February 7, 2012

Ebook – Sell It? Or Give it Away? – Which is Best for You?

EBOOK

Selling or giving away an ebook is the choice of the original author. This does not apply to PLR ebooks. These ebooks come with instructions that tell you how you can distribute the ebook, and what you can do with it. Violating these rights is the same as violating the copyright. It is not recommended to do so. Naturally you want to make a profit off of your hard earned work. You may think that selling an ebook is better than giving it away for free. However there are advantages to both methods.

The advantage to selling it is that you make a profit off of it immediately. But you may have to advertise or market your book in order to get people to buy it. This will require time and dedication. It will also require effort on your part. Your first advertising campaign may not go so well. You may have to tweak your marketing plan in order to get it to work the way you want to. Or it may not work at all. This happens in a lot of cases. Many people wind up making little or no profit at all from their ebook. If you’re going to sell your ebook, you’ll need a solid marketing strategy, and a few backup plans, just in case.

The advantages to giving the ebook away, however, are numerous. Free information is a way to increase visitors and traffic to your website. A free ebook can be like a teaser, or an appetizer. It whets the customer’s appetite for the main course. Giving away ebooks is a common practice in internet marketing and affiliate marketing. This is not a coincidence. These marketers realize that if you want something from someone, you have to give something in return. That’s why you may see pop-ups on certain sites that say “Join our mailing list, and get this ebook for free!” The ebook is usually on a subject that everyone in the niche is interested in. It is now helping to increase their mailing list and their sales.

Giving away an ebook also helps to establish a rapport with your audience. This is a good practice in any sort of e-business, even in blogging and SEO. You want your visitors to realize that you care about their needs. They can get to know you and what you have to offer by reading your free ebook. Think about it as a sample. It lets them know whether you’re the person (or business) that they’re looking for to help them with their needs. It’s important that your ebook is packed with information, and not just useless fluff.

Finally ebooks help you to brand yourself or your company. This can work through selling the ebook or giving it away for free. It usually works better with giving it away though, but you can find success in selling it too. Branding helps establish you or your company’s personality and individuality among your competition. What better way to do that than to show your consumers how knowledgeable you are in your niche?

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