I am an author, trying to self-publish and whatnot. After reading this post I almost bought the book.

Then I didn't. Because of this pricing model.

I wanted to buy the book. The value preposition is awesome and it is exactly the kind of content I need right now. The first option is super expensive and includes a bunch of things I don't care about. I want the book, not some videos I'll never watch, not a 90 day launch plan I'll never use. I want to read your book Nathan Barry.

The second option is still pretty damn expensive, and it's still shoving a bunch of things I don't want down my throat. I want the book.

Last option. $30, okay that's pretty reasonable. I will even swallow the patronisingly added one month subscription to ConvertKit, whatever that is. I just wanted the book and this option has the least crap with it.

Great.

Oh, for $29 I only get a PDF ... but I wanted a book. For that much money I really expected at least a paperback, possibly a hardcover.

I'm sorry Nathan Barry, I would love to read your book, heck, I want to read your book. But none of your pricing options make any sense for me.

PS: I passionately dislike watching videos and find it almost impossible to learn from them. I mean really learn, not just feel like I've learned.

I once co-authored a book called Beyond Blogging that my co-author and I took great pride in writing. It was the first book I'd ever written, and we wanted it to be the "Think and Grow Rich" for bloggers. We put a lot of time into writing it, and felt it was a great product.

We opted to do what Nathan did and sold it for $30-$50 for a PDF. I can't remember the cost exactly.

We took a lot of heat for the price, but it did do well, and people still buy it and email me about it, many years later. We've since quit selling the PDF and posted it on Amazon and BN via Createspace, but at the time, the cost of producing a nice looking and readable PDF was not cheap. Launching was hard, as was keeping up with support.

While I don't regret our decision to price high and launch PDF only, as we needed something meaty to get launch partners involved, I often wonder what would have happened if we took a long view and opted for a book proposal and/or gone to print first, at a reasonable price of say $9.99 or $14.99.

It's my thought that we'd be selling more today than we currently are, would probably have a 2nd or 3rd version, and might have received a follow-on book deal to write a follow-up volume.

Instead, I have a book that once made me some decent cash, but isn't really part of my average day's business plan.

It feels like a waste.

Moral of the story is:

If you want to make a ton of quick cash, this pricing model will work, and you'll be happy as people laud you for the strategy (which really isn't new) and the amount of money you made. But I don't think it's a good long-term strategy, and I don't think it helps you build authority of any lasting kind.

Is everything only about money?

Is it really ethical to try to get as much money out of your customers? If you are making a profit after all costs are considered, how much profit is too much?

The question is maybe not too important when applied to something like an e-book, but it becomes different when applied to something people think they cannot do without, like a college education or healthcare. In those situations we have seen vendors will gouge you for as much as they can get, which ends up being as much as you have.

We as a society need to rethink whether that should be considered acceptable behavior. I don't know if legislation is necessarily the right solution (I am inclined to think it is not) but at the very least people should feel shameful for being so greedy.

First of all, Nathan Barry is an excellent guy. Many people talk, he walks the walk...

Now back to the matter:

If you follow this strategy you must understand that this is not a method for long term ebook sales.

You'll get a quick burst of cash

and not much more after

This isn't a bad thing, this is how this method works. That's why he has 3 books out in such a short period of time....

If you want long term sales, there is another more profitable way to do it (too long for me to explain here).

Also, In some comments here, some people were complaining that the price was too high for a book. But he is not selling a BOOK; he's selling a proven system for making up to $100,000 with your own books. His mistake was framing "authority" as a book in his sales letter and that's why such problems arise.

This is a really flawed analysis. You don't mention here the traffic and the conversion rate. It's possible for your second venture that you had much more traffic, better conversions, loyal customers...

Nathan, you're really coming out with some great posts. Please continue.

I saw another great post on this topic on the VWO blog recently which suggests reversing your pricing table to show the most expensive test first as an A/B test idea, and relates it to the "primacy effect":

http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/pricing...

I'm testing it now (no conclusive results yet), but I think it makes a lot of sense. I would love to see an A/B test of this on The App Design Handbook's sales page.

This is the same exact tactic employed by many of the e-book authors at Clickbank. You're basically forcing visitors into purchasing more than they originally wanted.

This is interesting. I've been following along with Nathan's posts for a while.

I checked the new website design (http://nathanbarry.com/webapps/). I love the focus on copywriting. My first reaction is that it lacks a strong visual hierarchy. Everything is blue and the call to actions (price circles) blends in with the rest of the page. Whereas in the previous design, the pricing/buttons were more obvious with the vertical table grid design.

The main difference is that package descriptions have been expanded significantly, which is great. It's no longer just bullet points + price.

More copy is always better.

But by not having a compact table with the 3 package options, it makes comparing the packages harder.

I'm curious if this is why the sales increased? It seems to have obscured the notion that it's an ebook that optionally comes packaged with extras. It is now sold primarily as a complete course of ebook+videos+resources with a secondary option of just buying the book.

That seems to be a big change in the focus of the product/marketing rather than just a simple pricing change on the book itself.

Sometimes, I just wished people stopped trying to re-invent the wheel. All of this stuff is not new. It is covered in every DIY marketing book that has been published since the 70's. I don't get what is the fascination of trying to re-invent (or disrupt) marketing. No need for that. Just read a few books, take a structured approach to testing, and see the money roll in.

Also, if you make a post complaining how the book is too expensive and you wont buy it, guess what? you are not the target market. The target market is always people who can and will pay for something. Not people who can and will complain about the price.

Want to learn marketing? Start with the book Guerilla Marketing.

This pricing model also works for consulting as well. Listen to Obie Fernandez talk about 321-Launch and you'll understand that value of bundling when it comes to consulting services.

Simply put, price yourself high. People will attach value to your work because of this.

Also, from a consulting standpoint:

This accomplishes a few things. It affords you time to spend on non-billable hours such as taxes and filling your pipeline. Finally, adding a 'special sauce' packages allows you to eventually de-commoditize yourself and allow you to start transitioning those jobs that are interchangeable to others under you without your client objecting too strenuously.

I paid $79 for the new 'Authority' release and am disappointed, more so because it's that expensive. I am sure he maximized revenue for the short term, but I am unlikely to buy anything else from him again.

undefined

Your sales funnel approach is deprecated. What is used now is called a sales ladder. Rather than have people pass through a funnel, you have them take steps towards purchase. Sounds to be the same, but it is quite different, and much more effective. Do some research on it.

> I always ask myself, “If I were to double the price (from $0.99 to $1.99), would I lose more than half the sales?”

This isn't very useful on its own; The arithmetic was never the hard part. Predicting your success is.

Or you can take a different tack, like this guy:

http://arttrezzo.com/ebook_pricing.html

undefined