Why My Ebook Never Sold A Copy!

by Deneil Merritt on September 24, 2009

You read the title right, my ebook never sold one copy. Today I want to talk about my biggest mistake selling my ebook that teaches you how to start a mailing list and grow your mailing list. Some of you wanted the ebook but didn’t want to pay for it. I can respect that, not really. It takes money to make money! It’s not your fault that you didn’t buy. Let’s face it, the sales copy sucked on the sales page. I really didn’t think to learn how to write good copy.

But this isn’t my biggest mistake. Many of my readers want to know how many subscribers I have or how many subscribers I have on my mailing list. Well the truth be told I already said I was going to post my subscriber count at the 6 months mark. So I placed the feedburner count image at the bottom of the blog. If you really wanted to know you will be down there. As for my mailing list count. I am keeping my word. You will know at the 6 months mark.

But once again, this wasn’t my biggest mistake. I didn’t create any buzz about my ebook being released. I did free promotion and I bought an ad on a high traffic blog. Still nothing came from it. Why? That isn’t a buzz. A good launch is having many people talking about it.

But still this wasn’t my biggest mistake. The price was too low. At $9.95 it was damn near free. For the niche its in, that mean people looked at it as low or no value. I could have tried to up the price. But what good would that do with such bad sales copy.

Since the ebook was a complete failure. I now have learned all the mistakes I made launching my first ebook. I also learned a lot more about building a mailing list.  I am very happy that the ebook was a complete failure. I bet right about now you wondering why. First let me say always learn from your mistakes.

Because of my mistakes. I came across a script better than the 7 dollar secrets, and they have a lot of add-ons, and now I am on the right track to launch my first membership site. It will be months before it launches but I am sure it will be done right. :)

{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }

Greg Ellison September 24, 2009 at 6:26 am

Always learn from your mistakes that good that you did. Keep at it and it start to work for you. Greg Ellison

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Doug Dillard September 24, 2009 at 7:50 pm

I am a little surprised you didn’t sell one copy… but as long as you learned a lesson… that is a good thing! What is the new script you found that is better than 7 Dollar Secrets? I would really like to check it out!

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Deneil Merritt September 25, 2009 at 1:54 am

Rapid Action Profits takes the old 7 dollar secrets script to a whole new level.

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George Serradinho September 25, 2009 at 2:14 am

Wow, not even one sold. That makes me wonder why not? Many people would jump at it at the low price, but they did not.

Happy to hear you learned from it and will be improving your strategy, good luck second time around :)

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Lee Ka Hoong September 25, 2009 at 4:16 am

Deneil, it doesn’t matter if you didn’t make a sale as long as you learned the lesson and you can do it better on the next one. I’m going to launch my new ebook and I do hope to learn something from you too. :)

Regarding the buzz that you mentioned above, do you have any idea on how to do that to get many people talk about it?

Regards,
Lee

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Mitch September 25, 2009 at 5:59 pm

I have to say you’ve handled it a little better than I did, Deneil, and I at least made a couple of sales of my ebook.

Still, I’m with you on creating a buzz, because I certainly didn’t do that, though I gave it a try. My blog was too new for me to create a buzz when I wrote my book, and now it’s been seen by so many people I think it’s too late to create that buzz.

Good for you on learning new lessons; I hope you have great success with your next missive.

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Deneil Merritt September 25, 2009 at 7:25 pm

Thanks for the luck.

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Deneil Merritt September 25, 2009 at 7:29 pm

Yeah, a few ways would be to do a contest and giveaway 5 or 10 copies and then put it up for sale. Another way is to buy a lot of cheap blog posts on as many “blogging & make money online” blogs as you can find.

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Deneil Merritt September 25, 2009 at 7:32 pm

Your blog isn’t too new to create buzz. You just have to work harder at it. The one of the biggest mistakes I did with my ebook that I forgot to put in this post is not getting more and more affiliates to promote it. That is one thing you need to do everyday, keep getting affiliates.

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Liane YoungBlogger September 26, 2009 at 3:09 am

Now that you posted this, your learning experience would be our learning experience too. A month or so ago, I’m all out for launching my blogging tips ebook. But I backed out last minute since I was afraid I still need to learn a lot of things on salespage set-up and marketing the ebook itself.

Let’s hope we get it right someday ;)

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Kelwyn Suite September 26, 2009 at 5:01 am

Very interesting ideas. As someone working on creating ebooks also, I’m sure to learn from your ideas. It’s also a great idea for us to visit each other’s blogs and leave encouraging posts.

We will all grow from strength to strength.

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Deneil Merritt September 26, 2009 at 5:56 am

Yeah, I have learn all the things I did wrong. I am working on doing everything right for the new product launch coming in a few months.

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Deneil Merritt September 26, 2009 at 6:01 am

Yeah, I will make sure everyone learn from my mistakes. This is how we all grow.

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Jay - DatMoney.com September 28, 2009 at 12:07 am

It’s funny that I’m reading this now especially how you mentioned your sales letter sucked and I just wrote a “how to write a sales letter” and had a pro sales writer give his advice for my readers in the comments.

But you definitely have to create a lot of buzz with your eBook. I know it was cheap, but you should consider giving it out to blogs for free in exchange for a simple review of the eBook. I’m sure there are a lot of blogs that are willing to do that… maybe not the bigger blogs.

I had another thought I wanted to say but I forgot it… lol… anyways, let me know if you need some help man.

Jay

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Bill Vlasak September 28, 2009 at 9:57 pm

I started a new thread in the forum I am involved in at http://www.honestworkfromhomesuccess.com/forum/affiliate-marketing/6784-why-my-ebook-never-sold-copy.html#post34217 with regards to this post,because I found it quite interesting.Hopefully our membership sees it and comments on it.New threads are frequently mailed to members.We wwill see.Good luck with your future membership site.

PS: Your ad is near the center top of my blog.

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Gary Parenti September 28, 2009 at 9:59 pm

Hello Again Deneil,

Just received your Email on this Post.
I decided to drop by and say hey..I may
have the same problem with my E Book.
Except mine is Free.. I seem to have trouble
getting visitors to even drop by my Blog..

I have decided to give something away that
is Tangible..Like a hat with your Twitter
name on it with the Twitter Bird.. maybe
your Blog name on the hat also..This will
be a contest..wmr.com is new..

To Everyones Success,
Gary,

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Deneil Merritt September 28, 2009 at 11:32 pm

Thank you, doesn’t matter if they post a comment or not. As long as they learned from my mistakes I am happy. Thank you for your kind words.

Thank you, I hope you make some sales. So I can send you some money. :)

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Deneil Merritt September 28, 2009 at 11:38 pm

Before giving out hats, create a little buzz about your free ebook. Also how are you presenting your ebook to your readers?

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Gary Parenti September 29, 2009 at 12:41 am

Back Again,

Have you ever visited my Blog Deneil.?
What readers are you speaking of.?
I am a New Blogger & really have no traffic
to speak of yet..I figured with a Free Twitter
Hat Contest , i Could draw in some Traffic
from Twitter & sokule.com .

Peace/Pyradom

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Huddson Lee September 29, 2009 at 1:42 am

Hi Deneil,

You could turn your ebook into a freebie and build a mailing list with that instead. All is not lost…..you can still build a mailing list with that and looking to make affiliate sales off the list later.

Hope that helps, Huddson

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Deneil Merritt September 29, 2009 at 2:37 am

Yes, I’ve been to your blog and didn’t notice any ebook. I did notice your sign up form for your newsletter on the right. You should present your ebook right above that. Also try asking for less. Just name and email will do.

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Deneil Merritt September 29, 2009 at 2:39 am

Yes, I have done this 2 days ago. I have written an ebook to teach and present that the fact my membership site is coming soon with a lot more information to learn. For better than trying to get affiliate sales.

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Internet Enterepreneur October 2, 2009 at 2:16 pm

Well, when you write your free eBook, make sure you use it to your benefit. Have people sign up for your RSS Feeds through e-mail to obtain that copy.

Hey, just hit me up on instant messenger or something, it’ll be easier to chat on that.

Jay

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Deneil Merritt October 3, 2009 at 5:12 am

lol, having people sign up through RSS feed via email is a waste of time creating the ebook. I have aweber, I use it to build a mailing list. If I ever sell the site offering the ebook. I can still have a nice size mailing list.

Jay, I don’t have your instant messenger id.

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Deneil Merritt September 28, 2009 at 11:30 pm

lol, I will take a look at that post. I have to really better my skills as a copywriter.

Yeah, I agree. Creating a buzz is a must. Now I wrote a simple 14 page report to giveaway free until I complete my membership site. The report covers 2 methods about growing a mailing list. The membership site will have a lot more methods. I got a few ideas I am going to put to use once the membership site is ready.

lol, Jay I will take you up on that offer for sure. My copywriting skills at the moment are not up to par.

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