Oct
05
Goldilocks on Pricing, or Why You Might Not Want To Charge $5 for Your Ebook
I just went to a blog I used to go to a lot. It was one of my favorites. It’s all about making your home vintage-y and homey and lovely.
I haven’t been in a while because I have about as much time to make my home lovely as I have time to build and patent my own do-it-yourself lobotomy machine.
Anyway, I went. And I saw that the blog owner had created a mini-product, a little round-up of the best of several years’ worth of posts on the topic. Knowing that this woman’s free PDFs are pretty enough to frame and give as gifts, I was tripping over myself to buy what was sure to be worth it, if even for the chance to look at the illustrations. I paid about $5.50.
On the other end of the spectrum, I bought Mass Control for $2400.
The PDF kind of sucked. Mass Control was awesome.
Why is this?
Well, there are lots of reasons, primary among them our widely held belief that one gets what one pays for. The more you spend, the better it is, right? And if you spend two grand on something, you better fucking use it. And if you’re predisposed to think something’s valuable AND you’re more likely to use it, you’re more likely to actually do what they tell you to do, and it’s more likely to work, and youre more likely to come away thinking, “Jesus Lord, that was awesome.”
But there’s another reason, too.
In my head, I compare the PDF I bought to the blog posts I get for free. It has to be a lot better than the (already very good) blog posts to justify paying anything, even such a nominal amount.
But I don’t compare Mass Control to what I get on Frank Kern’s blog for free, because you don’t really get much of anything there for free. I compare it to hiring Frank Kern for 20 hours.
$5.50 is expensive compared to free.
$2400 is a steal compared to what I would pay for 20 hours with Kern.
Pricing is not as cut-and-dried as the free squad would have you believe.
P.S. Off topic: I am told we have been getting emails about the Havi recession product thing. Sorry, we already sold out of the cheapo price point version. The product itself is still available, but the price went up.
I think there are two key points to the free versus paid debate and you make them here.
1. People will always pay for high value products from high profile people. The problem is how to become one of those high profile people like Frank Kern. The way to do that is to give away stuff for free so people can appreciate the potential value of the paid stuff.
2. The bar on what is free will keep rising.
Competition will keep improving the quality and quantity of what is offered for free. We all offer our blogs for free in order to make money off of something else. Many are now offering good quality free ebooks in order to get more readers and sell higher value services like Mass Control. Maybe it is time for those $5.50 PDFs to be offered for free in order to market a higher value product or service?
Naomi,
$5.50? Really? I wouldn’t dream of selling my first paid ebook for that (due out by the end of the year, God-willing), simply because of the time I put in to making it. Never mind that I’m putting my best life management techniques into it as well.
Point being, I think the bar for the value of your ebook should be a value between what your time is worth, and what you feel is a good value to the consumer.
I agree. Though sometimes I think it still gets a little out of whack (mostly resulting in hilarity still).
Like that $600 “executive brief” on twitter that was floating around about six months back – WTF is there even that can be said about twitter for such a price?…
Naomi;
I read your blog because you have “authority.” You are successful in the digital world. So I’m predisposed to think your advice is valuable. This is due to the fact that you are confident, your advice is solid, and your posts are revelant and interesting. You put your personality into your blog. Perhaps the $5.50 pdf didn’t have those attributes.
Naomi, I’m curious how much effort you put into your own price points? Is it instinct? Trial and error? Brainstorming?
As a solo blogger/marketer, it can be tough to find the right price point. It makes matter worse when you survey your friends and the numbers are all over the place.
It’s so true- people value what they pay for! And you make an interesting point—pricing higher can be for your client’s benefit. If you price high (which is relative), people take it seriously. If I only charged $50 bucks for money coaching, I would be lucky if people showed up, and down right amazed if they actually did their homework. Higher pricing makes people pay attention to what they just invested in.
Oh my goodness me Naomi, was it me?? I’m sooooo sorry it sucked!x
5.50 is a deal LOL my price range. But you do get what you pay for lol
I’m working on an ebook myself. Most of the information can be found for free all over the web. I’ve distilled it. Reorganized it. Presenting it in a novel form. All original words, my own work.
The ebook has a lot of me in it. My hourly rate is very high. I’m going to charge a pretty good price for it, because I would rather have fewer sales at higher prices, to People Who Will Do The Work.
Kern is right. Most people who purchase any of these materials, Mass Control or otherwise, end up using the DVDs as coasters. If not literally, then figuratively.
I suspect that sales will be very slow initially. Then ramp up as I carve out a name for myself. That’s ok. I’ll “get rich quick” later.
I used to sell an ebook on eBay for about ~$20. It was very specific to my niche but there was still competition. I used to be a keynote speaker on the topic and still teach it at a well-known University. I sold 5-10 of them a day.
It was actually useful information but what fetched me the sale was that I endorsed it. Whether my audience could get the information elsewhere was somewhat irrelevant. In their eyes, an authority blessed a set of information that they no longer have to scour for.