In yesterday’s post, I divulged that I’d started spending money to make money online. Maybe not a novelty for some, but I laid out my rationale.
If you’re a small-time marketer like me who doesn’t work with a big budget, this three-part series explains how you can tell when it’s time to start spending money to make money online.
The #2 Guideline to Consider Before Spending Money to Make Money Online
That being said, the second guideline I used which highlighted to me that I was ready to start spending money to promote my ebooks was that I was ready to make more money. Specifically, more passive income.
You may be shaking your head thinking, “Yeah, I’m ready to make more money. Who isn’t?” Well, let me explain how this came about.
Goal: Make a FT Living by Writing and Promoting a Line of Self-Published Ebooks
When I first starting writing and publishing my ebooks, I never thought of it as a way to make a full-time living. I thought of my ebook sales as a supplement to my freelance writing income.
When sales became more predictable and steady, I thought to myself, “Hmmmm, if I invested more in marketing my ebooks, I could make a nice living from the line and not have to write for clients anymore.”
Side note: As a self-employed person, I’m always thinking about retirement and passive income. With no company pension to rely on — and social security (I’m a U.S. citizen) being a big if — creating passive income is one way to be comfortable in retirement.
When Free Marketing Methods Just Aren’t Enough
And, that’s when it hit me – the idea that I’d have to spend some money to make more money (sell more ebooks). You see, I feel like I’ve hit a bit of a plateau with free marketing methods. Allow me to elabortae a little on this.
I primarily use article marketing to get the word out about my ebooks. Now ostensibly, I could up the ante with this. For example, instead of writing and distributing 3-5 articles to 5-6 article directories a week, I could double or triple these efforts. But, it’s not feasible with my freelance writing workload.
If all I had to do was promote my own products and not take on client projects, I may be more inclined to do more free marketing. But since I can’t, it’s more expedient for me to pay to get the word out.
Luckily, there are various inexpensive outlets in my niche (freelance writing) that allow me to do this.
Tomorrow, I’ll give you the final piece of the puzzle as I wrap up this series.
I guess a big part of it is 'time' and 'money' management. The more you do freelance writing, the less time you have to promote your ebooks using free methods. However, you can use the money you are being paid to promote your books.
Do you sell all of your e-books on the one sales page/website or do you sell them through a variety of mediums?
Kevin: I sell my ebooks via a variety of mediums — ie, my website (InkwellEditorial.com), Lulu, e-Junkie and another freestanding site I created, FreelanceWritingWebsite.com. I'm also going to sign up to Clickbank soon.
I avoided this for years b/c of the $50 sign-up fee, the need to create a separate site and the junk products they carry. But, in all the research I've done, it's just too large of a well-known market to ignore, so I'm ready to take the plunge here.
I've had the most success with e-Junkie.
Thank you for all the great information.
That is really good information! glad that I found your site. Thanks a lot.
why not found this website from Google Germany with teh most informative and usefull Content.hope wrote mor usefull articles on Internet will come back again
I like your idea about retirement. That would be quite a nice way to wind down after years of rushing around in the rat race! Thanks for the post.
This blog Is very informative , I am really pleased to post my comment on this blog . It helped me with ocean of knowledge so I really belive you will do much better in the future . Good job web master .