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Selling an ebook using info from my blog?

by InternationalWidget
5 replies
I've got a blog in a micro-niche and have been writing about one article a month for the last two years, so there's about 50 articles of at least 1500 words each. But I'm getting to the point now where there's not much new information to write about so there may not be much new content added. I have done no SEO work or promotion, other than using good headlines and filling in the SEO fields in my Wordpress Thesis theme. I can only imagine how much better it would do if I did some "real" SEO work, a few press releases and got a few good incoming links. Although the amount of traffic is low, it's VERY targeted. And there are few, if any, people writing on this topic. I'd rather not disclose the niche, sorry. I'd like to organize the information into a book and maybe add a bit of new information. But I'm wondering how people would react if they know, or realize later, that most of the information in the book was also available for free on my website, but they'd have to look around for it.

Last week I bought a Kindle book on another micro niche. I came across it by chance and realized it was by the same guy who's website I had read. I realized most of what was in his ebook was also on his website, available for reading for free. Now, his ebook was only $2.99 so I didn't feel that bad about it, and at least I have it all in one spot now.

At the $2.99 price point, I don't think a lot of people would complain - or would they? What if it was $9.99 or $14.99. Maybe even an audio book for that price too. To keep the value perception high, and since my information truly is hard to find, and 100% my own creation (no PLR or copied work, since there is very little on this subject). How would you feel if you bought a book like this? I've thought about making the blog private, or just offering teaser copy (like the first paragraph) and making the rest hidden. But that could seriously hurt SEO efforts - both the current SEO and for future SEO. Or maybe with some good promotion, exposure on Amazon, a few press releases, etc, it could be overcome?
#blog #ebook #info #selling
  • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
    It may depend on your audience. Some people may be happy to have all that information in a single book rather than having to go through a bunch of posts on a blog. Others will be mad they paid any amount of money for something they could have gotten for free.

    You could mitigate complaints by revealing that x% of the content was first published on your website. You may also be able to use it to your advantage if you've had a lot of people post positive comments on your blog about your content.

    Adding new information as you planned is also a good idea. Updating older information, if applicable, can also be good.

    You can let potential buyers know that they can find a lot of the information on your blog, but that the book contains updated information plus new information not available online.

    It is to your advantage to be upfront about your book's content.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nicola Lane
    You may also find Amazon will "price match" your book to $0.00 - on the grounds that the content of your book is already available elsewhere for free.

    I'm sorry I don't have the references to hand - but a search around the kindle boards, help pages and TOS should reveal it.

    There probably are books like that up on Amazon right now that haven't been price matched - but all it takes is one report.

    Hope that helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author sparrow
    why don't you re purpose your content from text to video or podcast

    Ed
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  • Profile picture of the author Fun to Write
    It is okay to use this content in a Kindle book if that is what you want to do. However, you may at some point receive an automated message from Amazon about the content being freely available on the web.

    Basically, they would want you to show them that this content is originally yours by sending them the link to your blog. You could also link to some of your articles as proof. Once their customer service gets this info, everything will be fine. So, it's okay to publish as long as you can verify you are the original creator of the content.

    Note: To avoid hassles, you may want to delete some of the free content from your blog that spills all the beans. The best stuff should appear exclusively in the book. You can rewrite some of those free articles and give more general information. Just a thought.

    Amazon will not price match your book to zero unless you place the book on Smashwords, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, etc. as a free book.

    You could also just get an eJunkie.com account. Make a pdf version of your book. Get a cover made and sell it on your blog.

    As for people being bothered that this info is compiled in a book. Your target buyers would appreciate the convenience of having it all at their fingertips. That's if they feel your info is something they really need. Your niche would have to have a sense of urgency about it to make sales.
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  • Profile picture of the author InternationalWidget
    Thanks everyone! Thats's some great insight and information.

    I should probably mention that the "inspiration for this book came from my blog at..." and that "you now have all of the information, and more, in one convenient, easy to follow book. Plus, some bonus information that's not available on the blog." I could even rewrite some of the posts to reveal a bit less info and promote my book for full details.

    Interesting how Amazon will "price match" my book to $0.00 if they find my content available freely on the web. Just one more reason to go through the articles and rewrite them in different words. And at the same time, I might find some info needs updating anyways, so it will be worded differently.

    I will also make a PDF version to sell on my blog. Maybe even price it slightly higher. That way, people without a Kindle reader can still get it, but they pay a slight premium for getting it in regular PDF format. I hadn't thought about eJunkie - but the more places my book is available, the better. Probably best to have it at the same price on all of those venus though.

    I was planning on making an audio book version as an OTO or upsell when making sales from my website. Not sure if I could get that onto Audible as well. And as a podcast... maybe. I could make an episode for the best articles, or all articles, and promote the book in it. As for a video, I could definitely make a PowerPoint presentation with some motion video clips and then record it as a Camtasia or Screenflow video. I'd have to decide what's the most important, or it could end up being a very long video!
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