Ask HN: Ebook or Membership website which is better?

[EdgarF]

Hi HN Community,

I have written a well researched content on a particular web design niche, to monetize the content I have 2 options either I can sell it as an ebook or create a membership website, but I am confused which one to go for

Ebook:

Pros: >Easy and fast to implement >Simple HTML page + e-junkie >Easy for users to buy and download

Cons: >Once it is downloaded it will be uploaded on all file sharing servers

Membership Website: Can use WP + membership plugin

Pros: >Membership content usually doesn't get copied and uploaded on file sharing servers

Cons: >Implementation will take some time >Users have to create a separate userid/pwd which seems to be a bit of work for them

Plz share your 2cents, advice and experiences :)

[nextparadigms]

I think the biggest pay off may be from the membership site, but you'll have to keep it updated. You should update it with a lot of content like once every 6 months. And you should probably do big launches that day with a limited number of seats (but "leak" information about what's coming during the 6 month period). When doing the launches you should also partner with other big sites in your niche to bring you traffic, and so you can let a lot of people know about it at once.

This model comes from http://teachingsells.com. He also owns http://copyblogger.com which has over 100k subscribers, but he also partnered with others, and in the 2 launch days they managed to make $800,000. They have a in-depth course on how to make membership sites, but it's pretty expensive. It was $1600 lifetime membership fee then. However, they also have a forum where all those members can partner up for other projects and so on.

So you could go this route, too - charging a pretty high fee if you're content is very good, but it will be very hard to grow it from the ground up if you don't partner with some big sites.

As for the e-book idea, you might have a chance to make a lot of money if you make it a Kindle e-book and sell it for $0.99 or $1.99, which is the limit for impulse buy. If you're market is not that big, it might not be wise to price it so low. Either way, I think it's best to partner with some sites that can let a lot of people know about it at once.

If it's really good content, and it's good for their readers, and they also stand to make some money from it, I don't see why it wouldn't work. It's probably best to coordinate this so you have a "launch day" where everyone writes about it in the same day or so. If you can make your e-book sell a lot at once, you might get picked up into Amazon's best sellers, and then you'll get even higher volume. Again, one of the ways you can manage that is by making the e-book very cheap so it sells in bigger volume.

I would prefer the membership route because it has bigger potential for growth in the long term and more "stickiness". But it's probably not a bad idea to start off with an e-book, become a "renowned" author, and then get some of your readers to join your new membership site.

[EdgarF]

Thanks a lot

[LocalPCGuy]

You might consider a "micro-continuity" style website. The user pays like a membership site, but it is a fixed number of payments, and they get new content fed out in increments as they pay. So if you can split your content into 6 modules for instance, you could see it for 6 equal payments over 6 weeks, or something along those lines.

Pro -> Less up front commitment than a membership site (assuming recurring billing as long as you are a member), gives you reason to contact users over and over again for the duration of the mini-course, potentially creating opportunities for subtle upsells.

Con -> Cap on earnings, potential for users to cancel before the course completes to try to get whatever guarantee is offered, users have to follow the pace you set, also a little harder technically to setup.

Your call, just wanted to give you another option. As to the choices listed, ebook prices seem to be watered down. If you are very good at writing sales copy, an ebook may still be worth doing, but IMO, if priced right a membership site should give you a better return.

[LocalPCGuy]

Oops, forgot the other main pro -> no need to update content unless you are updating to keep it current as users don't expect anything more than the content you sell, where-as with a membership site users generally expect continual updates.

[james_fairhurst]

I would personally go the ebook route, getting people to sign up for a recurring membership to a site that may or may not be frequently updated would probably be the biggest hurdle.

A one-off payment for something they can download and keep is much more appealing imho.

Regarding the piracy issue, try ways of dynamically creating a PDF that will embed the users name & address in the footer of each page. Seen it done before and can act as a deterrent.

[EdgarF]

Thank u very much