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Ebook Versus Physical Book?

by Tommyg123
10 replies
Hi all,

Im having this debate with myself and wanted to throw it out there to the experts!

Part of me thinks I will sell more products if I made it all digital. But there is something about actually receiving a tangible product. And that isnt lost on the giants in the info product space. Insanity, P90X ,Tony Robbins all delivered physical products and had the website support them with further help.

Psychologically they know a physical product holds a greater premium. Not to mention there is lower risk all your digital files just get ripped and spread all over the internet.

I think i am leaning towards actually selling physicals. But do any of you have strong opinions? Only thing putting me off the physical route is would people back out of the sale when they realise they wont get it instantly. We live in a world where everything is instant.

I guess I could do both, but if you had to do one or the other?
Thanks
#book #ebook #physical #versus
  • Profile picture of the author Ethan Chong
    My advice is to just sell on eBooks.

    If you are scared that your eBook content may get rip, you can always just change a new ebook cover and no one will realize it until they bought your eBook.

    Physical books have a lot of costs involved. It may not be the suitable choice for you if you don't have a large sum of money to test it out.

    - Ethan
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  • Profile picture of the author artflair
    I'd do both but if I had to pick one it would definitely be an eBook!
    Low costs, instant delivery, no physical product to ship etc.
    You can always start with an eBook and if it goes well, print the book and reach even more people.
    Good luck
    Art
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  • Profile picture of the author Ben Holmes
    The barriers to the seller are far lower with ebooks - the costs are less, you can sell it at a lower price, yet make more money than a physical book that you have to sell at a higher price, yet have higher costs as well.

    I don't see it as a choice at all - ebooks all the way!

    You can always add the physical book at a higher price later. I've done work at a company that made physical books for people - and I know the costs.

    I've recently published a couple of books on Kindle, and it cost me nothing
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  • Profile picture of the author jross07
    alot of it is all in the delivery time.

    People want things fast, and eBooks are virtually instant
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    Internet enthusiast, learning every day!

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  • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
    Originally Posted by Tommyg123 View Post

    I think i am leaning towards actually selling physicals. But do any of you have strong opinions? Only thing putting me off the physical route is would people back out of the sale when they realise they wont get it instantly. We live in a world where everything is instant.
    One major consideration is what distribution channel(s) you'll be using. That would affect the number of affiliates you'd be able to recruit and, to a greater or lesser extent, the international market you'd be able to reach.

    It would also depend on the type of content. Some information products lend themselves to a physical format more than others, especially if your material is in an evergreen market or can be considered authoritative in its field.

    Then there's the branding issue. If it's your intention to become an authority in your topic, having a published physical book that's available through Amazon, for example, can lend you a degree of credibility that a digital product wouldn't provide (unless you sold thousands).

    But really, with the growing number of cost-effective publishing options available these days, it's hard to come up with a good reason not to publish both digitally and physically.


    Frank
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  • Profile picture of the author MartinBuckley
    I've tested this myself online and offered one of my money making guides in both eBook format and as a physical book and the eBook way out sold the physical, so I would suggest just sticking with an eBook digital format.

    All the best,

    Martin
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  • Profile picture of the author Tommyg123
    Haha that's pretty conclusive then. Digital is the way forward. Thanks for the input everyone. Thanks Martin that's a good insight from someone that did a test on the same product in both format
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  • Profile picture of the author NatWil00
    I believe that in this era digital is absolutely the best solution. It does not mean that the physical book is no longer working, but now the ebook took a lot of space, because you can purchase it, download it immediately and start reading after the download. People do not like to waste time, so my advice is to focus on digital.

    I think this is enough to understand that now people prefer the ebook, if one day you'll have a good budget to be able to invest, you can do a test with physical book.

    Good luck and let we know :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisDouthit
    There is no reason to struggle with the decision, if you are not sure just sell both. Give the customer the option to buy either version, of course the physical book will cost more.
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    • Profile picture of the author WilliamVillagran
      Ebook will tend to outsell physical books most of the time just because a lot of people have tablets and tend to carry them everywhere they go. You don't really see a lot of people carrying around books anymore. It's just more convenient to carry around your tablet instead of a big book. The only time a real book will outsell a ebook is if it is a collectors edition or something of the same sorts.
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