What is the Value of Information (Or, How Should I Price my eBook)?
As anyone who frequents this board knows, there are a lot of discussions on pricing of eBooks (or digital courses, or whatever you want to call them). Can an "eBook" really be worth a couple hundred dollars? There are debates over the length of the eBook and perceived value and actual value and so on. Should something be priced at $7, $17, $27, $37, ..., $97, ..., $197, $297, ..., $497, ..., $997 and so on. And, if information is available for free online (even though you may have to hunt to find it) is it fair to charge money for that? And so the discussions go, back and forth, back and forth...
Well, I received in the mail a course schedule from a nearby community college. And, looking at cost of taking a course, I think, will help put things in perspective. Here are some examples:
A Beginning Photoshop course. This is just a very basic course which introduces students to scanning and altering images. Sounds like pretty basic stuff, no? It's not a comprehensive course and doesn't advertise it to be anything than an introductory course. Cost? $882. (I'm using the in-state costs. Out of state would be $1740.)
If you know Photoshop, you could put together a introductory course, and probably teach a few things beyond the basics that a community college would offer, with an eBook/course and some videos and tutorial files. Put something together like that and $197 wouldn't be out of the question. Not bad for teaching people how to scan and manipulate some images, no?
An introductory, basic course in painting is also $882.
An introduction to Microsoft Office? $882.
Public speaking. $882.
An introduction to dental terminology. That's right. Just an introduction to the terms used in dentistry. $294. Basic medical terminology is $882.
An introduction to being an entrepreneur. $882. The same price for an introduction to business. A marketing course is also $882.
Now, you can argue that you're getting person instruction, that you can ask an instructor questions and so on, so there is some added benefit to that, but the bottom line is that people are paying for the information they are learning. And a lot of these things are just introductory courses, so you know they aren't going to be very in-depth. So, people are paying quite a hefty fee just for basic information.
Too often we undervalue information. But, information is valuable and people are willing to pay for it. So, think beyond the people that won't pay more than $27 for an eBook and consider the people that are willing to pay for valuable information. Just make sure you make it easy for them to learn and pack it with a wealth of materials.
Look beyond the people that won't spend more than 15 minutes reading an eBook because they "don't have time." People take these college classes, spending a couple hours a night over a couple of weeks to learn this stuff. They're paying almost $1,000 to learn basic stuff. You don't think they'd be willing to spend $197 and be able to learn the same thing by reading an eBook and watching some videos? Maybe the guy only willing to spend $27 isn't willing to invest 8 hours of his time learning something useful, but there are certainly people out there who'll be willing to invest 8 hours of their time and spend $197 of their money to save perhaps $600 over what they might spend elsewhere!
Anyway, I just got that course guide in the mail and thought I'd share these thoughts. Maybe someone will find them useful.
Well, I received in the mail a course schedule from a nearby community college. And, looking at cost of taking a course, I think, will help put things in perspective. Here are some examples:
A Beginning Photoshop course. This is just a very basic course which introduces students to scanning and altering images. Sounds like pretty basic stuff, no? It's not a comprehensive course and doesn't advertise it to be anything than an introductory course. Cost? $882. (I'm using the in-state costs. Out of state would be $1740.)
If you know Photoshop, you could put together a introductory course, and probably teach a few things beyond the basics that a community college would offer, with an eBook/course and some videos and tutorial files. Put something together like that and $197 wouldn't be out of the question. Not bad for teaching people how to scan and manipulate some images, no?
An introductory, basic course in painting is also $882.
An introduction to Microsoft Office? $882.
Public speaking. $882.
An introduction to dental terminology. That's right. Just an introduction to the terms used in dentistry. $294. Basic medical terminology is $882.
An introduction to being an entrepreneur. $882. The same price for an introduction to business. A marketing course is also $882.
Now, you can argue that you're getting person instruction, that you can ask an instructor questions and so on, so there is some added benefit to that, but the bottom line is that people are paying for the information they are learning. And a lot of these things are just introductory courses, so you know they aren't going to be very in-depth. So, people are paying quite a hefty fee just for basic information.
Too often we undervalue information. But, information is valuable and people are willing to pay for it. So, think beyond the people that won't pay more than $27 for an eBook and consider the people that are willing to pay for valuable information. Just make sure you make it easy for them to learn and pack it with a wealth of materials.
Look beyond the people that won't spend more than 15 minutes reading an eBook because they "don't have time." People take these college classes, spending a couple hours a night over a couple of weeks to learn this stuff. They're paying almost $1,000 to learn basic stuff. You don't think they'd be willing to spend $197 and be able to learn the same thing by reading an eBook and watching some videos? Maybe the guy only willing to spend $27 isn't willing to invest 8 hours of his time learning something useful, but there are certainly people out there who'll be willing to invest 8 hours of their time and spend $197 of their money to save perhaps $600 over what they might spend elsewhere!
Anyway, I just got that course guide in the mail and thought I'd share these thoughts. Maybe someone will find them useful.
Cheers, John
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