Too many freeloaders out there and its about time they started coughing up for people’s work and experience.

Daz

I’m new to your blog but like what I see so far. It’s going in the RSS reader as soon as I’m finished writing this.

I think people have beaten the pricing debate to death. I say charge for it, unless you think it will lead to enough goodwill and new business to cover your costs and provide you with your desired quality of life.

I assume that your methods will come with a disclaimer that quantity of social media marketing will never replace quality of social media contributions. Even though you are avoiding the “get rich quick” angle, many newcomers to the field might interpret it as such and not understand that social networks are not the property or playground of marketers. We should respectfully contribute to the conversations with valuable, relevant content without intruding or inappropriately stuffing our message in people’s faces.

I think your book will be very well received and rightfully so. I just wonder when the day will come that social networks are so saturated with half-baked marketing strategies that normal people (our customers) won’t find them as fun, engaging or useful anymore.

I also like the Social Ware idea… nice one Tinu.

Robert Plank had a great idea which seemed to work an absolute charm. Start off with X and raise the price by Y for every sale.

I have seen it work incredibly well… one that he did started off at $0.05, and increased by $0.05 a time – hundreds of sales resulted.

Why did it work? First, it started off incredibly cheap, and as more people brought and left great feedback, the “social proof” aspect kicked in, prompting yet more people to buy, but at the ever increasing price.

In fact, I might go and write a post on this technique…

This is not a questions of gathering dust or not gathering dust . This is a numbers question.

Dust or less Dust?? over 90% of all programs at any price rather dust. Even at price points over $5,000 just ask the so called Guru’s and most internet people are information junkies.

So the question now is how can get your new ebook to the most number of people that will read it (we know it is human nature most will not put it to use)?? There have been some great suggestions above and there have been some tried and true principles that are a must. It seems Tinu has captured it and still leaves room for your creative flare. So we are looking to see Soicalware marketing with a Michelle Twist Web 2.0 style. This is a great test of the principles you are teaching in the book itself.

We are all excited about your book for our own use but also excited for you and your accomplishment to give such a complete guide …. and the covering of this ever evolving subject, on a step by step bases was no easy task … Well that is Web 2.0+. The “+” is the step by step guide for any of us newbies.

Please keep us updated on your progress.

PS … As i think about it …Free is Best for numbers and include products that help automate some of those process to give the the whole of your system it greater than the trying to use only individual pieces .. and charging for those programs or services …. i think you have done well with your other products by doing some thing similar …. i love your videos … thanks again

A couple of responses to individual comments/questions:

@Steven Cravis: The guide covers generating traffic and backlinks via social media outlets. Page count is irrelevant, as most higher page count ebooks are 90% filler with about 5-10 pages of actual actionable content. This is step-by-step, “Go to site x and do Y.” Having finished the steps in the Checklist, you will have hundreds of backlinks for your site.

To everyone: Social marketing can bring in an initial flow of traffic to your site even if your content is lame (i.e. totally auto-generated). And it will create backlinks for you. However, the flow of human traffic from the social media sites will diminsh in proportion to the lameness of your content. I recommend using these techniques on real websites that a real person would be interested in. But it’s your call. If backlinks are all you want, then go for it.

@Andrew – I’ve always loved you pic.

@Megaplex – Actually, surveying your potential market before releasing a product is an excellent way of making sure you’re bringing something to market that they want. You might be interested in reading some of Marlon Sanders’ work – “The Amazing Formula” goes into it. If this was a “launch formula” it would be a lot more elaborate. If you need to see more quality content, look through the archives here. I can tell this is your first visit. Oh, and have a beer, lighten up!

@Lyndoman – Thank you!

I would ignore all those who are recommending a $7 or a similar “low” price point. They just want to save themselves some money – that’s their primary motivation. As you well know, those $7 offers are primarily geared for marketers wanting to build their lists and you don’t seem to be needing that at this time. Hence I think any price between $30 to $100 is fair given your time and experience researching and testing various tactics and if you’re deciding to limit the amount of copies sold.

Thanks,

Randall

I’m with those who have said “price it” and I also like the idea of the “fast action limitation” for the first 200 copies (or whatever number you come up with). I agree that all your work should be compensated somehow, although from a wise marketing standpoint, this guide will of course be a springboard to future products and sales.
Another thought — I wonder if you’ve considered making a “regular” copy (which could be inexpensive) and a “brandable” copy by using a PDF branding tool — contact me if you’re looking for a good one! which could be sold for a higher price.
Best of luck with this — I’m looking forward to getting “advance notice” when you release it so that I can snatch up one of the first few copies.

Respectfully,

Mark B.

You obviously know what you talk about. I see you all over the place and your posts are interesting and insightful.

You are worth what you are worth. You are at the cutting edge of a fantastic new marketing technique that a lot of the world have not woken up to.

Effective social marketing can make people a lot of money these days, hell I charge $500 to write a piece of linkbait which I then market to social networks.

And you know what? The work is undervalued.

And people are asking you to sell it for $7????????

nnnnngggghh That makes me so mad. This is specialist stuff written by an expert within her field with an extremely limited circulation.

$97 sounds like a bargain.

This is no Wallmart, as anyone knows who works in this space we don’t pile things high and sell them cheap, we create quality products that if used correctly will earn you thousands, and you want to pay the price of a movie ticket?

Unbelievable!

There are definitely two schools of thought on your pricing issue and in addition to the do I don’t I internal conflict you face, the previous comments all raise very valid points. I’m probably not helping you much, but my 2 cents is that you should put some kind of reasonable price tag on it ($7-$20). I’ve learned in this business that you should be compensated for your efforts, not to mention you really provide a lot for free already (in my opinion) in your regular blog posts.

I think doing something unique and revolutionary would really make a statement for who you are and what you stand for. I’ve seen you do some good things with the two products of yours I have… and, in your dealings with your customers.

You’re a good marketer and a good person!

Gary Bencivenga, one of the top copywriters, said, “When you stand for something, you’ll never stand alone.”

I think if you stand in this market for delivering value in terms of what we all want and need… you definitely will not stand alone. I’ll stand with ya!!

I think proving what you’ve got is a unique and exciting way would be really cool… and, ultimately, really profitable for you.

Keep up the good work!

John

First you ask for help then you jump around the paddock like a rabbit trying to tell me about the price this and that and I still dont know that if what you have is any good.

Why dont you give some godd content away free then charge for the rest that way we can see if what why might buy is any god.

Instead of all this mysterious marketing ploy.

Sincerely.

me

Stop teasing us with the “should I or shouldn’t I!

I’ve got stuff I’ve paid money for gathering dust – so price doesn’t affect its usefullness

I’d suggest making it viral – ala Jack Humphrey’s Balck Book – and put links to all your software in the back – and maybe even offer branding rights to US!

Or, you could quibble over whether to charge 2, 4, 6, 8 follars for it – or $97!

Sounds exciting, either way

Andrew Larder
MarketingSharks.com

(an actual customer, btw!)[/quote]

I agree with Andrew Michelle,

I have a hard drive full of stuff I pain money for but don’t use because it’s all just basically BS where as on the other hand if Jack Humphrey’s Black Book was a paperback copy I”d have already worn it out with the cover falling off and pages taped in to keep it all intact. Seems crazy how the one book I got free of charge gets more use than any book I’ve paid for…hmmmmmm…go figure.

But at the end of the day you know my thing is inspiring people to listen to their heart.

So after hearing all the responses…what does your heart say Michelle? Although I WILL NOT complain if you give it to us for free or maybe select a few of us to do a 30 Day Challenge type of things to demonstrate to others that this stuff really works then you can charge what ever you want because the proof will be in the pudding…feel me?

Life Samadhi Avatari

Dreams Are Real and Inspirations Just A Breath Away!!!
http://lifesamadhi.com

Stop teasing us with the “should I or shouldn’t I!

I’ve got stuff I’ve paid money for gathering dust – so price doesn’t affect its usefullness

I’d suggest making it viral – ala Jack Humphrey’s Balck Book – and put links to all your software in the back – and maybe even offer branding rights to US!

Or, you could quibble over whether to charge 2, 4, 6, 8 follars for it – or $97!

Sounds exciting, either way

Andrew Larder
MarketingSharks.com

(an actual customer, btw!)

I think a unique idea would be great… something no one’s done before. I’m not saying free or paid, either way… just something that really delivers value to your market in a way that compels them to act on it.

I really like the 30-day challenge idea… create a 30-day challenge around the contents of your book. Make the objectives of the challenge the benefits you say one would get from reading your book.

I think it provides a great way to present your ideas in a way people will act on… and it will give you the opportunity to really prove the value of what you’ve written… and set you up for a real book launch later… where you can launch your book and sell it for a premium price.

That’s an idea I have planned for my next book… damn, just gave it away!! Of course, there’s other ideas…

Either way, thanks for all your hard work!! I look forward to seeing what you put out.

John Morris
ViralMarketingLaboratory.com