*ebook Master Rights*

[tolkein]

I sold a site almost 2 weeks ago on Sitepoint for a relatively high sum of money. I received a number of PMs after that, asking how I managed to take the site from scratch to selling if off for high $x,xxx in under 2 months.

So I wrote an ebook.

It sold 24 copies in the first 8 days at $9.99 with almost zero advertising. I was thinking of selling the master rights and get the cash now because with ebooks, we never know how long the sales will last.

Is it wise? And how much you think is a fair price for the master rights (realistically, please)?

[dc dalton]

Hah, I almost bought one of those ... usually selling an e-book with resell rights isnt as much as you would think. I see a lot of them for $29.99 - $99.99.

You could actually do both, sell the ebook and also offer the ebook with resell rights. You could also do what a lot of other sites do, sell the website template, ebook with resell rights for a decent number.

Dont think your going to get rich either way but money is money.

[tolkein]

You mean you almost bought my book or ebooks specifically?

What I meant was master rights, i.e. nobody else will be able to sell the book anymore - not even me.

[dc dalton]

Yeah it was your ebook, saw it in a your siggie in a thread.

Still dont think you are going to get a ton for master resell rights to be honest. Not that I dont think your book isnt any good, its just the market is flooded with stuff (most of it crap) so most people are gun shy. And Im not sure where you would sell it to get the best money you can. Ebay is so loaded with scams no one believes anything over there.

[tolkein]

Actually, I thought of selling it here on Sitepoint (if I can find the appropriate forum) ...naturally.

I figured that I could sell in multiples of the book price just as we pay 8 to 12x earnings for websites.

Regarding the ebook market, I already had that in mind when I set out to write mine. That's why it's probably different from any other ebook you've ever seen.

Most ebooks on the net only covers a certain topic and is based on "theories", i.e. no actually website, etc.

Well, mine's based on an actual website - a transaction to be exact. And it covers everything from the domain name registration right up to the sales process via Escrow (including some nifty tricks ).

Just read the feedback on my site and you'll know that it's different, truly different.

[dc dalton]

I have no doubts your book is different but that being said you must know that people have really become gun shy about these type things.

As I mentioned before there are SO MANY "get rich quick" schemes out there people have started to walk away from them all. I even have to admit I was influenced by this when I thought about buying your e-book..... again nothing about you or the way you present it but you and I BOTH know there are a million shysters out there with testimonials as long as your arm ..... and a good 99% of them are nothing more than scam artists.

[tolkein]

Guess so. It look's like if I can't even convince you to buy one, it's gonna be a real challenge for me.

Btw, there's a reason I added the name, country and URL of customers who commented.

Also, at $9.99 there isn't much incentive for me to scam. I'm hoping that will help deliver the message - most scam sites charge more $30 and upwards. I'm hoping this plus the effort I've put into the web design will help convince people that I'm genuine.

Look's like we're getting a bit off-topic here huh?!

[Derek Sheppard]

Guess so. It look's like if I can't even convince you to buy one, it's gonna be a real challenge for me.

Oh, I don't know. I just ante'd up for a copy. At $10 I couldn't resist.

Have you considered an affiliate program? If I was reselling, I'd price it higher, too. $20.00 at least.

[dc dalton]

Yeah Im still thinking about it too .... Im just freaking cheap! (plus I barely have time to read anymore and have a REAL problem reading long things on a computer screen)

The affiliate idea is a good one Derek! Hadnt thought of that.

[theoverpass]

Is there a money back guarantee? As in if I buy it and decide it's crap than get my money back. I guess it's hard to prove my honesty but I'll promise it none-the-less.

Btw it's probably pretty hard for someone to evaluate the master rights before reading the book.

Steve

[tolkein]

Derek: I did thought about it. But most of the ebooks on affiliate programs like Clickbank are get-rich-quick schemes with no real material. Hence, I didn't wanna be associated with them.

dc dalton: I hate reading ...period! That's why I've compacted everything into roughly 20 pages. Instead of writing 20 pages on "how to get traffic from search engines even before getting indexed", I explained it in 1 paragraph.

theoverpass: There's no money back guarantee at the moment due to the possibility of abuse. And if somebody was serious enough about buying the master rights, I believe they wouldn't mind spending $9.99 to get a copy.

All: I've priced the book affordably at $9.99 because I believe knowledge should be easily accessible to the masses - of course I've received emails saying that it's too cheap!

Infact, I've given a couple of copies for free, e.g. to someone in Russia because his credit card was not accepted by Paypal and another in England because he didn't have a credit card yet.

[RB4580]

I bought your book, I'll post back with an honest review

[dc dalton]

Infact, I've given a couple of copies for free

Yeah so wheres mine (told you I was cheap)

[theoverpass]

RB4580, let me know how it is, I may buy it.

Edit: it's only $10 I bought it too, I'll post my opinion soon.

Steve

[tolkein]

How's it guys? Any comments?

Domainingblog.com posted a review of the book on their site yesterday.

I also got a note from the owner of NamePros.com (one of the biggest domain name forum) and this is what he had to say (unedited):

Larry, you're onto something good here! I just finished reading your new eBook and would definately recommend it to anyone looking for a jumpstart into web development.

It's great to see your site as a real-life case study of going from idea, to development, and through finding a buyer. It sure looks like you didn't hold back on sharing the secrets of your success.

Nice work!

RJ

[theoverpass]

I'm pretty busy right now, but I did have a quick 'flip' through.

This is how I will explain it, there is $10 value to me, to someone new to the internet game there may be much more value. I like your case study format it's very clear cut and makes everything more real.

My only real beef is "xxx.com has no control over the wallpapers here" if you don’t have direct permission (no matter how risky) you are infringing copyright. That's an okay risk to take yourself but I don't feel it's good to encourage others to do the same.

IMO the best part if the recourse sat the end and through out, and this isn’t meant as a downside, there are some good things there that I didn’t yet know of and saving me at least an hour (but much more) of finding things is worth it.

Thanks,

Steve

[Fergal]

I just bought a copy. From the sales, mentioned above, it looks like it was worth your while starting this thread

Good luck with it!

[tolkein]

Thanks for your honest comments Steve. That seems to be the standard disclaimer for wallpaper websites. However, personally, I sought permission from the respective artists for ALL the custom wallpapers at the site - most from deviantart.com

The PR of the website got updated today from PR0 to PR5 - not bad for a first update huh?! Looks like my techniques were quite effective LOL.

Well, it's now 37 copies in 12 days and I'm still wondering whether anyone will wanna buy the rights.

[jeter4982]

Personally, I think you are better off keeping the master resell rights yourself, and perhaps just offer resell rights to anyone who wants them. The reason I say this, is the reason this book does not seem like a scam, is because it is your personal experience, written by you. A lot of eBooks today are just written by some freelance writer, who has little to no experience in the field. I think a lot of credibility of the eBook would be lost if someone else was selling it.

Tom

[Fergal]

I agree with Tom. Why not set up a website specifically to sell it and use affiliate schemes like ClickBank or your own program to promote the book. You could have a nice future income stream from the work you have already done. I bought the SEO ebook from http://www.seobook.com/ a few months back, maybe you could get some ideas from that site.

Good book BTW, well done. I'd have no problems recommending it. It contains very logical and practical info on developing and promoting a new website. Some useful resources and links as well.

Good luck with it!

[tolkein]

Thanks for your opinions guys. But as I've mentioned earlier, I avoided Clickbank because I did not want to be associated with the many scam sites that use them.

Proudirish: Coincidentally, I put up a site today for selling the book and to take my little experiment even further. I've set myself a bigger target and hope to inspire others.

I will also be featuring successful individuals from Sitepoint and other forums whom have made it on the Internet - do PM me if you're one of them and get your story featured.

Appreciate all the support I can get with the "Larry Lim Project"

[Ulchie]

Thanks for your opinions guys. But as I've mentioned earlier, I avoided Clickbank because I did not want to be associated with the many scam sites that use them.

Most people probably don't even know when a ebook is being promoted through clickbank because they still land at your website first and that is where they normally decide to buy or not. At least you would get word out to a lot more people. If you think the ebook is as good as you do, then why not try to promote it to more people? Heck, people here, what you consider your target audience, are asking you to promote via clickbank! What does that tell you?

In the end, clickbank may have lots of scams, but not every book written was a get rich quick scam. Many good ebooks have also sold VERY well through clickbank! Your target audience isn't going to care if it's promoted through clickbank because almost all successful ebooks these days go through clickbank to get promoted, it is a normal thing. If the book is good, you will sell way more, get rave reviews, word of mouth will help, and of course clickbank can do miracles for getting word of your ebook spread faster than you can imagine.

But hey, it's your ebook. But for $49.95 registration, you could easily give clickbank a try. After all, you already sold more than $50 worth according to just reading this thread alone. Re invest that money! I don't think there is any other way on earth you can promote an ebook better than by paying that tiny registration fee and letting the sales soar. $49.95 is pennies and one of the most effective ebook promotional tools...Of course to get it to sell really well you would probably have to raise the price to $25-$30 and give 50%-75% commissions.... But I bet ya more people would buy the book, not less. Like I said, if the ebook can help people, why not promote it to as many people as possible? Because you think it would be associated with scam books? The second you put "Sell your product for $x,xxx in under 2 months" you have already associated yourself with get rich quick schemes anyways, even tho you aren't a get rich quick scheme. So what do you have to lose by trying? Respect? pshhh... I don't buy that. I'll say it again: Most people probably don't even know when a ebook is being promoted through clickbank because they still land at your website first and that is where they normally decide to buy or not.

[rondo]

You might want to offer a limited number of people exclusive Resell Rights licenses, say 5 or 10 people max. This way you also hold onto the copyright.

Master Resell Rights usually implies that someone can sell the book PLUS the resell rights. Warning - this is how ebooks lose value instantly and end up on ebay for 99cents.

Also how many pages is the ebook?

Andrew

[tolkein]

I'm beginning to seriously consider using Clickbank after reading the opinions here, although the commissions there are a little high and that will raise the book price quite a bit.

Andrew: it's 22 pages. Please visit here to download the preface and TOC, as well as read customer feedback.

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