Ebooks Suck: Why Offering An Ebook Is A BAD Idea

by John McIntyre

Ebooks Suck Ebooks suck.

Offering an ebook to prospects who subscribe to your list is a BAD idea.

Want proof?

When was the last time you read a PDF ebook from front to back?

If you’re like most people (including myself), it’s been a while. In fact, I’d hazard a guess that most people have NEVER read an ebook on their computer from cover to cover.

In a moment, I’ll tell you what you should do instead. First, let’s explore this issue of ebooks a little more.

What do most people do when they download an ebook?

Most people scan ebooks. They download ’em then flick through them, the same way you’re probably flicking through this blog post.

You see, in 2013 (and beyond), we are overloaded with information. Along with traditional forms of media, we have the internet… an information behemoth. With the click of a button and a speedy internet connection, we have access to more information than the President of the United States did just 25 years ago.

Do you grasp ourĀ insane that is?

“We have access to more information than the President of the United States did just 25 years ago.”

With so much information, we’ve developed our scanning ability to the point of perfection.

When we’re surfing the web, we scan everything.

We look for information that helps us personally. There’s no way we’re going to read an ebook if 90% of the information isn’t immediately relevant.

But if that’s the case,

Why Do Website Owners Everywhere
Create Ebooks To Give Their Prospects?

Because they’re mindless drones, that’s why.

Giving someone an ebook online is the equivalent of sending someone a free report via mail. That’s what direct mail marketers do. They make someone call a free recorded message and leave their details. Then they send them a fancy looking free report that moves them along the sales funnel and encourages them to buy.

But when you’re working offline, you’re sending a physical book.

That’s a lot more compelling than an ebook.

You can hold it. You can flick through it. You can highlight it and write all over it. It even has a serious “wow factor”, since people don’t get much mail nowadays.

Anyhow, most people offer ebooks to their visitors because that’s what the gurus tell them to do.

Like I said… DRONES.

It’s BAD Advice

Real bad.

No one has time for ebooks.

Ebooks are work.

I already have too much work to do and too many things to read.

I don’t want to read your shitty ebook.

Giving someone an ebook is like giving someone an entire cow to eat. Who the hell eats a cow? No one. A cow is too big to eat or digest. Imagine trying to eat a whole cow. Ugh.

Ebooks are the equivalent of virtual cows. They are too bit to eat or digest. They take way too much time to get through.

Ebooks Overwhelm People

No one wants MORE work.

70 pages is MORE work.

You’re making me spend effort to enjoy the benefits of your report. In marketing, that’s a bad idea. When you offer an ebook, you are adding a HUGE amount of friction to the buying process. By adding friction, you slow the rate at which someone moves down your sales funnel (or potentially send ’em back the way they came).

Are you getting it yet?

Because this is important.

If you grasp this simple idea, you’ll see your business grow by at least 25% in the next 90 days.

So what’s the solution?

Autoresponders: The New Ebooks

Autoresponders are the new ebooks.

They are the new bait for your fish.

An email autoresponders sends emails to your subscribers automatically. You use software like Aweber or Office Autopilot to queue up the emails.

Why do autoresponders work?

They split the ebook into digestible chunks.

If an ebook is a cow, an autoresponder is a steak.

An autoresponder is information split into portions that your prospects can eat and digest within a reasonable timeframe. Instead of reading a freakin’ book on their computer, all they gotta do is read a short email.

That, my friend, is magic.

Here’s what I mean:

Autoresponders Make It Easy For
Prospects To EXPERIENCE Your Value

When people experience your value, they BUY from you. Don’t make it hard for them to experience your value.

Since most people don’t read ebooks, most ebooks are wasted. There might be 10 chapters, but if your prospects are only reading 1 chapter, you just wasted your time writing 9 chapters.

That’s where an email autoresponder comes in.

With an autoresponder, you take each chapter and make it an email.

Instead of forcing people to search for the nuggets, you make it easy for them to find the nuggets. You break things down in your emails. You make it simple.

You’re doing the hard work for your prospects. An autoresponder sequence takes the pressure off the prospect to consume your content. Reading a 70-page ebook or working your way through 50 podcasts is a royal pain in the ass.

But Reading A Short, Interesting Email
Every Few Days Is… Well, EASY

So forget about ebooks. They’re DONE.

Unless the best way to present your information is in an ebook, don’t do it. You’ll be wasting your time AND your prospects time.

Instead, write an autoresponder.

. . .

(Image: Stuck in Customs)

5 thoughts on “Ebooks Suck: Why Offering An Ebook Is A BAD Idea”

  1. So: If ebooks are so horrid and (Oh No!) A WHOLE 70 WHOPPING PAGES is too much for you to comprehend, than I pity you. I also pity your parents as they have to deal with you as their useless progeny. 70 pages in pdf vs. 70 pages IRL. What is the difference? One takes a lot of scrolling; the other takes a lot of flipping.

    FYI , reading this as a whole, I laughed. It was so hollow and completely devoid of any information whatsoever, nothing you said could be taken seriously. To put your article into short terms, let me paraphrase it:

    Ebooks are bad.
    [Insert cuss words here]
    And therefore eBooks are bad.
    So lets use auto email senders that will end up in everybody’s “Spam” Folder.

    This is an insult to my intelligence, and I shall therefore stop reading this as so I don’t end up suffocating myself because of my lung’s incapability to hold air in between my laughter.

    Reply
  2. Cool post John. I was a bit confused at the beginning as I often am enticed to sign up for emails to receive an ebook…but after skimming the rest of the article I found myself agreeing with how relevant a string of emails can be due to the time saving factor.

    Do you work in any direct mail marketing (currently or past) to build your online skills?

    Reply
    • Thanks Conrad!

      Yeah, I’m a copywriting and marketing consultant. I write sales letters and autoresponders for various clients. Other than that though, no formal experience (ie. never worked for a company doing what I do now). I read advertising books and learned to write copy by writing out sales letters by hand.

      Reply

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