Comments on: Selling eBooks as a muse? http://www.fourhourworkweekdiary.com/2008/04/09/selling-ebooks-as-a-muse/ Living the optimized work week Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:43:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 By: rexreed http://www.fourhourworkweekdiary.com/2008/04/09/selling-ebooks-as-a-muse/comment-page-1/#comment-1816 rexreed Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:23:52 +0000 http://www.fourhourworkweekdiary.com/2008/04/09/selling-ebooks-as-a-muse/#comment-1816 Great comment -- however, that's not how I would approach the eBook business model. First, I would write a book on a topic you care about or have some passion for, rather than farming it out to an over-priced freelancer on eLance (if you haven't already, <a href=http://www.fourhourworkweekdiary.com/2008/03/23/elance-sucks rel="nofollow">check out my post on eLance quality and the comments there</a>) and trying to make money via AdWords. You need a book that can sell copies on its own merit, preferably a book that can sell at $10 or more a pop to a target market that can accommodate a few hundred such sales a year. You need to spend no more than 8-16 hours writing a pithy eBook (around 15-20 pages) that provides significant insight into a particular topic or provides a reason why people should spend $10 to learn about something. If you do it that way, you won't lose your shirt. Worst case is you lose some time. But I would not do it the way you did it and commission an uncaring third-party to write a book on a subject and then depend on people stumbling across my site or other organic traffic to generate revenue based on traffic that isn't directly related to people reading the book. Great comment — however, that’s not how I would approach the eBook business model. First, I would write a book on a topic you care about or have some passion for, rather than farming it out to an over-priced freelancer on eLance (if you haven’t already, check out my post on eLance quality and the comments there) and trying to make money via AdWords.

You need a book that can sell copies on its own merit, preferably a book that can sell at $10 or more a pop to a target market that can accommodate a few hundred such sales a year. You need to spend no more than 8-16 hours writing a pithy eBook (around 15-20 pages) that provides significant insight into a particular topic or provides a reason why people should spend $10 to learn about something.

If you do it that way, you won’t lose your shirt. Worst case is you lose some time. But I would not do it the way you did it and commission an uncaring third-party to write a book on a subject and then depend on people stumbling across my site or other organic traffic to generate revenue based on traffic that isn’t directly related to people reading the book.

]]> By: Tony M. http://www.fourhourworkweekdiary.com/2008/04/09/selling-ebooks-as-a-muse/comment-page-1/#comment-1815 Tony M. Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:52:34 +0000 http://www.fourhourworkweekdiary.com/2008/04/09/selling-ebooks-as-a-muse/#comment-1815 Having someone write an ebook for you on ELance for $500 and trying to sell it on the web via Adwords is one of the most complex ways to loose $500. I know - I did it before I knew better. Having someone write an ebook for you on ELance for $500 and trying to sell it on the web via Adwords is one of the most complex ways to loose $500. I know – I did it before I knew better.

]]>