Internet Writing :: Inklit.com

Posted by John Lockwood on March 14th, 2008

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Bob Bly recently asked his readers to talk about the Number One Perk of Freelance Writing.  To me a major perk of freelancing is the ability to sell your writing in so many different ways.  What especially excites me is the ability to bring products to market online.

Selling written products online is a challenge.  Millions of blogs compete for a reader’s attention, and for a reader, the price is usually perfect — they’re free!   A pessimistic view of selling information online is that it competes with such proverbial sales challenges as selling snow to Eskimos.

Of course, the optimist sees the same scene and notes that the Internet is full of very literate people who are thirsty for information.  (Eskimos must like snow — look at where they live!)

Blind optimism aside, it helps enormously if we can add value to the books or article we’re selling online, and many noteworthy authors such as Angela Booth and Brian Clark use this technique to great effect.

Here, then, are five ways to add value and upsell your writing.

1. Teaching Sells.
   Brian Clark’s TeachingSells.com is based on the premise that people will pay a premium to improve their skills.  This is as true today as it was when learning to speak a foreign language or play piano were some the basis for some of the most successful direct mail marketing campaigns in history.
   
2. Ebook plus Consulting
   A variation on the Teaching Sells theme is one that Angela Booth frequently uses, combining an ebook with training and consulting. 
3. The Private Forum
   One way that many authors including Brian Clark and Courtney Ramirez have offered teaching and consulting and upsold their information is by offering access to a private forum, allowing users who are learning access to one another and to the trusted expert who’s doing the teaching.
4. Free Updates
   Is your 39-page ebook only worth 4.95?  $9.95?  How much is it worth if you offer free updates for a period of time?  Your web store should support allowing downloads for a specified period of time (The one I’m presently working on does).  This is a variation on the "Free Upgrades" upsell that has served software vendors well for years.
5. Private Label Rights
   Some products are a natural for this approach.   The best customer for your ebook may not be the reader, but someone who is trying to sell something to the reader.  The ebook can be customized with links to your client’s web site and used as a free download.  Another approach is to sell both the ebook and the sales copy for the contact form to download the free ebook (meantime allowing your client to capture the reader’s contact information).  Can you create an ebook that others will want to use in their own sales efforts?

These are just five ways to add value to your ebooks and articles.  I’m sure there are many others.  Readers, do you have techniques you’ve used or admired?