How Long to Make a Bonus Ebook

13 years ago

Why am I paying $20 a month to be a part of your membership site?

If you've sold me on joining the membership site, the bonus book is just a bonus. It doesn't really matter how long it is as long as it delivers whatever it says it does.

If you're using the bonus to get members, then I think the bonus eBook needs to appear to be something worth $20. Then, it feels like I'm getting either the book or the first month's membership for free.

Speaking strictly in terms of length, if 40-50 page eBooks can sell for $37, then an eBook worth $20 should maybe have 20-25 pages. Depends on the niche, though. In IM, a 20-25 page eBook, so long as it's not full of fluff, may seem to be worth $20, but in another niche, it may seem rather overpriced.

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aandersen

13 years ago

Tell me if I got this right...

These are paying customers who have already signed up for your membership program, and now you would like to give them an ebook.

If I got you up to here, there's still a couple questions in my mind...

Is this ebook used as a selling point of the membership program? or is it just a surprise? freebie?

Is the ebook being use, or could it be used, to presell another back-end sale that you'll be pitching down the pipeline?

Are you trying to teach something specific, or are you just trying to sweeten the deal?

Come up with the answers to these questions, and I think the answer to your OP will come out naturally. The simple answer to the "how long to make it" question is almost always the same, for any topic: exactly as long as it needs to be, and not a word longer.

It must be long enough to deliver on any promises made the title, ads, or introduction, teach whatever it's set out to teach, help them on whatever topic you're trying to help them with, warm prospects up to whatever you're going to be selling, etc.

Whatever you want it to do, that's what it needs to do. There's is really no answer to the "how long" question, until there's answer to the "what do I want it to do" question.

At least those are my views on the topic.

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Rikki_Fawkes

13 years ago

Originally Posted by aandersen

Tell me if I got this right...

These are paying customers who have already signed up for your membership program, and now you would like to give them an ebook.

If I got you up to here, there's still a couple questions in my mind...

Is this ebook used as a selling point of the membership program? or is it just a surprise? freebie?

Is the ebook being use, or could it be used, to presell another back-end sale that you'll be pitching down the pipeline?

Are you trying to teach something specific, or are you just trying to sweeten the deal?

Come up with the answers to these questions, and I think the answer to your OP will come out naturally. The simple answer to the "how long to make it" question is almost always the same, for any topic: exactly as long as it needs to be, and not a word longer.

It must be long enough to deliver on any promises made the title, ads, or introduction, teach whatever it's set out to teach, help them on whatever topic you're trying to help them with, warm prospects up to whatever you're going to be selling, etc.

Whatever you want it to do, that's what it needs to do. There's is really no answer to the "how long" question, until there's answer to the "what do I want it to do" question.

At least those are my views on the topic.

This ebook is to encourage people to sign up for the membership as soon as possible after they sign up for my free email list. They're not paying customers yet. But once they sign up and receive the bonus, they will be a paying customer.

So basically, it's to encourage sign-ups AND sweeten the deal.

The point of the ebook I'm writing is to help members start their writing careers with an even better focus with one particular writing company.

As far as the " exactly as long as it needs to be, and not a word longer" statement goes:

My thoughts exactly. HOWEVER, if I only made it 5 pages long because that's all my topic needed, I think a lot of people would be disappointed just by looking at it.

I'm not a filler person - I don't fill articles, I don't fill my membership site with fluff, I don't fill email newsletters, and I don't fill bonuses.

However, I could always add more valuable material than I was originally intending on including for the purpose of making the bonus look and feel more valuable to the customer.

So that's what my question was on the length. Dan C. Rinnert helped by giving me the 20-25 pages answer, and judging from how much I have written now and still have left to write, I won't have a problem reaching that figure.

I just always want what I make to look like I'm under-promising and over-delivering.

Hope all that makes sense. Thanks so much for the advice so far, everyone!

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aandersen

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Rikki_Fawkes

This ebook is to encourage people to sign up for the membership as soon as possible after they sign up for my free email list.

Ahhh...

See it is (or should be) use as presell material, at least that's what I would use it for.

Don't just think about how you can provide value, but also think of the ways you can make it easier on your self to make the sale later.

What do your prospect need to realize, agree with, and believe in, in advance, before they'll be ready to pull out their credit card? What identities do you want your prospects to accept? What problems do you want them to be aware of? And so on...

There are things you can do to make the sale easier on yourself, and a free ebook is a perfect way to pull that off. Of course at the same time, you want to deliver on the promise made by your squeeze page and by the title of the article.

So take your original topic, and work these things in to it, and see how long it ends up being.

Don't worry about the length right now--it would be a mistake.

Worry only about making the report do it's job the best it can do. You can always position the report to make it valuable. You can sell a short report on its shortness. Sometimes brevity is valuable (or can be positioned that way).

Worry more about your goals, and it will do its job in helping you the sale!

Hope this helps.

EDIT : Where I said "sell a short report" up there, was not talking about selling litterally, I know you're trying to give it way... I'm talking about "selling it", as in "I'm sold!"

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marcuslim

13 years ago

Focus on identifying one problem and present the solution in the ebook. However many pages it takes to present the solution - can be as short as 10 pages, or as long as 30...so long as it gives them value.

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M Thompson 13 years ago

The size doesn't matter, it's the content that will get them to sign up.

I've seen 70 page book that are garbage and 4 page reports that are pure gold.

Some of my best converting reports have been less than 10 pages.
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- aandersen 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by M Thompson
  
  The size doesn't matter
  
  Damn... someone needs to tell... oh I'll shut up before I get in trouble LOL
  
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  Rikki_Fawkes 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by aandersen
  
  Damn... someone needs to tell... oh I'll shut up before I get in trouble LOL
  
  Saw that one coming miles away... :p
  
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  JonWebContent 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by aandersen
  
  Damn... someone needs to tell... oh I'll shut up before I get in trouble LOL
  
  Awww.....man, you completely ruined a perfect "that's what she said" opportunity.
  
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Shaun OReilly

13 years ago

Rather than thinking about the number of pages...

Focus your attention onto what the most USEFUL,
VALUABLE and IRRESISTIBLE bonus would be for
your new subscribers.

Better questions lead to better answers.

It doesn't have to be an ebook either. Even a one
page checklist that's immensely useful can be a great
bonus to induce more sign-ups. Or it could be an
audio, video, webinar, etc.

But focus on the real usefulness of the bonus so that
it becomes irresistable to your target customer.

Dedicated to mutual success,

Shaun

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Grazina Ajana Szewczyk

13 years ago

Different people, different points of view, you can see that from the answers to your post.

I've seen 70 page book that are garbage and 4 page reports that are pure gold.

True, I’ve seen them, too. And I’ve seen ebooks over 30-40 pages long, published using fonts for visually impaired people – size 16 at least, double line spacing, and margins so wide I could sit on them. You know, the kind that you copy/paste into proper size 12 font etc. to save paper (yes, I print many of my ebooks) and all of the sudden you have 9 pages…

HOWEVER, if I only made it 5 pages long because that's all my topic needed, I think a lot of people would be disappointed just by looking at it.

Totally agree. I’m a reader, so gimme 500 pages and you’re my fwend fowewew

I would put as much quality content in it as you can stand, even if they can find a lot of the same info other spots in the site. People like having a one-stop resource. If it was pretty long like 30+ pages, a lot of people will open it and think, "sweet", and a lot will never look at it again but they'll feel good.

Like you said- 5 pages and people will be bugged, even if they wouldn't read that or one that was 50 pages. Its all about perceived value.

Very important point – I have a friend who always drinks only half of his cup of coffee, but once, when I made him only half, he looked at me funny. People usually expect a cup of coffee even if they drink only half of it, and a book that’s a book, not a report, even if they won’t read it.

Rikki, you can actually call it a report and make it short, or learn from Brett McFall – my hero - create a book that has two parts, that’s what he did it with his book about making money on scrapbooking: the first part is about finding clients and supplies, how much to charge and so on, and the second one – how to market your business and how to write a copy.

Why don’t you team up with someone smart who loves writing and, instead of using PLR, ask them to write that second part – hint: pick me!

I’m serious, I’ve been working for a few outsourcing companies and if you told what you covered in your book, I can write something else, time management, overcoming writer’s block, finding inexpensive editors… And I’m a life/business coach, maybe that would help? Pleeease?

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tpw

13 years ago

Originally Posted by aandersen

So take your original topic, and work these things in to it, and see how long it ends up being.

Don't worry about the length right now--it would be a mistake.

Worry only about making the report do it's job the best it can do. You can always position the report to make it valuable. You can sell a short report on its shortness. Sometimes brevity is valuable (or can be positioned that way).

Worry more about your goals, and it will do its job in helping you the sale!

Absolutely. I am with Allen 100%...

Well, maybe 98%... LOL

If the ebook offers a big promise and delivers on that big promise in one page, then 1-page is all that you need.

It is not the number of pages that enable people to feel that they got value from you... It is the "actual value" you give to them...

1-page is only a problem if it fails to deliver on a big promise...

The only part I disagree with Allen about is whether you offer it BEFORE or AFTER purchase.

You said AFTER. Allen said BEFORE. I say, why not BOTH?

Give a Freebie, so that they can learn your style. Then promise them the Bonus after purchase.

Whenever I am able to sell one report, I am often able to convert many of those customers to buy several reports from me.

The reason is because once they have bought my first report, they know what and how I write, and they are inclined to believe that the next product will also under-promise and over-deliver.

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NateRivers

13 years ago

I would put as much quality content in it as you can stand, even if they can find a lot of the same info other spots in the site. People like having a one-stop resource. If it was pretty long like 30+ pages, a lot of people will open it and think, "sweet", and a lot will never look at it again but they'll feel good.

Like you said- 5 pages and people will be bugged, even if they wouldn't read that or one that was 50 pages. Its all about perceived value.

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Dennis Gaskill

13 years ago

I know you said you understand it's "quality" and not "quantity" that matters, but are concerned about perception.

Here's the thing...the quality creates the perception. Some topics may take 5 pages to supply plenty of perceived value, others may take 30. Trying to quantify it by the number of pages I think is the wrong approach.

If the real quality is only on 5 of 25 pages, and the other 20 are just to reach an artificially derived length, then the perception of quality will go down. Which is better, 5 of 5 pages that are high quality, or only 1 in every 5 pages that are high quality?

In other words, the perception of "bigger" can make the perception of "quality" lower.

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J Bold

13 years ago

It will take as long as it takes you, but shouldn't really take more than a day. Just find some valuable, quality information somewhere and summarize it in your own words, using PLR or whatever.

If you're enough of an expert, you should easily be able to do this in a full day's work or less. 10-20 pages ought to be good enough, I'd say.

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aandersen

13 years ago

Originally Posted by tpw

You said AFTER. Allen said BEFORE. I say, why not BOTH?

I don't think I specified either way... if I did I was wrong. I need to re-read my posts, I guess.

I believe that we should always be selling. Period. End of story.

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Rikki_Fawkes

13 years ago

For the record - I already have a pre-sell - it's the bonus I need. So that's why I'm not making this another pre-sell.

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Rob Howard 13 years ago

Hmmm...

I have the total hots for Jessica Alba.

If someone came up to me and said "Rob, this here is Jessica Alba's phone number. I can help set you up with a date! This piece of snotty rag has her number on it. It's 2,000 bucks."

To me, that would be a hell of a deal.

Now, would I say "Yeah but...the info just isn't LONG enough to justify 2k"

He could write it in binary, of course...take up a few pages. But in the end, it's still Jessica Alba's phone number!

Just a thought.

Rob
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- aandersen 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Rikki_Fawkes
  
  For the record - I already have a pre-sell - it's the bonus I need. So that's why I'm not making this another pre-sell.
  
  So, in your mind, you only need one presell?
  
  That's cool then, I guess...
  
  I still stand by my original point: worrying about "how long" is a mistake. I would worry more about what exactly you want to give them, then give it to them.
  
  At this point, I can't say much more than anyone else has said, and it's obvious no one is interested in discussing any presell stuff. So, I'll bow out now.
  
  I hope my input was at least somewhat helpful to you.
  
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gvannorman

13 years ago

I asked a similar question a while back. The best answer I got was it really does not matter on the length of the book. What does matter is quality.

Does the book offer step by step proven techniques? Is it written in an easy to understand manner? Is it worth $20?

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RunningBear

13 years ago

I am not an expert, however, you are right on the perception factor. I think that a 10 page eBook would be a nice. Definitely quality over quantity.

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AnitaCross 13 years ago

I won't repeat the great information that has already been presented here, although I would like to add to it a little...

I've seen ebook and report used interchangeably throughout this thread, with only one recommendation to actually call it a report...

I agree with the sentiment to make it as long as it needs to be, and not one word longer.

When it's done, look at the number of pages. If it seems small for an ebook, call it a report. People expect reports to be short and to the point. (And the idea of a report may even be more appealing than an ebook.)

Just a thought.

-Anita
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How Long to Make a Bonus Ebook

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