You know, when people try to sell e-books for $ 5 on sites like eBay or an auction site, they rarely make any money. They believe their “real” money will come from backend sales. And you know what? This can potentially be true. But if you’re selling a $ 5 eBook and the rest of your products cost $ 5 … how are you going to make a full-time living selling products at such low prices?
Shipping costs will be high. You will have to put your eBook on a CD-ROM (due to eBay rules). You may have to deal with the post office staff. You have to buy packing supplies. And you have to buy the CD-ROMs in bulk. It is a difficult business, and I do not advise you to sell items at such low prices on eBay.
But you know what? The same applies even if you have your own website. What is your plan if you only sell e-books for $ 5, while for each customer you buy, it costs you $ 50? So for every sale you make on your $ 5 eBook … you’ll lose $ 45. This math doesn’t add up.
And if you have backend products that also sell for $ 5 … you must have a HUGE conversion rate among your customer list to start seeing some serious money. What is my advice? Don’t sell cheap e-books. Even $ 7 e-books are cheap. I’m sure you’ve read a lot of books and articles on why you should sell eBooks for $ 7, but are you hearing the truth about all of this?
Hey … maybe if you became a marketing genius one day and could make 20 sales a day using free marketing and total free traffic … you would make a pretty good living. But unfortunately, if you’re just starting out … chances are, you’re trying to advertise your product. And this can be expensive.
I have a friend who tried to sell a $ 7 product through pay-per-click advertising. For days he had nominal traffic, and the last day he had enough and said this “internet stuff” doesn’t work … he got a sale. It was a $ 7 offer, but his costs were $ 7. So he broke even and won a customer. But in his eyes, the campaign was a failure.
You cannot have this mentality. If it’s taking a long time to get sales, increase your advertising budget. The more money you have to spend on advertising, the faster your traffic will arrive. But do yourself a favor and DO NOT sell a $ 7 e-book. Sell a $ 30 e-book and make all your back-end products $ 30 or more. Over time, you will reach a point where your customers trust and admire you, and they are more than likely to buy a $ 500 product from you in the future. This is what you should aspire to.
If you’re just looking for a good price of $ 2,000 a month on the internet, all while keeping your day job, you can make it happen. However, doing this by selling e-books for $ 7 will take a long time. With all the effort you put into selling your eBook cheap, you can simply raise the price and earn MORE money from all the promotion you are doing. Makes sense right? Well that’s the truth.
I hope you do well with your eBook. Just remember not to fall short on something cheap that will have you struggling for a long time. Take care of yourself.