Here's Why You Can't Sell Your Stupid E-Book.

Fantastic post Scott.

Most people know I had a product that was converting quite poorly.

I changed the positioning (Vin's idea), similar to what you mentioned above, and added a little bit about who I was. In essence, I changed the positioning.

I only re-wrote the intro to that letter (maybe the first quarter, up to the bullet points). I also took out any references to an "ebook" and replaced it with "proven system" or whatever...

Guess what? CR shot up to 2% straight away.

Now this letter still needs a LOT of work... which I haven't gotten around to doing yet, because I have client stuff to do... but I imagine when all is said and done I should be getting a respectable 3% or so.

Still, going from "craptacular" to "acceptable" just by changing the positioning is pretty cool.

Just wanted to share some results that would back up your findings.

-Dan

It seems like a moot point. If you grabbed 10,000 people off the streets, it's likely that 9,999 of them will have never even heard the term "e-book" before.

Unless you're selling to people who already know what an e-book is, then it's far more likely people won't buy because they'll be too busy wondering what the hell an e-book is, rather than saying, "Oh, an e-book! I don't like those!"

Can we see it?

Tommy.

I do have data. It's just not available for public viewing.

Can I see the conversion data for your niches and websites?

Do you think my clients would appreciate me sharing theirs?

I didn't start this thread to start an argument. I actually made the post after a friend and I had a conversation about what I do for a living.

He said "So, you sell those e-books and stuff?"... In sort of a condescending tone. Because the word "e-book" makes him think scam, and it does the same for a lot of people.

I explained that I write copy for all kinds of products, training courses, membership sites, whatever.

It made me think about product positioning, and I made a quick post on the forum...

So... If you don't think it impacts conversions, or that I've said anything that isn't true, feel free to prove me wrong.

I'm not trying to start a pissing match with people here... I'm making a pretty obvious statement.

That a big reason why a lot of people have trouble selling digital information is because they don't position the product the right way.

Peace,

-Scott

Fair enough.

I'll have to test that since I'm in the middle of a project I will split test and hopefully remember to come back and share =:-)

i think people are trying to make money selling the ebook rather than working their own method thats so stupid and others think that they are actually trying to help them but i might be wrong

Thanks, I will add making this change on my sales page and let you know.

Stupid-ebook-author-no-more
Anne

does anybody here actually read ebooks? I don't think I've ever really read an ebook. I'll read real books transformed but I don't think I've ever read an ebook that started as an ebook.

Very true...it's all about how your frame your offer and its benefits...

js

I personally read tons of ebooks. Not alot of them are good but the few that are good are worth all the bads ones inbetween. This post reminds me of the old saying, "Sell Benefits not features". Thank you for the advice

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Maybe it's just because my ebook is Stupid.
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I think it also helps to think of your product as a course/suite/package etc. when creating it instead of an ebook...that mindset works both ways. It makes me want to put more effort into my product to make it worthwhile.

wow--great advice. I was actually looking to write an ebook next week, but youve definitely got me thinking about making a vid series or at the very least renaming it to a "comprehensive course" =)

Really good stuff here, but you should always make it known somewhere on the page (preferably by the ADD TO CART button) that the "book" is a digital download. In the past before I did this, I used to receive refund requests because the customer thought the "book" would be physically shipped to them.

Woohhh! Got my brain really thinking a lot after reading the posts here. My own conclusion about what I read: Scott, thank you for sharing this post. For all those who have replied, thank you as well. Everyone has got his/her idea worth reading and learning from. As for me, the words we use to market a product does matter, and where we sell it matters as much! And I hope that in the future, e book writers will just sell those that are really worth one's time. (like what the authors from the old age write)

Absolutely correct!

Even the word ebook makes you cringe.

Find out the problems in your market or niche.

Sell solutions and systems.

Build your own empire.

That's how business is done and bank accounts are filled.

End of story.

Thank you for this! I was wondering why I couldn't sell my "ebook"

So true... and it pains me that some of my clients believe they will make a fortune reselling all these ebooks they have the rights to resell. I never buy ebooks. I buy guides and information and I create and sell systems and strategies... and never call them ebooks. The name itself is a turnoff.

I give my best information away for free most of the time... and I still never call it an ebook...

I've had some experience with e-books. Once, when I was a lot younger and really naive. I purchased it and regretted the purchase soon after I started reading the e-book. These days, I get e-books as free giveaways when I subscribe to someone's list. My opinion still hasn't changed on e-books; most of the time they contain superficial information that you either already know or hints of information that you need to further research to really understand. There are probably some e-books out there that are worth your money, but the bad apples have really spoilt the reputation of e-books. So, take one if it's a free giveaway but don't waste your money on them.

I think the answer is telegraphed by the term stupid e-book.

The page I linked isn't funny because it is so unlike every single stupid e-book out there, ever.

Want to sell? Try to concentrate on the book part, not so much the "e.' You could say as much for the company newsletter. Those newsletters have just as much a reputation for worthlessness, a thinly veiled excuse to get grubby corporate fingers onto your email address for spam.

... and no other reason.

Doesn't have to be that way. But selling your e-book by doing the same thing over-and-over, expecting different results does not work. Stop making the e-book stupid for starters.

Far too many are using Buy My Stupid E-book as a template. Stop doing that.

Want an e-book which is NOT stupid? Try Getting Real by 37signals. Essentially it's about the company's value proposition and philosophy, in other words a disguised sales letter potential customers pay money for. But it's not stupid -- about customers.

And it's a book. Just a book. ...selling 30,000 copies @ $19 = $570,000

Here is the reason why you can't sell your stupid e-book.

Seth Godin = Purple Cow = USP.

Yes. Genius. Seth gets it how nothing exists, unless the online crowd invents it. The is no movie industry, just YouTube. No infomercials, just online sales letters.

No unique selling propositions. Just purple cows.

Ironic.

I certainly agree with him, selling an e-book is very much convenient to people, the more important thing in here is the content of the book itself, the benefits and how it can help in our daily needs. Packaging is another aspect for selling. The more "eye-catching" was the cover plus the title the more it will attract people to use it or purchase it.

This topic made me look through google news for the highest selling e-books, and I got sidetracked by an article on e-book plagiarism. One guy wrote "The Adventures Of Dracula" which sold ok, and was a word for word ripoff of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

The Warrior forum also got a shout out in the article as well.

NPR article here On Amazon, An Uneasy Mix Of Plagiarism And Erotica : NPR

Great post, Scott! Your are correct here. E-book tells 'I am cheap and possibly scammy'.
"Comprehensive training" sounds professional and trustworthy. I, personally, would buy 'comprehensive training' sooner than 'ebook'. Thank you for the post.

It's two and a half years since the original post and while I believe folks are more 'warmed-up' to the concept of digital books, I still have to agree with Scott. A training program that solves a problem has a lot more to offer than an eBook. The negative connotation may or may not be as strong but, as time goes on, customers want more than just something to read.

Solve a problem by creating an eBook (training manual), action guide, and video lessons delivered from a secure site. This opens the door to a membership site which can be further monetized through upsells - companion products, monthly memberships with additional content, consulting.

Whoops, I just gave away the secrets of all those info product creation programs out there. Silly me...

Very nice post. It's amazing how just changing one word could increase your conversions. I also agree that eBooks are dying out because they have lately been known to be full of free information that does not really help. Therefore, using secret course or insider tips would help.

When I read "ebook", I immediately expect that there is a high probability that the content will either be low quality, shamelessly pushing a product or service, or both. Which in most cases, is precisely what an "ebook" turns out to be. Sure, including an ebook as a free incentive, or as a bonus to add value to a product is fine, however you'll have a harder time marketing a product as an 'ebook', than by any other name.

Excellent post Scott, thank you saying what needed to be said

Great post, and this isn't limited to ebooks either. Anytime you talk to much about the product, you're focusing less on the solution and the more you do that, the less people will care.

The great piece of wisdom here is that people don't want to be sold product and services, they BUY solutions to problems.

Great post.
Rich Schefren gives credit to his "Internet Marketing Manifesto" for starting his IM career.
It's a free download. Millions of downloads and dollars in eventual revenues.
Imagine if he had called it "free report" or "free e-book"?

Dan

Hmmmm...With the rise in sales of the many e-readers and tablets, wouldn't you say this has changed drastically over the years? it does not appear as though the word "e-book" is as taboo. I do agree that if it is in fact a 27-page report, then slapping the work e-book behind the title may be a little misleading.

I know the OP said we shouldn't call it an ebook...and I agree...

...but here's a litle something I came across a couple weeks ago. Thought there were some good ideas. Some may already use these, I'm not sure. If not, I'm sure they'd work.

How to Make Money With Free eBooks

Nice! I like the ideal of Udemy. I've got quite a bit of course material still "in the rough" - Udemy might be a good place to offer some of it. It's always good to have multiple streams of income. I'm sure with time Udemy will catch on even more.

This is a good point. Format is not a limiter, it's a facilitator of your message to your market.

There was a poll here in the warrior forum here a few years ago where warriors' favorite choice of formats to get products they like to buy were voted on and tallied.

Many product creators were surprised.

Everyone thought video was the rage. Some would-be product creators even went on to say they gave up on the idea of ever creating their product because they felt intimidated and embarrassed by their lack of video production expertise so they just gave up because they couldn't just create an ebook anymore.

The numbers revealed a different story!

"Text" format was the favorite format to buy over video by 600%.

The reason was they could scroll down and read at their own pace instead of having to wait for the video to play. They also found it incredibly difficult to use the video as a handy reference tool, because it was just too much hassle to have to remember where in the video certain topics were covered versus having chapters written in text for easy future reference.

So, as we saw, ebooks were actually the first choice in format from people in the internet marketing niche who purchase products according to that sampling.

Does this mean Scott was wrong? Not at all.

What Scott was saying had very little to do with the format at all, but many beginning product creators get all hung up on format and make it some kind of heavy burden that they must bear in order to feel successful.

When in fact, the true measure of success is in delivering the value at profit to those who demand it in your niche.

You may have even felt this way before. Where you imagine a blank ebook of 50 or more pages like it's a "job" or "homework assignment" or "chore" you have to complete by filling it up with content in order to please a customer and feel justified in selling it.

Nothing could be further from the truth because that kind of poisoned thinking puts the focus on filling up the format with content, rather than filling up the content with value to the end user. For the purpose of this discussion, value is defined as the solution your market will spend money to get.

Do you see the disconnect there?

It was even in the product creation process mindset of the product creator.

And then the flawed logic carried over into the marketing where they focus on trying to pike their "ebook".

It is a mistake. It is a problem. It is a real problem. But, it's one that's easy to fix because it's simply a matter of mindset.

When you set your mind to deliver the value to your client as your focus, regardless of format, you set your priority in the proper place because of your correct way of thinking.

Isn't it interesting how such a simple shift in your mindset can affect your sales so profoundly for the better and have its roots traced back to the point of market research (where you get to know your customer in the first place).

GREAT ADVICE! Sell Features, Advantages and Benefits, people think in those terms!

Tell that to Amazon...

Kindle ebook sales have overtaken Amazon print, says book seller | Books | The Guardian

That was posted in 2009.

The term "e-book" has definitely changed, the market for e-books on kindle has since exploded.

But just to clarify, the gist of my post was communicating the value of your product, not slamming e-books as a medium.

-Scott

I remember CopyBlogger ran a course called 'Teaching Sells' a few years back. I dont think there was a single mention of selling eBooks. It was about creating and promoting full training courses using, yes, eBooks but also video, podcasts and live presentations (i.e. Webinars). It's not exactly difficult (or expensive) to put these extra resources together and changes the whole dynamic on your offer.

I think that e-books are not informative enough and yes, I agree that the course is the way to go if you ever work on something, create a course and you will succeed.

e-Books are selling like 'hot cakes' these days. Amazon did a great job of polishing their image.

As Scott said, it's a matter of positioning. If you only want a few dollars for your e-book, then calling your product an ebook is fine.

If you want to sell your product for a much higher price point, such as $200 or $300, call your product a course or program. As well, you would probably have to sell it as a hard product, not a digital download.

It boils down to your positioning and your marketing plan.