I'm launching my first book next month (http://doubleyourfreelancingrate.com), which, like SideProjects, is based on many, many lot of conversations I've had with the freelancers/consultants who use my SaaS product.
The idea that developers don't pay for things - including infoproducts - is bunk. My book has netted just over $2,000 in prepurchase sales in the last week.
Kudos to the author for putting this together (the list of people you've interviewed is OUTSTANDING)
Likewise, there's a lot I learned from conversations I've had with YC founders and other startups in the accelerator space. I just launched the book yesterday: http://sellfy.com/p/9j2z Here's some background on myself and the book: http://startupframework.tumblr.com/post/29634915106/what-i-l... Loving what I'm reading so far. Very inspirational. +1.
To channel patio11, you should probably raise your prices.
If your book does what it says, it's going to mitigate some of the risk of deciding what path to go down when starting a startup. That's potentially weeks/months/years that you might be saving me from chasing after an idea.
That's worth a lot more than $15 (and especially $3.75)
I'm selling my new book for $39 - and that's a discounted, prepurchase rate! But the value proposition is "if you read this book, and do what it says, and happen to raise your rates by even a $1 - that's another $2k in your pocket this year." Emphasize that your book will help people not waste time chasing the white rabbit, and you can charge a premium.
Anecdotally, I'll pay up to $5 for a book on a whim if I think I might be interested. If it's more than $5, I download a sample and might by the book, if and when I even get around to reading the sample, and if I like the sample.
It doesn't matter if you have a great value proposition, without a solid sample I place it in the same bucket as unsolicited phone calls to lower my phone bill.
If you want to sell on Amazon's KDP, you probably want to sell at a price point between $3 and $10, because that's the "70% zone". More, or less, and you only get to keep 35%.
Of course, if you sell on your own site, you get everything. But Amazon has a lot of customers.
I actually just bought your book. Looks like a steal for $3.75. The reason I bought it is because in your blog post you seemed genuine and like you put a lot of effort into. $3.75 is definitely a no-brainer as well. Also, learning from someone who is smarter than me but not someone who runs a company like Zappos is probably a more realistic and practical way to learn and apply the knowledge I gain :)
Joseph, thank you for buying Ice Cream Startups. Ironically, it was partially inspired by Zappos: Delivering Happiness. Writing it was indeed a lot of late nights, which my significant other didn't take too kindly, and I hadn't meant to share the research originally (kinda selfish like that :p), so thank you for your kind words. The feeling of finally shipping and signing on early adopters is ecstatic! Will address the whole debate on pricing low in my blog once I catch up on some rest. If you have any questions, feel free to email me aaron [at] brownieinmotion [dot] ca. Thanks again!
tmoertel, this was meant to be a lil' secret, but I was hoping to send a revised edition of my book to the early adopters, therefore the PayPal account. I'm investigating if other distribution channels allow any kind of delivering happiness on a 1-to-1 basis with your users. If the publishers do, I will certainly take it up. I'm just signing off for the day, so feel free to email me any questions at aaron [at] brownieinmotion [dot] ca. Thanks for the feedback! Means a lot.
I've been really impressed following your book launch. Nicely done on the pre-sales.
For the side projects book it would be nice to know who is behind it. There is plenty of information about the content, but who wrote it? Otherwise looks like a solid book!
Yeah - it's odd from the personal branding perspective to NOT identify yourself as the author.
Thanks Nathan! Really excited about the book launch - it's coming together very nicely, and I've got some great case studies that I'm still working on adding.
I'm launching my first book next month (http://doubleyourfreelancingrate.com), which, like SideProjects, is based on many, many lot of conversations I've had with the freelancers/consultants who use my SaaS product.
The idea that developers don't pay for things - including infoproducts - is bunk. My book has netted just over $2,000 in prepurchase sales in the last week.
Kudos to the author for putting this together (the list of people you've interviewed is OUTSTANDING)