My wife says this is a crazy stragegy - what do you think?

It's not mad. It's a great way to build a relationship. You might also find rebranding the book and taking it to a ublisher could work wonders.

I echo Steven's point, but would probably come down on your wife's side anyway. Giving away a free chapter or two is plenty. If you give the whole thing away, you'll never have anything more to give away from it in the future. Give away 2 chapters, but keep the rest as a paid product. You can bundle it as a freebie with other offers to increase value for those offers later as well. But giving the entire thing away free strikes me as too much too soon.

If you don't have much else to give besides the fat ebook you could give them half now and in parts later. Or tease them with 1st free part and for those hooked up sell 2nd part.

Thanks for feedback Intrepreneur, Steven and mgkismal!! Good points. My income plan is as follows:

free product >> media coverage and joint ventures for traffic (other than my 8000 list) >> e-mail addresses >> promote a member's only forum to readers (for advanced tactics) >> promote relevant affiliate products to list >> promote my services to list.

Dunno, giving away just free chapter never does it for me.

Your ongoing ideas really appreciated.

Yeah I agree with Steve too. I have read Brads book and it is great, he uses the book exceptionally well as both a tool to build trust and confidence, as well as plug his software. So if you can follow this formula you are sure to find success!!

I would give away free tips reports based on your big book. Write articles based on the book and use social media etc. to get attention. Then lead readers to your website where you could sell the book and have some affiliate links.

Become known as an expert with these mini reports. These could drive tons of traffic.

Not what you asked but I would also rename the book to give it a more actionable title that makes people want to jump and buy.

It may feel weird to give away one or two chapters, but trust me when I say it works well.

Several months ago a couple pretty well-known marketers, Mike and Anik, released a product called the Launch Tree - which, as the name might suggest, helps people with product launches. They promoted the first one or two chapters like mad, and I'll tell you right now - there was so much useful information in just those one or two chapters alone. You can imagine how that product sold.

Yeah... maybe the first 5 chapters... or enough good info to show value.

First of all of course, you should never, ever give something away for free that you couldn't sell if you tried to.

In this case I'm going to assume it does have valuable information in it and it's chock full of great information they can use.

But just because you decide to give it away for free doesn't you don't have to sell people on wanting it.

You still have to majorly sell the book, even if it's free. You want to make them truly desire it, then let them have it (or a chapter or two) as a gift in exchange for that email.

This will greatly make them appreciate the value (after you've built it up proportionally), as that is the only thing you would have control over if they get it for free (the value they place on it). Most of us know how much more we value something when we pay for it.

However, it's not a bad idea at all if you can further make them desire you or your expertise and suggestions upon completing the book because now they know who to turn to and why.

Another idea is to self-publish a physical book (it's getting cheaper these days) that they can order in addition for a modest amount. I know I prefer hard, tangible books in my hands, but that's not everyone.

At the same time, a physical book would greatly increase your status as an expert and the pdf will be a great "addition". But again, all this you would have to test and let that be the judge, not me. (That might take a little more money however)

And lastly, keep the mindset that YOU'RE the expert that's poured out in the book. It's not that the book the has all the answers into itself. Do that, and hopefully they'll come back to you for more answers (and hopefully a credit card in hand )

I'm all about building relationships, you could even give the book to the readers of your list for a discounted price, as nathan said, there's no point in giving something away if it can be sold, but at the same time like you said, you're trying to build stronger relationships.

I think that if you give the readers fo your list the discounted price, you will still be gaining trust and forging the relationship you desire but at the same time getting paid. Which is ultimately what you want isn't it. (If not then obviously just give it away).

Hope this was a fresh idea for you!!

After being nudged in the side, I would also like to add - the wife is always right.

I wear the pants in the family! - (She just buys them.)

I would add that in building stronger relationship the business model then infers that the profit is made at the back-end. I would make sure that the "subscription" forum will provide this profit. As Alexa has stated above, establishing a paid forum is difficult.

Have you thought that with a list of 8000 that you could already start marketing to them.

The busines model could then look something like, add chapters and tips & advice on a landing page and then finally offer the e-book as a bonus when the buyer takes up a subscritption. this uses the free and paid aspects of the e-book.

Just a thought.

Greg

How many quality books in your local book shop are 200 pages long and are free?

I would think none.

Give people a teaser first to attract their interest and then sell your book.

If your book is 200 pages of quality content - you are mad to give it away and hope people will then buy your next product.

It de-values your work instantly.

I didn't read all the posts here... been a long day. But have you considered putting it up on amazon as a print on demand book -- and of course offering the "digital" copy for free as bait for your newsletter?

Lot's of folks want something they can hold onto - but your newsletter is where you want them. Best of both worlds.

Gerard,

I'm with your wife on this one. You already have a list of 8000; it's time to make some money. And if you get good conversion with that list (although I'd test different sales approaches with smaller segments of the list first), then you have the numbers to approach JV partners.

By the way, you may want to test the copy on your site with some PPC first. I thought it was a bit weak. Too much about you. I had to scroll below the fold to see you start talking about your prospects.

Also, what makes you different from all the other sellers of this kind of information? Can you put up a video or two with incredible AND simple tips that we haven't seen a thousand times before?

Where are your testimonials? If your method is so surefire, can you prove it with someone other than yourself?

Edit: I want to make it clear that the questions above were what I would think if I went to the site as a buyer. I'm not questioning Gerard's credibility or quality of information.

Basically, entice them to want more and then SELL the book. If you're a resume writer and job search coach, isn't that what you're teaching your clients... how to sell their skills and themselves? Your clients aren't working for free, are they?

I think too many people get caught up in the freebie mentality and then wonder why their lists of freebie-seekers don't convert.

A few more points to consider...

1. Why would you want to market affiliate products to your list when you can keep 100% of the profits from your own book? You can always backend the affiliate stuff for more revenue.

2. I think you're overestimating how many people will pay for your writing services after receiving a free book. Plus with writing services and coaching, you're trading time for money (which limits your income). With sales of a book, you can make continuous income with no further time commitment on your part except for marketing (which you would have to do anyway with your writing services).

3. You don't need to give away a book to get good media coverage. Just show you're an expert, give some good tips or even as I believe someone else suggested, create a hot short report out of your 200-page book, offer that for free to your radio listeners to build your list, and sell the book in the report.

4. Forums can be labor-intensive and can become ghost towns very easily. Don't assume that people who get a book for free will pay to join a forum.

I think your wife's right. But whatever you decide to do, good luck.

Debbie

Start by selling the book. Promote the heck out of it. When it looks like sales are starting to drop off, THEN use is as a free lead-in to some great backend programs. That way, people will have heard of you AND the book already, and will be eager to see what else you are offering.

That's just my opinion, but it sounds like a good idea. Right?

Good luck, which ever way you go.
Mark

I agree with your wife. After looking at your main site I'm assuming the book is loaded with excellent content because your site is. I'd bet you have a couple of tutorials in there, some special reports, and a whole lot of content for your site as well. How many giveaways and possible products might come from all of that content with just a few adjustments?

Years ago I had the privilege of working for and learning from a New York Times best selling author who also marketed high-ticket training courses at live seminars. When he wrote a book, he'd sell each chapter at his seminars before the book was published. He'd get $10 each for them and people would line up to buy.

Then the book would hit the stores and he'd turn as many chapters into mini-courses as possible. Then there were workbooks, and audio recordings. This guy marketed a single book in a dozen ways.

I realize that most of us don't have such a venue as live seminars, but we can still spread some of that content around and get a lot more mileage from it than just a single giveaway. It's all in packaging, perceived value and perception. Good luck!

Your prospects are probably afraid to spend much money... understandably if they don't have a job.

Have you ever thought of starting a job board? Then maybe you could use your book--or parts of it--to entice people to sign up. And you said you have the publicity angle covered with radio shows, etc.

I think you may have found your passive income stream, if you're interested.

Debbie

Gerard,

You were able to create a list of 8000 AND you know how to get offline publicity. Not many people can do that.

Can you use those skills to go into a more evergreen niche?

I can understand why you'd be burned out from resume writing. It's hard work for relatively low pay even if you charge a premium price.

With your sales skills, you should consider moving into a more profitable area.

It's not your skills that are the problem. It's your market... they don't like to spend.

I apologize if any of my previous comments were hurtful. They weren't meant that way.

Debbie

Yes. It works. Often very well.

Even giving away the book, with
the right upsell package, each
book you give away could earn
you as much as $100 per person
who grabs a copy or more.

It's all in the upsell process.

We just did a launch for a client
and every person who grabbed
a copy of the book was worth
$100 thanks to the multi-step
upsell funnel we put in place.

Something to consider...

Gerard,

If you go into the right market, you could become my competitor. I'm not stupid enough to say more, lol.

Think about it. It's staring you in the face.

Debbie

In answer to your question, here are my thoughts: why not write a synopsis of the book in a report format, highlighting the essential points of the book and use that as a giveaway. Then if the content is interesting to people, based on your 8 or 10 page report, then offer it as a product for X or Y amount of money.
Just my thought, I think giving away your intellectual content will probably not be appreciated.

Hi Gerard,

Just stopped by for a quick visit and got your "dramatic" PM. I'll give you my thoughts as to how you might reposition your skills into a more profitable niche.

By the way, I didn't realize you were in South Africa. Only you'll know if my suggestions will work for you... or if you have any interest in them.

You wouldn't be a direct competitor and even if you were, I'm not scared to take you on. Now I know how quickly you crack, lol. (I'm just kidding, by the way.)

Give me a few moments to compose an answer and I'll PM you. I'll be off this thread from here on.

Debbie

I am not so sure having a paid forum is the best way to approach this. Afterall, these are people that are (well most of them) out of work. So paying for something on a monthly basis is not something they are looking to add to their expenses. Even if they did, once they get a job, they will want to cancel.

If you do have some sort of paid service, consider testing different pricing models. Maybe do a weekly or bi-weekly thing. Or, perhaps just a one time fee is best. This way they don't have to worry about canceling when they get a job.

Of course the best way to find out which model is best is to test.

Hmm, if only there was a way to ASK people what THEY would like to see. Oh wait a second, you have a list of 8,000 people!!