How I Made $7,500 in ONE WEEK Selling an E-Book

Summary

The video script details the journey of launching an ebook, highlighting the importance of marketing and community building over the writing process itself. The speaker, Simon, a software developer and startup CEO, shares his personal experience of creating an ebook on JavaScript best practices, which he successfully sold, earning over $7,500 in the first week and a consistent $2,500 monthly. He emphasizes the need for a marketing budget, leveraging influencer marketing, pre-launch strategies, email marketing, and paid ads to reach the right audience. Simon also stresses the significance of choosing a topic you're deeply familiar with to streamline the writing process. The summary teases the upcoming part two, promising detailed insights into email sequences, social media conversion campaigns, and crafting compelling launch posts.

Takeaways

• 📚 **Choosing the Right Topic**: Select a topic you're deeply familiar with to write your ebook, which will save time and effort.
• 💰 **Financial Investment**: Allocate a budget for the ebook cover, proofreading, and marketing to increase your chances of success.
• 📈 **Marketing Over Creation**: Spend more time on marketing and distribution than on creating the ebook itself, as this is often where success lies.
• 🎓 **Leverage Your Expertise**: Use your existing knowledge to write the ebook, avoiding the need to learn something new during the process.
• 📈 **Influencer Marketing**: Partner with influencers who can promote your ebook to their followers, potentially increasing sales.
• 🚀 **Pre-launch Strategy**: Build hype and interest by talking about your ebook before it's released, and consider a pre-launch offer.
• 📧 **Email Marketing**: Collect emails from free giveaways to build a list of leads for your launch, as email marketing has high conversion rates.
• 🎯 **Targeted Advertising**: Use paid ads on platforms like Facebook and Google to target the right audience effectively.
• 📉 **Avoid Overextension**: Focus on one or two acquisition channels to avoid spreading yourself too thin and to manage your efforts effectively.
• 💌 **Email Drip Campaigns**: Develop an email sequence to nurture leads and convert them into buyers, which can significantly boost sales.
• 📉 **Conversion Optimization**: Create compelling launch posts and set up conversion campaigns to maximize the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video?

The main topic of the video is discussing the strategies and experiences related to launching and selling an ebook, particularly focusing on why some ebooks perform well while others do not.

What is the speaker's background before creating the ebook?

The speaker is a software developer and startup CEO with a background in sales and freelance software engineering.

What is the title of the ebook created by the speaker?

The title of the ebook is 'Javascript in the Industry'.

How much did the speaker spend on creating the ebook cover and proofreading?

The speaker spent $47 on the ebook cover and $52 on proofreading.

What was the speaker's total expenditure on marketing the ebook in the first week?

The total expenditure on marketing the ebook in the first week was $531.

What was the speaker's strategy for creating trust and collecting emails before launching the ebook?

The speaker gave away a free ebook to create trust and authority, and to collect emails of potential customers.

How much revenue did the speaker make from the ebook in the first week of sales?

The speaker made $7,980 in gross revenue from the ebook in the first week of sales.

What is the speaker's advice on choosing a topic for an ebook?

The speaker advises choosing a topic that you are very familiar with, to the point where you could almost write about it in your sleep, in order to save time and energy.

What are some of the marketing strategies the speaker used to promote the ebook?

The speaker used influencer marketing, pre-launch hype, retargeting existing leads through email marketing, and running paid ads on social media platforms.

How did the speaker use the process of writing an ebook as a learning opportunity?

The speaker did not use the process of writing an ebook as a learning opportunity. Instead, they chose a topic they were already deeply familiar with, allowing them to focus on the business aspect of selling the ebook.

What is the significance of building a community and owning sales channels for successful info product sales?

Building a community and owning sales channels is significant because it allows creators to have direct control over their marketing and distribution, which are crucial for successful sales of info products.

Why is it important to spend time on marketing and distribution rather than just creating the ebook?

It is important because even a well-written ebook will not sell if people do not know about it. Marketing and distribution efforts are key to reaching the target audience and generating sales.

What is the role of email marketing in the speaker's strategy?

Email marketing plays a crucial role as it allows the speaker to reach a targeted audience directly. It is used to send out discounted offers and to keep the audience engaged and informed about the product.

Why did the speaker choose to give away a free ebook before launching the paid one?

The speaker gave away a free ebook to create trust and authority, to demonstrate the quality of their writing, and to collect emails of interested individuals, which later became a list of qualified leads.

What is the speaker's stance on using paid ads for marketing the ebook?

The speaker is positive about using paid ads, stating that they are a reliable and relatively inexpensive way to reach a large audience. They mention that platforms like Facebook and Google offer effective targeting options.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Launching an eBook: Strategies and Insights

The speaker, Simon, introduces his experience with launching an eBook and emphasizes the importance of concentration during the process. He discusses the disparity in earnings among influencers when launching eBooks and shares his own successful experience, making over $7,500 in the first week and $2,500 monthly thereafter. Simon clarifies that there's no magic trick to success but rather a methodical approach involving marketing, distribution, and sales skills. He also stresses the significance of community building, email list creation, and free knowledge sharing before monetization. The video promises to cover what makes some info products perform exceptionally well.

05:01

📈 Financial Breakdown and Time Investment in eBook Creation

Simon provides a financial breakdown of his eBook launch, including costs for cover design, proofreading, and marketing through Instagram and paid ads, totaling $531. He details the sales figures, with 480 copies sold at a discounted launch offer, resulting in a profit of around $7,450. He also outlines the time spent on various tasks, such as writing, website creation, email marketing, and additional marketing efforts, amounting to 40 hours. Simon advises choosing a topic for the eBook that one is already well-versed in to minimize the learning curve and maximize efficiency. He also delves into different marketing strategies, including influencer marketing, pre-launch hype, and retargeting existing leads.

10:03

🎯 Marketing Strategies for eBook Success

The paragraph discusses various marketing strategies that can be effective for an eBook launch. Simon shares his personal strategies, which include giving away a free eBook to build authority and collect emails, setting up a website for monetized eBook sales, collaborating with tech influencers for promotion, and running paid ad campaigns on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. He emphasizes the importance of choosing one or two acquisition channels for conversion and warns against spreading efforts too thin across multiple channels. The paragraph concludes with a teaser for part two of the video, where Simon will elaborate on email drip sequences, conversion campaigns, and creating effective launch posts.

Keywords

💡Ebook Launch

The process of releasing an ebook to the public for the first time. In the video, the creator discusses their experience launching an ebook they had been working on for months, which is central to the video's theme of digital product creation and sales.

💡Social Media Marketing

Using social media platforms to promote a product or service. The video emphasizes the importance of social media in marketing an ebook, with the creator mentioning writing a post to launch the ebook and using platforms like Instagram and Twitter for promotion.

💡Influencer Marketing

A form of marketing where influencers with a significant number of followers are paid to promote products. The video discusses leveraging influencers for ebook promotion, with the creator sharing their strategy of making agreements with tech influencers for retweets and promotion.

💡Pre-sales

Sales that occur before a product is officially released to the market. The script mentions the potential for significant income from pre-sales, which is a key strategy for generating early revenue and interest in the ebook.

💡Digital Products

Products that are distributed in digital form, such as ebooks and online courses. The video's main theme revolves around the creation and sale of digital products, with the creator sharing their personal experience and strategies for success in this area.

💡Email Marketing

The use of email to market products or services, often involving building an email list for targeted communication. The creator highlights email marketing as an underrated but effective strategy, mentioning the collection of emails for future promotional campaigns.

💡Paid Advertisement

A form of advertising where the promoter pays for the placement of their ads on various platforms. The video outlines the creator's use of paid ads on Facebook and Twitter to boost the visibility and sales of their ebook.

💡Affiliate Programs

Programs where affiliates earn a commission for promoting and selling a product. Although not explicitly detailed in the script, the concept is implied in the discussion of influencer partnerships and sales channels.

💡Content Marketing

A strategy that involves creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and engage a clearly defined audience. The video's creator talks about sharing knowledge for free as a way to build trust and authority, which is a form of content marketing.

💡Conversion Rate

The percentage of viewers or users who take a desired action, such as making a purchase. The script discusses the importance of conversion rate in relation to marketing strategies and how the creator aimed to optimize it through various tactics.

💡Monetization

The process of generating revenue from a product or service. The video's central theme is the monetization of an ebook, with the creator detailing the financial aspects of launching and selling their digital product.

Highlights

The speaker has been working on an ebook for months and is about to launch it.

Influencers with over 20,000 followers can make less than $500 on average when launching an ebook, while some make several thousand dollars in pre-sales.

The speaker made over $7,500 in the first week of sales from their first ebook and continues to make around $2,500 monthly.

Successful info products often come from creators who spend time on marketing, distribution, and sales, not just writing.

Top sellers prepare for the launch, build community, create sales channels, and have been sharing knowledge for free before asking for money.

The speaker is a software developer and startup CEO who wrote an ebook on best practices for writing industry-level JavaScript.

The total expenses for creating and marketing the ebook in the first week were $531, resulting in a profit of around $7,450.

The speaker spent more time on marketing and distribution than on creating the ebook itself.

Choosing a topic you're very familiar with can save time and energy, allowing you to focus on marketing.

Influencer marketing, pre-launch strategies, retargeting existing leads, and paid ads are effective ways to market an ebook.

The speaker gave away a free ebook to create trust, establish authority, and collect emails for a future launch.

Email marketing has a high click-through rate and is an effective way to reach a target audience.

Paid ads on platforms like Facebook and Google are reliable and can be set up with a small initial budget.

The speaker's strategy resulted in $7,500 worth of sales in the first week and continues to generate around $2,500 per month.

In part two of the video, the speaker will detail the email drip sequence and conversion campaigns that contributed to sales.

The importance of creating a compelling launch post that stands out and converts is emphasized.

The speaker encourages viewers to subscribe and turn on notifications to not miss part two of the video.

Transcripts

hey guys i need you to be a bit quiet

i'm back here and i'm about to launch an

ebook that i've been working on really

hard in fact i've been working on this

one for months i'm just about to launch

it sales will start pouring in

please i'm trying to concentrate sorry

[Music]

so

how will i launch this

by writing a post on social media

[Music]

all right i'm ready let's launch it

[Music]

i know influencers with more than 20 000

followers who make less than 500 on

average when they launch an ebook then i

know some who make several

thousand dollars just in pre-sales i

launched an e-book myself recently it

was my first one but i wanted to try it

out it took me a few evenings to write

and contrary to the intro before i

actually made more than 7

500 in the first week of sales today i

still make around two and a half

thousand dollars on it every month why

do some info products perform well why

do some perform insane when others seem

to go by almost unnoticed

that's exactly what i'm gonna cover in

this video a quick disclaimer though if

you think i'm gonna give you some magic

trick that you can go and apply and go

out there and make seven thousand five

hundred dollars out of the blue you're

gonna be disappointed in fact you might

as well just leave now and go find

something more entertaining to watch on

the other hand if you're curious about

what makes the difference and how to

actually go about selling an ebook in a

world where people on the internet try

to stuff ebooks down your throat left

and right then keep watching till the

end of this video because i'm gonna

explain exactly how to do this the right

way let's get started

if you're new to my channel welcome here

i'm simon and i make money on the

internet i use this youtube channel to

share my experience with creating and

selling digital products so if this is

something that interests you you should

totally subscribe to my channel so

ebooks and online courses can you really

make money from these obviously the

answer is yes and still most people

don't let's break this down the model

most people follow goes something like

this you start by narrowing down a topic

you want to write about you spend hours

structuring writing proof reading and

perfecting you make a lot of research

because you're selling this you don't

want people to pay for something that's

not correct which is why you double

check every other sentence i also know a

lot of ebook writers that use the

process of writing an e-book as the

perfect learning opportunity a great

opportunity to dig deep into a topic and

learn a lot about it along the way at

some point the work is done you upload

it on coursera udemy or gumroad and you

share the link on social media and you

make almost no money at all why how do

west boss adam marthan and kent c doss

make millions on their ebooks and

courses is it because they have a lot of

followers

not really in fact they have a lot of

followers for the same reason their

products do well yes you guessed it

because they're good at marketing

distribution and knows how to sell and

that's the part most ebook creators

completely leave out they spend hours

writing and then they almost leave it up

to random chance whether someone is

going to buy it or not when top sellers

make a lot of money from their info

products is because they spend a lot of

time preparing the launch every single

time they spend years building community

creating and owning their sales channels

building email lists attending

conferences and spreading awareness

preparing and running paid advertisement

creating affiliate programs for their

products and most importantly they have

been sharing knowledge and giving away

for free for a long time before starting

to ask for people's money and i know

exactly what you're thinking i'm out

info products is never going to be my

thing might as well just stop this video

right now but wait i know where you're

coming from there's so much work needed

to become that successful but let's back

up here

maybe we don't need to make millions as

i said i made more than seven thousand

dollars in the first week from my ebook

and two and a half thousand dollars per

month ongoing that's also pretty good

now that i'm not a full-time ebook

author or course creator and the great

thing about it is you can do it as well

it still takes a lot of work but

realistically you can do it so here it

goes let me break down how i did this

how i spent my time how much it cost and

most importantly which strategy i used

to make sure that i actually sold copies

of this ebook so for those of you who

don't already know i'm a software

developer and startup ceo and before

creating my own tech startup i've been

working in sales and as a freelance

software engineer and the ebook i

created and sold is called javascript in

the industry and it's a collection of

best practices and tips on how to write

industry level javascript based on my

experience from the real world so first

of all let's take a look at the finances

while you can write and launch an ebook

without any expenses you're definitely

gonna get further if you allocate a

budget to get you going it doesn't have

to be a lot of money here's the

financial breakdown of the first week

expenses

for creating the ebook i spent 47 on

this cool ebook cover and 52 dollars to

have the book proofread for grammar

mistakes and typos as some of you may

have picked up already english is not my

native language both of these services

were bought on fiverr for marketing i

spent 182 dollars to have the ebook

promoted on a popular instagram account

with almost a million followers and i

spent around 250 dollars to run paid ads

on facebook and twitter so in total i

spent 531 dollars preparing and

marketing the ebook in the first week of

sales i sold the ebook on a discounted

launch offer for 19 and an offer of nine

dollars for a group of selected people

and i sold 480 copies which was sold in

hundred and 7980 five dollars of gross

revenue subtract the expenses and a few

fees this resulted in just around seven

thousand four hundred and fifty dollars

of profit so let's take a look how i

spent my time as i mentioned i spent

well about 16 hours writing the ebook

it's 71 pages long and includes a lot of

illustrations i created a website an

integrated strive checkout for payment i

spent around 10 hours on that creating

email launch offers and drips this took

around four hours i'll go into details

about this in a little bit and then i

spent four hours on additional marketing

efforts this includes arranging and

creating a promoted post with an

instagram influencer and a couple of

other ad hoc things so in total i spent

40 hours creating and launching this

ebook

as you may have noticed i actually spent

more time on marketing and distribution

than i did creating the ebook this leads

me to the first important tip i want to

give you don't use this as an

opportunity to learn something new it is

probably the worst occasion you can pick

if you want to learn something great but

there are much better occasions for this

remember you're writing an ebook to sell

you're trying to do business here don't

unnecessarily wear yourself down

mentally by trying to learn something

new instead pick a topic that you're so

familiar with that you would almost

write an ebook about it in your sleep

you want the book to ride itself do not

spend a lot of extra energy on this part

this is exactly what i did just because

i only spent 16 hours writing it doesn't

mean it's a bad book in fact i get

incredible feedback on it it just means

that i picked the topic that i've been

occupied with for the past 10 years a

topic i can write an ebook about without

having to look up a single thing if

you're like most people looking into

writing an ebook especially if you're in

the tech space you probably haven't

spent a lot of time doing marketing

before save your energy for that instead

this is where you should challenge

yourself so before you start writing

your ebook ask yourself a couple of

questions what are your acquisition

channels how are you planning on

reaching people simply posting on your

social media profile probably won't make

the cut even if you have thousands of

followers already

so let's take a look at a few options

influencer marketing set up agreements

with other influencers and have them

spread the word you may already know a

few start by reaching out to them you

can also reach out to influencers you

don't know and ask them for a sponsor

deal it's pretty straightforward you pay

influencers to make promoted posts about

your product either by agreeing on a

fixed price or by offering them a cut of

each sale they produce so when you know

the topic you'll be writing about find

10 or more professional influencers in

that niche and line up a deal with them

in advance

keep them in the loop another option is

to do a pre-launch

maybe you already do have a follower

base in the niche you're riding in

that's great but it still takes more

than a single post saying i launched an

e-book you want to start talking about

this ebook way before you actually

launch it and you want to do a so-called

pre-launch a pre-launch is when you

start charging people for the product

before it's done on a discounted offer

this is great for various reasons first

of all you get to test the waters and

see if there's even interest in what

you're riding if none or only very few

people are gonna buy the product at

pre-launch probably it's not even worth

wasting time on secondly this gives you

a great opportunity to spread hype spend

a good amount of time before finally

launching talking about the product

share details about the process share

screenshots small bits get people hyped

up about it if you spend one to two

months creating suspense before finally

launching it it will get much much more

traction then there's my personal

favorite retargeting existing leads

this is exactly what i did three months

before i launched javascript in the

industry i created a quick ebook and

gave it away for free basically i just

collected all the code snippets i had

spent a year sharing on twitter and

linkedin and put them all together in an

ebook it took me less than two hours to

make and during the next three months

more than ten thousand people picked it

up i mean people really like free stuff

but this is an excellent strategy for

two reasons you create authority a lot

of people get to know your quality of

writing without having to pay for it you

collect emails imagine having a list of

10 000 qualified leads laying around the

day you want to launch

email marketing is super underrated in

2021 yet it's one of the mediums that

has the highest click-through rate it's

an incredible way to reach a target

audience finally you can choose to run

paid ads

paid ads is a great strategy it's easy

to set up and it's reliable services

like facebook and google have made

incredible marketing platforms and they

are really really good at targeting the

right people and even though zuckerberg

is becoming increasingly unpopular as

time goes by more people than ever are

using facebook's products with

facebook's marketing platform you get

both facebook instagram messenger and

whatsapp and google adsense covers

youtube and god knows how many web pages

those two platforms alone literally

cover almost the entire internet and

here's a fun fact surveys show that

people are getting decreasingly negative

towards ads in fact a lot of people are

getting used to them they trust them

more and they increasingly use them to

buy products and the best part is it's

relatively cheap you don't need a

million dollar budget to run effective

advertisement campaigns the platform

needs to spend a small initial amount to

tune in on an audience but that's

totally within financial capacity for

most people there are a lot of other

options out there but the most important

part is that you investigate and settle

on one or two acquisition channels that

you believe will convert don't overdo

this though creating multiple channels

isn't necessarily going to increase your

overall conversion rate and it probably

ends up becoming unmanageable

obfuscating data and making the whole

thing much more chaotic than it needs to

be so let me shortly sum up how i did

this i gave an ebook away for free to

create trust authority and to collect

emails i created the monetized ebook and

set up a website with strive integration

i made agreements with a handful of big

influencers in the tech twitter space

and had them retweet my launch

announcement i paid one huge instagram

influencer to promote the ebook

i send out a discounted offer to my

email list

finally i set up ad campaigns on twitter

youtube and facebook in total this

resulted in 7 500 worth of sales in the

first 7 days and the book still

generates around 2 500 per month today

in part two of this video i'll go into

details about how i created an email

drip sequence consisting of four emails

that generated more than two-thirds of

all the sales and i'll show you how i

set up conversion campaigns on facebook

twitter and youtube i'll also cover how

to create a great launch post that pops

out and converts please take a second to

like this video and subscribe to my

channel so you won't miss part two

actually this is definitely a good time

to hit that little bell icon as well so

you'll get notified when it's out i'll

see you soon for part two

[Music]