Guru's monthly printed newsletters - Are you disappointed too?

My dog thought less of it than you did...

Ray, that's an excellent observation.

I agree, and I would add that some of the "gurus" trying this don't have the depth of experience of, let's say Dan Kennedy or Perry Marshall, and they simply don't have enough interesting to say.

It's difficult to be consistently interesting. I have a big enough challenge writing a short weekly newsletter that's up to my standards!

I'm more for the Calvin Coolidge approach. Say less, and people listen more.

Marcia Yudkin

I'd much prefer to pay £10 - £20 for a real book from amazon. Reading a book from cover to cover is infinitely more valuable than the piecemeal content you find in magazines.

Books just cover their subject far more comprehensively. If you want to know about running a business, read The E-myth. If you want to learn about marketing psychology, read Michael Cialdini. You get the idea.

A magazine by it's very nature is disposable. The content is is short, snappy and punchy to get your attention. But reading it will not make you much better off.

Just look at a mainstream magazine like "Mens Health". Every issue is identical - there are only so many ways you can tell people to eat less, move more and don't drink too much. The content of these is very much "what you need to do", a bit of "how" and very little "why". The idea is for each issue to leave you with the zeigarnik effect, ready to buy the next issue.

Newsletters are exactly the same - they contain some running threads and drip feed content month by month so you need to stay subscribed to complete the collection.

So far, I have unsubscribed from every major newsletter I had. I just prefer to digest my information differently. But the reason that I subscribed to every one was because it was a bonus to a product I really wanted.

When I received the newsletter, I never really thought it was great but kept the subscription for another month just to be sure. Bam $40. Rinse and repeat.

Thing is, you have to ask why the 'gurus' (I hate that word) do it - here are a few thoughts:

1. It's just another channel - you're saturated online. Hitting your mailbox with a physical product is just more exposure. And who will not read it from cover to cover?

2. The physical product sits on your bookshelf and you see it everyday. The branding there is enormous - a big ad in your own home. How powerful is that?

3. It says "look at me" I'm so rich / professional / in-demand that I can afford to print my own real-life magazine. There is a demand for it. Social proof.

4. All of this pays for itself. And even if the newsletter sucks and you cancel after a few issues, they have still over-delivered on value because you still got BFM (or whatever) for free.

Even after reading this thread and really thinking about your opinion on it, would you never buy from Kern, Filsaime, Brunson again because their newsletter sucks? I doubt it because there are far more powerful things drawing you in.

Finally, I think there is a big problem with the way we think. Defining experts are gurus rather than more experienced peers creates a gulf and builds a big barrier. If you're still looking for the answer from these guys, you are still a consumer. You need to take the leap to implement this stuff and become a leader. Don't look up to the "gurus" in awe. Be one.

I definitely must be one of the oddballs here, but I would NEVER pay $40+ a month for a single issue of a magazine ... regardless of who it is from. UNLESS, each issue came with a CD filled with tutorials (the "How-to" part) of the lessons described in its associated issue - then there is some justification for the price.

While I never knew the exact costs of printing a magazine, I knew there was no reason to charge over $10 for any issue (there are some exception based on the magazine's size, number of pages, type of paper, etc).

I love books and magazines ... no matter how digital our world becomes, I will always cherish books over computers. That's just me. So, I would have no problem subscribing to an internet marketer's physical magazine, but there is no way I would pay more than $10 per issue.

I sit back and watch these launches and such and all I see are people out to make a quick buck. Other than deliverability complaints that stretch out for a few months, I never really hear anything about the product that was launch shortly after the launch. It's like a drive-by - big launch, grab the money, then go quiet until the next launch. The magazines seem that way also ... but on a monthly basis. "Let's get all the money out of them while we can before they cancel their subscription due to lack of quality content". Makes you wonder why they tout building a long-term sustainable business, when their not practicing what they preach. :confused:

</rant>

Sorry.