Recently I launched Bang Ukraine and it was my best ever in terms of unit sales, even though I’ve put out much stronger work. If you’re launching an e-product launch of your own, you need to start with the following belief:
No one needs your product.
You can try to convince them they need it through fancy sales copy, but truth is no one will die or suffer if they don’t buy your book. It’s a luxury that for most customers will be treated as entertainment, a distraction to their lives.
So how can you sell someone something that no one really needs? Three ways:
1. Give amazing value. Your launch price should be so low that you may have trouble imagining how you will make money off of it. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, throw in bonuses that exceed the value of the book price. For Bang Ukraine, I think many men happily paid more than the $5 launch price for the bonuses alone, but they’re also getting an entire book on top of that. I’ve actually had guys tell me that they bought a special deal of mine not because they wanted it, but because it was too good to pass up.
2. Light a fire under their ass. Make your special a limited time only. People have a lot of things going on in their lives. Unless you tell them that they only have a couple days to buy your massive special, they’ll get distracted and forget. Remember: no one needs your book. Making your launch scarce pushes it up in a person’s priority list so they remember to buy it before something else distracts them.
3. Don’t get any ideas that you deserve to make money. The whole launch should be based on how to give customers value, not how much cash you can make. If you give value, you’ll get value in return. The money you make should be secondary to what you’re offering to customers who are faced with unlimited choice in movies, music, and books. For instance, Bang Ukraine is a specialized guide based on full-time research in a field where there has been no prior writing. I’m sure there are guys who would pay $100 for it, but is that what most of my readers want? No, they want a cheap book with a bunch of extras. So I will provide that value for them.
The launch gives your book a big boost to eventually find a path to those guys who would benefit most from it. A successful launch plants a seed that gives the book a chance to grow for some long-tail income in the next 3-5 years until it gets buried under the avalanche of new content. It also helps if you have other products in your lineup. You want every book launch to leverage your older work, allowing them to work as a team to move the ball forward while still giving great value (in my biggest combo, I gave 15 books for $35, only $2.33 per book).
If you’re just starting off, you’ll probably have to offer your products with a pay-what-you-want model. At the end of your first book, have a link so the reader can donate via Paypal (if they made it to the end of the book, they probably liked it). You won’t make much money but you will develop a readership that will give you a couple extra bucks for your next book. The road to consistent revenue is long and laborious, but if this is your passion then I believe it’s worth it.
If you remember anything, it’s that everything you do must be centered around what your customers want, not what you want. They care about how your work helps them, not how much you get paid. But thankfully the more value you give people, the more you get back. It’s quite simple, really.
Despite the constant attacks of those that don’t like game, or Roosh in particular, it seems that we’re reinventing the wheel. Giving value in the stuff that you sell should have been what we all do all the time. Eating well and exercising should be what we have always been doing. But we need reminders because we have not been doing the things that we should be.
It seems like you read some stuff about marketing? If not I can highly recommend ‘Principles of Marketing’ (Kotler)
4. Reward yourself and celebrate, after the launch.
🙂
I appreciate the Value aspect and have to say that’s probably how Roosh won out so easily with getting me to read bang the first time around. While i knew a fair amount I always felt like I was lacking information. I went back and forth between Roosh’s website and Askmen. I couldn’t stand Dr. Love’s half assed answers with constant pushing for his $100 book. Why the hell am I going to shell out $100 for some crap that might be worthless anyway. Bang on the other hand is probably the best game information I’ve read and priced so damn low you pretty much can’t pass on it. I’ve had plenty of friends who have picked it up as a result.
Perhaps bang ukraine might be a bit of entertainment, but when I hopefully go there one day it will be hard for me to believe that the guide I’ll take with me and memorize in my head to pickup, only cost me $5
“The 9 Ugliest Feminists In America”
I just that and it’s comments…its the most ultimate piece of trolling eva !
Also Re: ‘The 9 Ugliest Feminists in America’
Why are the comments down? They were as funny as your gatling gun of jokes at Jen McCreight.
I’d normally not insult a woman’s looks unless she’s immoral, which permits its. I see that Amanda Marcotte is immoral. So, I created this meme:
http://postimage.org/image/m1vpfzt7v/
Just poking fun at a defect of the womynists that escapes mockery: the fact that most of them have wombs more barren and empty than the Detroit city treasury. Which is good, because it means they’re being selected out via evolution.
I cut comments to preserve server resources. They’re back open again.
yes! i’ve had a lot of fun today.
trolling butthurt fem bots is so easy
Hey Roosh I dig these posts you publish once in a while about the workings of the business behind your books. It’s good stuff.
The give value/get value thing is true for everything in life. It amazes me how many folks just don’t get it… like the fat, pimpled, video game addict who just can’t understand why the most beautiful women aren’t throwing themselves at him.
“If you want to make a lot of money, create a lot of value for a lot of people.”
Money is like service certificates indicating how much service you’ve rendered to others. You have to give something that others want more than the money they have. Sounds simple. It’s pure and honest capitalism.
4. Manufacture false hype by posting fake pictures of “Ukrainian women,” then deflect when you’re called out.
I really like this ‘value first’ attitude of yours. That’s what made it easy for me to spend $5 (less than a drink in a pub here in Sydney) to get it + some extras although I know probably I will never visit Ukraine unless the book changes my mind! I also bough bang + day bang and whole lot more in a bundle for $23 I guess which was awesome value considering the quality of the books. Other than value I like how easy and straightforward is the process of buying specially using paypal is really good, if you had asked for credit card details probably I wouldn’t have bought them. Also I like how organized are ebooks and they come in different formats. I use mobi versions to read on my kindle device and kindle app on my phone. very smooth. Mobi version of Bang was a bit annoying though because didn’t have proper TOC but Day Bang was much better.
Keep up the good work!
thanks for this. i’m looking at pulling a mattF and culling crap form my site after i retire.
i’m book-marking this.
Your marketing philosophy is excellent, and your advice is sound, considering value first. Put in literary terms from my perspective: Having people read my work and get the message is more important than how many copies I actually sell. However, what can I do if the publisher sets the price (for both print and ebooks) and doesn’t do a hell of a lot in terms of publicity? I have a website up with free chapter downloads and a couple of advertisements out, but what else would help for antifeminist, politically incorrect novels written in a genre currently dominated by women?