I Stopped Selling Ebooks. Here’s What I’m Doing Instead to Monetize My Writing
Why smart writers are ditching digital products like ebooks.
Start thinking bigger than cheap ebooks.
Ebooks are the low-hanging fruit when it comes to monetizing your content.
They are easy to produce, and anyone can start writing one. It doesn’t take long to write one, either. However, the downside is that they are not perceived as worth more than a few bucks.
Making a living selling ebooks is challenging.
That’s why I stopped focusing on them and started to go all in on paid newsletters.
Here’s why paid newsletters can be a better opportunity than selling ebooks.
More for the reader
Ebooks are like a single-use tool.
They help solve one problem, and then they’re done. You don’t need them anymore. Newsletters, on the other hand, can keep delivering content week after week. This offers more value to the readers than a static ebook.
An ebook is like a message, while a newsletter is like an ongoing conversation. Over time, conversations are worth much more.
What’s more helpful — a single lesson or months of guidance? That’s what a newsletter can offer.
Substack took this to a different level by offering features like comments, chat, and direct messages. This makes a paid newsletter more than just sending and receiving weekly emails.
Paid newsletters beat ebook sales
Selling a $9 ebook is okay.
Most people monetize with a cheap ebook, but that’s a temporary solution. Monthly recurring income is much better.
Substack’s membership model makes this easier.
Instead of getting one-off sales, you can build a steady income stream that can grow each month.
I don’t recommend promoting the monthly plan, though. Focusing on the yearly sale will bring more money faster.
For example, I set the price of $12 for the monthly subscription and $50 for the yearly. Going for the yearly plan is much cheaper in the long run, and that’s what most of my paid subscribers chose.
Selling the yearly plan is easier when the newsletter issues pile up.
I never priced an ebook for more than $27. Even that felt a bit expensive, but with a newsletter, I feel like $50 is on the lower end. In time, it can be worth more than that.
Especially when you add:
workshops
direct messages
exclusive resources
The content grows over time, and your readers feel like they’re getting more for their money every single month.
An ebook is a sprint, a paid newsletter is a marathon
Writing an ebook feels like a burst of effort, and then you’re done.
A newsletter is a more relaxed approach to writing. What if, instead of rushing to finish writing an ebook, you focus on one chapter each week and turn that into newsletter content?
You can spend more time creating something worthwhile each week rather than sprinting to finish a whole ebook in a weekend.
I already see people doing this on Substack, releasing their ebook’s content as newsletter issues for paid subscribers.
The good part is that Substack lets you choose if you want the entire newsletter to be paid or paywall a specific post. This allows you to share newsletters for free and attract paid subscribers.
Going up the ladder
The paid membership is not the final destination.
If you’ve studied marketing, you know there’s a strategy called the pricing ladder. This means offering different levels of products or services, each with increasing value (and cost).
The paid newsletter can be the first step on the ladder.
If readers are willing to spend a few bucks a month for your content, they trust you. They like learning from you. After building trust, you can offer higher-tier products like coaching, online courses, or workshops.
I’ve seen that popular newsletters use the Founding Member plan to deliver high-end products to their readers. That’s the all-in membership, which is the most expensive and unlocks everything. But you can do this separately without Substack.
It’s important to know you’re not locked into having just a paid newsletter.
Final thoughts
You might want to rethink your strategy if you still rely on cheap ebooks but have a newsletter.
Turning it into a paid newsletter can be a flexible monetization method that can grow into something valuable over time.