How Price Sensitive Are People For Books?

Lauri B

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Hi Steven,
I think that the reason the jewelry network works is that it's such a specialized niche--sure, it's expensive, but anyone who is anyone in the jewelry biz knows that's the place to go. My understanding of your plan is that you are offering entrepreneur advice for anyone, not targeting your market only to jewelers. That means that the advice and information you will give has to be more broad and general, which also means that while it should appeal to more readers, the information won't be so incredibly useful to one particular market segment that they'd pay extra for it. So I think that's why so many of us are slightly wary of the website numbers you are projecting. I know publishing much better than I do web statistics; I think you have an unrealistic idea about what people are willing to spend for advice, especially from someone who isn't necessarily well known in their particular field. It's very difficult to sell any book that is written by a complete unknown if the book is only available on someone's personal web site, unless that site, like your Polygon example, is THE online community for an industry that shares a particular and very specific interest. Good luck with your project--please keep us posted. I would be thrilled to hear "I told you so," since so many people around here would love to hear self publishing success stories. Take care!
 

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I would be thrilled to hear "I told you so," since so many people around here would love to hear self publishing success stories.

I second that -- this is a very hard nut to crack, so success stories really do encourage others to keep on keepin' on. :D
 

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Nomad said:
Hi Steven,
I think you have an unrealistic idea about what people are willing to spend for advice, especially from someone who isn't necessarily well known in their particular field. It's very difficult to sell any book that is written by a complete unknown if the book is only available on someone's personal web site, unless that site, like your Polygon example, is THE online community for an industry that shares a particular and very specific interest. Good luck with your project--please keep us posted. I would be thrilled to hear "I told you so," since so many people around here would love to hear self publishing success stories. Take care!

Point taken but you only get to be known by putting yourself out there to be known. So this is the first step on my thousand mile journey. (well, maybe the 100th step considering a little went into my becoming an unknown expert in the first place) The whole idea did not start from a book but rather I applied to be the Guide to Retailing for About.com. I did not get chosen but I did end up with a bunch of unique articles and an awakening of the writer in me.

The whole About.com business model is based on Search Engine Optimization of unique expert content and serving out ads on the pages. So this is my original business model also. Of course it will take me much longer (6 to 9 months longer) to get the search engine recognition of About.com but I am patient and like the process of planning and implementation. It is like planting seeds and harvesting later. So there is nothing remarkable about the content/ad revenue business model.

Since I am writing these articles anyways, reformatting them into a book seems like an efficient use of a current asset, the content. I get an entirely new (potential) revenue source from the work I have already done. I am not there yet but again this is another seed. What I like about this is the relatively low upfront cost of production and the ability to match marginal cost (POD) with sales. This also leverages the traffic I already (will) generate through my SEO efforts on the content/ad revenue business model. It is not an entirely new undertaking so the only risk is really the upfront production costs.

As far as the consulting, this is again a low investment leverage of the work I have already put in on the SEO content/ad revenue model. The cost of this bulletin board is only $90 so if no one signs up then there is little downside. If I was investing more into this project then my realistic expectations of the willingness of people to pay for consulting would be a bigger issue to me. I have no doubt that with my 20 years of running my own retail businesses and my new law degree that I will provide $50 worth of value to anyone in need of retail consulting.

So the seeds are planted and the only real ongoing marginal cost at this point is my time in writing the articles (planting additional seeds). I enjoy writing them and they will help get me to be a recognized expert in a year or two. If you look at the other "recognized experts" they are stingy with their website content. I have found only a few who are willing to give a little to get a little. Of course you can argue that if they operate that way and acheived expert status then maybe my way is wrong.

But I think they are the old school experts and there is an opportunity for new school experts to gain notoriety through the internet. I am not planning for this to be an immediate success where I can come back here in 6 months to say I told you so. It will take however long it takes. I will be a lawyer and take clients as I get them and I will also continue to operate my online bathroom fixture import business at www.bathgems.com which supports me already.

Steve
 

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Steven Pollack said:
Selling Information Available Elsewhere for Free

Isn't this what books are? Charging money for aggregating available material is a useful way? So why all the doubting Thomases over the website? Would I pay to join this site? Maybe, if I believed I could get valuable answers to specific questions. The fee to join would probably force me to sharpen my questions before paying. And I am not charging $200 per year but rather $50 per quarter so anyone needing specific issues analyzed would not need to pay any more than a quarter.

No one invents anything new. All the information anyone needs is available for free on the billions of web pages out there. Part of the value of being an expert on an issue is not knowing information no one else knows but rather the ability to sift through the information to know the good from the bad.

Absolutely! There's little new under the sun. Most of what all of us non-fiction types write is recycled information. Even fiction is recycled to a certain extent. What buyers want is information distilled to their taste and comprehension level at a price they are willing to pay.

But the top sellers add something special to the mix. Freakonomics is, for instance, a rehash of a massive statistical regression. Anyone could have done what the authors did if they had access to the raw data, training in how to manipulate it, a talent for seeing what is hidden in the patterns, and a terrific writing style. What was added was a rare level of insight. Economics books are generally not something the average reader wants to curl up in bed with. To hit the best seller lists and stay there, the authors had to offer something new. That's your job. You need to add something new that no one else has been able to bring to the table before--not all new data; just a new way of looking at the same old stuff.

Will People Pay for Consulting?

People look to have experienced people look over their ideas all the time. Whether it is an accountant, lawyer(and not just for specific legal issues), business coach, ad agency, and mentors. Whether this particular model will work remains to be seen but I have been self-employed since 1990 and I believe there is a need for micro-consulting. i.e., not a full blown consulting contract but rather small scale consulting on ongoing issues.

There is a network in the jewelry business called Polygon and it costs $1,200 per year to belong. The majority of the people belong just for the community, although there are tools for buying and selling. They have 3,500 members so the idea that people will not pay because there are free alternatives is just wrong.

Anyways, I am going to try it and the proof will be if it works or not.

Steven

You are right on the money here. People will pay for good advice if the advice will result in some sort of increase in profit for them. That's what you have to look at. In high-end endeavors with large profit margins (like jewelry), it might be worth spending big bucks for advice that will somehow benefit your bottom line, whatever angle you may be taking on the business. I belong to several paid-subscription online sites and associations. I use them when I need them and drop them when they are no longer of use. My willingness to pay the price is calculated. I won't pay more than the tax deduction is worth.
 

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Well I was not expecting this digression into business models, although I have enjoyed the discussion. It has helped me to sharpen my thinking. I used this board as a consultant and have found that I need to focus more on promotion of my expert status. I would certainly have paid a nominal $fee to have an expert analyze my offering in a new field. You chose to give it fo free, thanks!

I was looking at a law school primer I bought several years ago and it is 220 pages at 6x9. This seems like a good size. I did a word count and it seems to have 350 to 450 words per page. The layout is certainly not cramped as there are ample margins and line spacing.

At 80,000 words it seems like I would really need to strip down what I write for the book compared to what I plan for the website. I have about 14 chapters planned so that gives me room for (6) 1,000-word articles per chapter. Should I consider a larger format textbook style offering instead? What are the implications of that? Different buyers? A less competitive field?
My theme and sub-title is Keep It Small and Keep It All: Actionable Advice for Today's Independent Retailer.

Thanks,

Steve
 

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Schoolmarm said:
You are right on the money here. People will pay for good advice if the advice will result in some sort of increase in profit for them. That's what you have to look at. In high-end endeavors with large profit margins (like jewelry), it might be worth spending big bucks for advice that will somehow benefit your bottom line, whatever angle you may be taking on the business.

The jewelry business is not as high margin as people assume. 60% of a typical jewelry retailer's business is diamonds with a heavy emphasis on engagement rings. Center diamonds, however, can be easily purchased for 10% to 20% over wholesale. A jeweler with no prior investment in that stone gets in what you request via fed-ex. Get in a one carat E SI1 for $4,000 and flip it for $5,000. Jewelers do it every day. It is not the margin that is higher but the gross value. I sell really nice $800 bathroom vanities from China with a much higher profit margin.

The point in the Polygon example is not so much that jewelers can afford more business consulting luxuries than other retailers but rather that the ability to charge takes a willingness to say you value your product and will charge. I cannot tell you how many wannabe networks sprouted up that were "just like Polygon but cheaper". Many were free with the theory to build a critical mass and then start charging. They ended up with all Polygon's disgruntled ex-members and never did start charging.

My theory is that the $1,200, like a high cover charge at a fancy bar, weeds out the crowd and attracts a more exclusive minded set. Of course then the network starts to become more valuable just by the fact that only these exclusive businesses belong. What I saw Polygon do differently was two things. They charged a high amount right from the beginning and they spent a consistent portion on trade press marketing.

In fact, every successful business I know of has the common denominator of being an advertising leader. Advertising takes money and guts. Most businesses don't have the guts to start spending $2,000 to $4,000 per month in marketing because the payoff often comes later than the expenditure by 3 to 9 months. But those that stick it out become the mindshare leaders, and if the rest of their business is run properly, they are the ones who capture 50% of the market leaving the other half for all the non-advertisers to fight over.

So I plan to charge and I plan to advertisse.

Steve
 

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Sorry if I wasn't clear. I didn't say jewelry was high mark-up; I said "high-end". In my farmer role, there's nothing I can put $5000 into today with even a reasonably sure return of $1000 profit tomorrow. Not gonna happen. A jeweler's bottom line is immense compared to a farmer's or a craftsman's or most other small businesses's. So is his investment. That, in my book, makes it high-end.

In my investor role, however, I know the value of a decisive investment strategy and the profit to be found in patience and diligence. That's a different mindset and a far different bottom line. That's the point I was making. The value of anything is always in the mind of the buyer and firmly attached to its profitability in whatever arena the buyer most cherishes.

I'm sure you'll find plenty of willing customers out there. My father became a consultant for several years after he retired from corporate. He quit because he was making too much money with almost no overhead, and the taxes were eating it up. This was 1981, and he was getting $2500/day at a time when I was making $7000/year as a public school teacher. Not bad. I wouldn't mind being in that position. If you know what you're talking about, and you can offer something vital that is difficult to get elsewhere, you will be a success.

Keep us posted. I'll be interested to hear how your plan unfolds. Inquiring minds want to know . . . ;)
 

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Steven Pollack said:
Maybe I am missing something but what are we talking about besides an editor, cover, and pre-press? I was thinking this would be in the range of $800 to $1,200. I am not a starving artist, if the book makes sense I can cover this.

$30 copyright registration
ISBN @ $250/10 (I think)
Artist fees might run higher than you're expecting. Unless you already have a quote, I'd expect at least $1,000 for that
Probabably $300 to $500 for that editor
Are you doing the graphic design yourself or contracting that out?

I recommend that you go get a bunch of retail books and write down their details: page count, paper weight, size, cover, YTD Ingram sales, etc. and do your SWOT analysis. Or have you done all this already?
 

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LloydBrown said:
$30 copyright registration
ISBN @ $250/10 (I think)
Artist fees might run higher than you're expecting. Unless you already have a quote, I'd expect at least $1,000 for that
Probabably $300 to $500 for that editor
Are you doing the graphic design yourself or contracting that out?

I recommend that you go get a bunch of retail books and write down their details: page count, paper weight, size, cover, YTD Ingram sales, etc. and do your SWOT analysis. Or have you done all this already?

I was planning to go to www.designoutpost.com to have the cover done. THis is a unique situation where professonal graphic artists compete for your project. I have had my logo, several business cards, and a retail box design done there. Because of the competition, it costs MUCH less than going direct to a single artist or design house. I bet the entire cover runs $300. I have gone to IStockPhoto.com and picked out several images for possible inclusion. Here are several projects I have had completed. You may need to register to see them but it is worth it.

http://www.designoutpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9748&highlight=bath

http://www.designoutpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8683&highlight=bath

http://www.designoutpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7370&highlight=bath

http://www.designoutpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6867&highlight=bath

I have not done a SWOT analysis. I need to go look up what that means.

Steve
 

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Steven Pollack said:
I have not done a SWOT analysis. I need to go look up what that means.

Strength, weakness, opportunity, threat. As a long-time retailer, I assumed you knew that term. My mistake. It's a side-by-side comparison of your business (or in this case, your product) and the competition.

Contrary to what other people are telling you, it's okay to be the leader in terms of price--if that fits in with your marketing plan. However, unless you

a) are nationally recognized in your field
b) are a celebrity
c) have access to some exclusive information
or
d) add some other value--like a free subscription to your website, or a CD-ROM (with searchable PDF version of the book, plus spreadsheets or other content).

then you have no business having the most expensive product.

Self-Counsel Press produces Start & Run a Retail Business, with said bonus CD-ROM, 200 pages, 8 1/2 x 11", with an outstanding Amazon rank, is only $16.95. As part of your SWOT, what do you offer that they don't? Let's say I pull up Start & Run a Retail Business on Amazon.com and I see that your book comes up in the same category. What are you offering to make a reader click away from that book to yours?
 

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LloydBrown said:
I have a special interest, btw. I'm writing a retail book of my own. Right now, actually.

I showed you mine. Whats your angle?

I want to wrap my entire book within a defining princliple that the reader can adopt. My business book "hero" is the e-myth. It has a sound actionable principle, to work on your business instead of in your business.

I was not planning to be available on Amazon. From what I read here they demand very high discounts.

Steve
 

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Steven Pollack said:
I showed you mine. Whats your angle?

Mine's specific to one industry. It doesn't compete directly with anything on the market. No, really. No other published book has this information. Unfortunately, I think that also shrinks the market too narrow to interest any mainstream publisher.

I want to wrap my entire book within a defining princliple that the reader can adopt.
Not to be belligerent, but that's pretty vague.

My business book "hero" is the e-myth. It has a sound actionable principle, to work on your business instead of in your business.

That sounds like Michael Gerber's books. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0887307280/qid=1143560438/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-5682611-2463134?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060723181/qid=1143560438/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/104-5682611-2463134?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0887309593/qid=1143560438/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/104-5682611-2463134?s=books&v=glance&n=283155
 

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I was referring to the philosophy of Keep It Small and Keep It All being the defining principle. All the advice will be from the perspective of someone who wants to remain small and how to work smart enough to profit from that type of business.

I was just thinking, I am actually very well known in the jewelry business and have written a substantial number of articles for the trade press between 1999 and 2002. The topics ranged from economic and news analysis for the trade, to using CAD/CAM in jewelry manufacturing. I could start submitting my retail articles there and I bet they would publish them.

Does it make sense to change the focus of the book towards independent retail jewelers (35,000) or is this just asking to have my book be too limited? The thing is that you all are telling me it enhances book sales to be widely viewed as an expert but the flip side is that the broader the market I shoot for the more dilluted my expert status becomes.

Steve
 
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Great news. I contacted a friend at The Guide, a publisher of gem pricing research for the jewelry trade. I used to write articles for their semi-monthly newsletter and he wants to run my articles. It is not exactly geared to retailers as its focus is more to appraisers but I get visibility and traffic to my website. The exciting thing is they have acted as publishers for several industry books and he said they would probably be willing to edit and publish my book. That could get me into several industry bookstores.

He also hooked me up with the publisher of Jewelers Circular Keystone and they may be willing to run a series of my articles as well. THis is a 50,000 circulation magazine to the trade. And they pay!

I would appreciate any advice about if this is a big enough potential market to justify making my book specific to the jewelry trade or if I should still shoot for the larger general retail pie?

Thanks,

Steve
 

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Now that's a plan I can embrace! Sometimes a little advance work will pay off handsomely. I think you're making a huge step in the right direction.

It's just my humble opinion, but as a buyer of many of the type of book you're describing, I can say with some assurance that if it's popular in the smaller jewelry trade, it may make the leap easily into the open market. Look at all the books on corporate leadership that became popular as general guides to life success. I would say that if marketing to a much larger audience is going to be significantly more expensive with only a modicum of hope of matching sales, you might want to think about targeting the group you know will buy the book and working after the fact to cross over to other markets. If the book is successful with its target audience, that could be a good jumping-off point for further marketing strategies.

You said you're not interested in selling through Amazon and BN online, so your book will be on the shelves of book stores and available from you? Will you be able to use the publications you're now writing for to launch the book to the jewelry trade?
 

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Yes, that is great news!


Really, I just wanted to poke my head in here and thank Steven for starting this thread. It's become an excellent resource for others to look back on and learn from. Please continue to add as your project develops -- it really will be beneficial for others to see your process and the various steps you go through to achieve your goal. :D
 

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Schoolmarm said:
You said you're not interested in selling through Amazon and BN online, so your book will be on the shelves of book stores and available from you? Will you be able to use the publications you're now writing for to launch the book to the jewelry trade?

I will get a byline of my making with each article I write so I will definitely include "Steven Pollack, J.D. author, Retail Gems, Keeping It Small And Keeping It All" (or whatever the title ends up being) and a link to my website.

From the website I will point the visitor to the order form, whether it be Paypal and self-fulfillment, POD, or some other method of payment/fulfillment. The bookstores would be through GIA, jewelry tool company catalogs and websites, and The Guide website.

I am still unclear from your advice whether I should rewrite the generic articles to make the book specific to jewelry retailer's needs and rewrite it to a general retailing audience later if it takes off in the jewelry trade; or if you are saying to write the generic retailing book but do as I am saying and market it to the jewelry trade, and if it takes off then widen my marketing to larger markets?

Thanks,

Steve
 

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I didn't mean to imply I thought you should rewrite the book later for a larger audience. I was suggesting that if you aim at the jewelry trade--make the book very specific to that arena--but incorporate "take-away" ideas that apply across the business board, your book will cross over on its own merit with only a little additional advertising from you when you notice that happening. I realize that you're aiming to basically collect your articles in a book. That's what I did, and it was fun, easy, and productive.

But if I had it to do over (as I do now with the third book on the same subject--no single-trial learning here :rolleyes: ), I'd add bulletted, boxed, side-bar comments, lists of helpful hints, illustrations . . . things that would make the book appeal to a more general audience who might see the applicability of the theory to their own situations. If you construct the book in a way that makes it directly appealing to jewelers but including enough basic theory, easily identified and written in a succinct, cogent way, the jewelers may find themselves recommending the book to fellow business owners in other types of retail or wholesale markets.
 

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I am leaning towards a larger format book, like 7 x 10 or 8 1/2 x 11 with a coil binding. (I know, I read the same thing about the coils harming other books on the shelf. ) But these are not slated to go on shelves and some of my favorite books are bound with coils. I think it adds to the sense of the book being a workbook.

The larger size works better, in my view, because I will have graphs and charts in the text and I need the space for layout. Because of the graphics I am starting to lean away from POD.

Comments?

Steve
 

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I love coil-bound (and whatever the call those plastic bindings with the smooth edge and flat fingers) books! I have several for horse-training projects, and I find them immensely handy as I can just hang the book over the fence and see clearly--even from my back on the ground with the horse standing on me--what I'm supposed to be doing. Those books are printed "landscape" format.

Granted, one would hope that your buyers will not be hanging your book on a fence for the horses to peruse, but the ones on my desk at school are also well-loved and much easier to use than those with standard glued bindings. And coil bindings don't break and release the pages into the wild.

In fact (since you asked), my all-time favorite manual format is loose-leaf. I have several curricula, supplemental materials, and manuals that are loose-leaf bound, making it easy for me to pull a page, slip it into a clear vinyl carrier (which I can mark up with abandon), and have it handy on my desk until I'm ready to use it. I can also add pages with my handy three-hole punch when I come across additional information that I want to somehow connect to what's in the book.

I also like large format books better than those pesky little ones. I want all the goods on one page, not spread over several. And a large book that will lie flat when I open it is so much more useful than one I have to fringe with post-it arrows (like my copy of Writer's Market). Add tabs to one edge of the first page of each chapter, and I'll buy your book and love you forever. :Hail:

Sorry. Coil bindings make me lose control.
 
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aka eraser

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karunesh, all your posts are not-so-thinly disguised attempts at selling your services. If your publishing background is such that you can contribute pertinent, helpful information, you may continue to post at AW. If future posts resemble past ones however, you'll be shown the door.
 

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Project update:

I now have an accountability partner to keep me on track. My outline is complete and I am plugging in my previously written articles.
I have been thinking seriously about a 7 x 10 format with plastic coil binding. I have one quote so far for about $5 per book for 500 copies. I would consider going higher for a better discount except I think I should stay conservative on the initial order to see how fast they sell. Plus the overall investment of $2,500 on the printing seems like a good comfort zone for me.

I will do the fulfillment myself which fits with my current e-commerce business. I have a 2,000 sq/ft warehouse and ship bathroom products daily so I think I can work the order and shipping process easily into my current infrastructure.

Steven
 

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I had an idea and wanted to run it by you guys.

My intent at this point is to aggregate and supplement my online articles into a book. I had another idea though.

What if I were to print a foldover newsletter with a generic label like Chamber Notes and promote it as an envelope stuffer for chambers of commerce? Each one would contain one or two articles. I think I can get the price down to $.30 to $.50 each. Then I would market them to chambers of commerce for maybe $1 each.

Alternatively I could print a small "magazine" of these articles, maybe 16 to 24 pages. The price looks like about $.75 to $1.25 each for printing. I would sell these for $2 to $3 each, again to chambers as a member handout.

Or should I stick to the book format? I doubt, however, that the chanmbers would spring for the more expensive book for their membership. The benefit of the smaller formats is the saleability to membership organizations.

Do you have any pros and cons of these different scenarios?

Thanks,

Steve