, many people haven't gotten the message that you don't need to own a Kindle device to purchase Kindle content
        Count me as one of the ignorant masses. I assumed you needed a Kindle, and as a result have ignored all the Kindle posts due to the relatively low market penetration of the device.

        .
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        • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
          Count me as one of the ignorant masses. I assumed you needed a Kindle, and as a result have ignored all the Kindle posts due to the relatively low market penetration of the device.
          I guess Amazon would like to perpetuate this myth so it can sell more Kindles.

          However, Amazon provides free programs/apps that allow anyone to read Kindle material on their PC, Mac, smartphone or iPad.

          Maybe it's in the interest of those selling Kindle content to help spread the word that their creations are accessible to and purchasable by anyone who is wired.

          Marcia Yudkin
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      • Profile picture of the author mchelle
        Originally Posted by marciayudkin View Post


        Many, many people haven't gotten the message that you don't need to own a Kindle device to purchase Kindle content, and many topics don't have good material on Kindle yet.

        Marcia Yudkin
        I am one of the people that just learned last week you could read Kindle books from your PC. I was really excited at first, until I found it to be a complete waste of time with a lot of them. I wouldn't even consider most of the stuff I downloaded to read to be a "book".

        Personally, I think PDFs are still the way to go - they are more universal (I don't know that I could read a Kindle book on an Ubuntu system for example) - and I agree I'd much rather pay $7 for good information than a lot of fluff.
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        • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
          Originally Posted by mchelle View Post

          Personally, I think PDFs are still the way to go - they are more universal (I don't know that I could read a Kindle book on an Ubuntu system for example) - and I agree I'd much rather pay $7 for good information than a lot of fluff.
          Don't forget though that having it in Kindle format is not just for Kindles and PCs - I used to buy 5 books a week from my local bookstore (whereever I was living the first thing I'd do is find a good bookstore) but now with Amazon's one-touch purchase and instant download to my ipad, I rarely buy physical books unless there's no choice.

          The fact that I can find a good book on Amazon and be reading it 2 minutes later on my iPad is the reason I love kindle books. I had a kindle but gave it away because the kindle reader on my ipad is much more useful.

          I'd always buy a kindle book over a pdf now.
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  • Profile picture of the author Beverley Boorer
    People who download books from kindle, you need to read the first few pages before you buy so that you can be fairly sure that it contains good information. You can also scroll down the page and see if the book has been reviewed positively. Books that are really popular usually have a few good reviews, meaning that people liked them. There are many great books on kindle both fiction and non-fiction. They are much cheaper than hard copy books
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  • Profile picture of the author J Bold
    Regarding the first post, not at all.

    Kindle is a completely different marketplace, where the thing that sells best is fiction, which is a completely different market. Check the top 100 sellers, which is normally 85-90% fiction.

    Just because people can get cheap reports on Kindle for less than $7 doesn't mean there's not completely different markets out there (like the WSO section for IM niche) that wouldn't eat up $7 reports that you sell to them directly. No reason to use Kindle if that's your goal. You have to use Kindle for what it's good for, and in the end that's going to likely be selling fiction.

    There's no reason to use Kindle at all depending on your goals.

    And if you are attracted to writing more traditional kinds of books fiction or non-fiction, realize the power of the Kindle marketplace and what it can do for you. But honestly, certain non-fiction niches may be best sold off Kindle, with your affiliate program.

    edit: Meant to say "less than $7 doesn't mean..."
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    • Profile picture of the author tpw
      Originally Posted by marciayudkin View Post

      I don't know about the $7 reports, but I still sell as many $29.95 reports from my web site as I did before Kindle caught fire.

      Many, many people haven't gotten the message that you don't need to own a Kindle device to purchase Kindle content, and many topics don't have good material on Kindle yet.

      Marcia Yudkin
      Originally Posted by J Bold View Post

      Regarding the first post, not at all.

      Kindle is a completely different marketplace, where the thing that sells best is fiction, which is a completely different market. Check the top 100 sellers, which is normally 85-90% fiction.

      Just because people can get cheap reports on Kindle for $7 doesn't mean there's not completely different markets out there (like the WSO section for IM niche) that wouldn't eat up $7 reports that you sell to them directly. No reason to use Kindle if that's your goal. You have to use Kindle for what it's good for, and in the end that's going to likely be selling fiction.

      There's no reason to use Kindle at all depending on your goals.

      And if you are attracted to writing more traditional kinds of books fiction or non-fiction, realize the power of the Kindle marketplace and what it can do for you. But honestly, certain non-fiction niches may be best sold off Kindle, with your affiliate program.

      Marcia and J Bold nailed it... I am basically confirming their view...

      Joshua really told the story though...

      The Kindle books and the $7 reports appeal to different markets, and their is little cross-over between the two...

      For example, if you want to link other products in the back of your Kindle book, it is preferential to link to other Kindle books rather than $7 reports or ClickBank products.

      Few people who buy Kindle books will pony up for a much higher priced ClickBank product. And most ClickBank product buyers won't buy a Kindle book, unless they are holding a Kindle in their hands.
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  • Profile picture of the author Simon Ashari
    @OP,

    I believe the kindle market place will enhance the short report concept.

    I remember 7 years ago telling people that I bought and read ebooks. They looked at me like I was nuts (as what I was buying was intangible).

    The rest of the world is slowly seeing the value in the information, largely thanks to amazon.
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  • Profile picture of the author techbul
    It's just simple economics. If you have a product that people feel it deserves more than $7, they would be more than happy to pay that amount.
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  • Profile picture of the author seobro
    I would say that the $20 report is gone. Well, it was indeed slaughtered by the rampaging 99 cent e-books on spamazon. Hey, I used to sell many $20 reports years ago. Sadly, that is no longer our case. Basically, the 99 cent e-book is taking over. Also, I was using pay pal and they have all kinds of problems with returns as you are aware. Not getting a lot of returns on my 99 cent e-books, but there you go.

    Here is a way to see how much your competition is out selling you.
    Amazon Sales Rank Tracking

    I do not agree with the figures as they say rank 2,000,000 sells 1 copy per 1000 days, and I am rank 2,000,000 on one of my books that sells every month approx one copy. It used to be seven. Back when it was seven. Well, I should have been in the top 100,000, but no so.
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