Ebooks are Dead?
Writing your own ebook (electronic book) is one of the best ways to drive traffic, get noticed as an expert in your field and make money. But is the market for most ebooks still alive?
Recently, I’ve questioned whether the sale of most ebooks (especially those that come with resale rights) has any real benefits to the end user. I’ve noticed a disturbing trend… more and more ebooks with resale rights are nothing more than running ads. Not only are the first 3-4 pages full of ads for their websites, but every link in the book is an affiliate link for one of the products they are talking about.
This, in itself, may not be a bad thing for the writer (he’s probably making a little money) but you need to look it from the end users perspective, especially in the Internet Marketing niche.
I’m getting more and more skeptical of ebooks that recommend any kind of product or service these days. If I see someone recommending a product and I know it’s an affiliate link, I question the motive behind their recommendation.
I think many people do. It’s only natural to ask the question: “If they are making money from this, how objective can they be about this product?”… or “How good is this information, really?”
That’s why in my Online Course I included this statement up-front:
“… at the end of each lesson there are downloads to some bonus learning materials, online tools or websites I recommend you look at. Some tools or websites are free… others you may have to pay for. I DO NOT include my affiliate links in these recommendations. The recommendations do not personally benefit me… they are for your benefit only.”
There are few books in the Internet Marketing niche today that do not contain one, several or dozen affiliate related product recommendations.
The user may not even be aware of them, but that’s not the point. How objective can the recommendation be?
The point I’m making goes to a ‘quality of content’ issue. Let’s see some real substance. One of the highest quality sites with the highest quality content is MarketingSherpa.com. Learn something here, study this site. They get it “right”.
There are so few books of real substance out there right now that I hesitate to recommend any to my list at Little Known Ways.
In the end, only the marketplace will tell if the ‘affiliate incest’ I see in most ebooks will survive. I think not, once consumers of these books wake up to this fact.
If your ebook sales are slow, this may be the reason.
Here’s a prediction: If you want to increase your ‘expert’ status and increase your reputation online include more real substance in your ebooks and let the person reading your book know up-front that even though you include links to products in the book, these are the best products to be found in your experience and WHY.
Here’s another predicton: If you want to sell more books, make them shorter.
In the beginning of the ebook craze (c. 1997-1998) long ebooks were common. Ken Evoy’s books were 500 pages and no one seemed to mind. Today there is so much free information on the Internet about Internet Marketing that a simple reference link to those discussion boards or articles that have great constant would suffice. Leave room in your book to provide valuable information not readily available elsewhere. You’ll be remembered for providing quality content and people will come back to you.
If an ebook is longer than 100 pages, I won’t buy it anymore. I want specific information in tightly woven packages, not great expansive filler in my ebooks rehashing things that are easily found for free online – especially when it comes to Internet marketing. I don’t think I’m alone in this view.
Let me know what YOU think…
