Dear Reader:

E-books and other information products are rapidly increasing in popularity, and of course that popularity has lead to a surge in the number of products that are now available. If you want to make a profit with your e-book, you will need to set it apart from the rest.

When selling products acquired by purchasing resell rights, ethical e-book retailers will be limited to pricing set by the publisher. In that case your best bet at being competitive may be to increase the value of your offer by adding bonuses to sweeten the deal. "But wait... there's more!" may be a cliché we all laugh at on infomercials, but wait... it works!

If you're selling your own e-book you can set your own price, but if you don't want to pocket just pennies per sale you may want to add these bonuses to make a mid-level price more competitive. It's no secret that consumers like free things and the right bonuses may be what you need to add, to accomplish what you'd hoped to with your product!

To make the most of your bonus offer, you should choose that bonus wisely. Bonuses that may be popular with your customers include...

♦ free product samples

♦ segments of an upcoming book

♦ coupons or discount codes

♦ relevant materials or resource guides

♦ additional chapters or 'part 2'

The one absolute is that it has to represent a real benefit to your customers before they will see it as added value.

If you were promoting an e-book that taught your readers how to get out of debt, you could choose from a number of printable resources. This could be a monthly budget chart or one that can be used to track spending as it happens...or both. These would be relatively easy to create and would be of real value to your customers!

If you are interested in offering bonuses like product samples or coupons with your e-book, you may need outside help. For this example, let's say that you were selling an e-book that outlined caring for your exotic pet...

You may be able to create a partnership with an exotic pet store, online or off. You will find that more businesses than you may expect will be happy to provide you with coupons or discount codes to give to your customers! Coupons for exotic pet food or other supplies will be valuable and probably put to good use by your e-book buyers.

It is also important to note (and point out to them) that the company you form this partnership with will also benefit. They too will probably see an increase in sales, as many consumers will shop where they save the most money. Those first-time sales may even create long-term customers for your partners, so everything works out for both of you.

When deciding to add bonuses to e-books, there are many sellers who wonder exactly how far they should go. In the end it is your decision to make. If you are able to create your own bonuses, or you decide to use those included by the publisher of a resell rights e-book, you may want to give these bonuses away to all buyers.

If you are partnering with another business to offer your e-book customers samples or coupons, it might be best to set a time frame or limit the number of buyers who qualify for the bonuses. That exotic pet store may not want to sell its llama food at half price for long! Advertising that these bonuses are available for the first 100 buyers or the next 30 days may only create a temporary spike in sales, but it may be enough to create a "buzz" you can benefit from.

Adding bonuses to your e-book is ultimately optional and you don't have to do it. However, e-book bonuses have a fairly high success rate when promoted well. If you decide to offer these bonuses, consider advertising them with your e-book on your sales pages or in your ads or press releases to clearly outline the value you are offering your customers. You may find they're just what you need to send your sales to the next level!

To your success!

Bill Rudosky, YBM

PS... From a consumer standpoint, do you like getting free things? There is a good chance that you do and so do millions of other consumers!

Bill Rudosky is the owner of Your Business Manuals which offers online business operators the information and software they need to achieve their work-at-home goals.