One of the skills I work especially hard on as a journalist is transparency.
I don’t believe that journalists are the medium through which news is born but more like a filter—there’s a little of the reporter in every article. If you aren’t clear about who you could (and couldn’t) get in touch with, the facts you could (and couldn’t) find out, you’re obstructing the truth.
It’s easy to be transparent when I’m succeeding. I loved writing about my big wins in my The Inside Story column earlier this year and gushing about how I triumphantly pitched CNN. But when I screw something up, whether that be a typo, a fact error, or a story that’s less objective than it ought to be, I’d rather take a vow of silence and wait for people to forget about it.
Which is why I struggled with telling you this: I didn’t sell a SINGLE copy of my Building a Beat workbook. Not one.
I had high hopes for this workbook. The second of eight that make up my e-course, this is better researched and higher quality advice than I usually put into blog posts. More than 2,500 words of guidance that you can use right now, plus worksheets. And while there’s lots of advice for journalists online, for free even, how much of that is targeted exclusively toward aspiring geek and subculture journalists? Everyone I talked to about it sounded excited. And based on the survey, I really thought a lot of people were interested in buying it.
Having almost a week to process this rolicking failure has made me see my hubris. Here are some of the marketing mistakes I made:
- I went too fast. After neglecting my blog for a year, I came back and tried to monetize it with products. I need to win readers’ trust back first.
- I referred to the course in chapters of one big product. I thought this made it sound more cohesive, but it sounds more like you have to buy all of them to get anything out of them, when really, each workbook is on a different topic and stands alone.
- I didn’t market enough. I really just put this out there. I didn’t send press releases because 1) I thought it was too soon with only one workbook out and 2) As a journalist, I hardly look at press releases that get sent to me. I should have sent personalized emails to journalism blogs that I wanted to write about my product.
- At $10 for 18 pages of content, I probably priced this too high.
I’m sure there’s more I haven’t been able to see yet. But for now, here’s what I’m going to do to at least try to fix things:
- I’m going to keep the price at $5 permanently instead of bringing it up to $10.
- I created a sales page that makes it obvious that each workbook stands alone. I stopped referring to the workbooks as “chapters.”
- I’m not going to break my back over these any more. I’ll release the workbooks I already wrote (everything up to Effective Interview Techniques) by Feb. 13, and take a hiatus while I see how people respond. Instead, I’ll focus on writing more free content.
I was worried you’d think I’m pathetic for having to put up this post at all. I could have just neglected to share this setback, and you’d be none the wiser. But even though the Internet lets us edit our public selves more carefully than ever before, I think the whole point of having a blog is to share my honest self, the better to connect with people. And just maybe, sharing my failings make my rare successes that much more worth celebrating.
Anyone else want to share a failure (blogging or otherwise) in the comments? Believe me, I won’t judge.
(Photo via [ heather ] on Flickr.)
9 Comments.
It’s a good lesson though. I’ve read some articles on what to do after taking time off.
And yes, you need to win back their trust off. Don’t always assume they’ll come back right away.
It’s basically like the beginning all over again…to a certain degree.
Thanks for weighing in, Tony. According to my analytics, my visitor numbers are pretty similar to what they’ve always been. However, more of those people are new and not returning visitors. Guess I should have paid more attention!
This sounds like something to start out free with some sort of donation aspect.
That said, not interested in journalism here so was not my market.
Thank you for sharing this. I only just discovered your blog and started exploring, so I didn’t know much about your Building a Beat workbooks. I think that calling them workbooks now is a smart move because in a previous post it did sound like you were selling a chapter of a book at a time. I really hope that your change in approach will help you sell them. While I’m a fiction writer rather than a journalist, I respect your field and love the discussion of all things geek and niche.
And just think; by sharing your mistake, you’re helping other people avoid it, and that’s quite a service in today’s world. So thank you and good luck!
@Kat, thanks for your feedback. Personally, I think fiction writing is a lot more difficult than journalism, since journalists are reporting on stories that already exist!
I shared this because I am always reading blog posts about how bloggers successfully made a side income by publishing e-books, and I never hear about any huge flops. I’m sure they happen but nobody wants to talk about it.
Lauren, I commend you for making a valiant effort on turning your experience into something you can use to make money with as an ebook, as many bloggers have done.
However, I will say that the market you’re going after isn’t used to ebook marketing or anything of the sort, unlike the market for something like WordPress development, where ebook sales are not only expected but a requirement for most sites to make money as an extension of affiliate marketing.
You would have been better off posting like you would normally and then slowly building up hype for the course by offering previews and updates on its development, culminating in the sale announcement when it was ready to go.
You don’t just spring a product for sale on readers and blindly expect them to buy it without some sort of anticipation beforehand, people can smell and see sudden cashgrabs.
That said, I’ll be buying your e-course. I may be on this beat on a pro level, but I’m always learning.
Be honest, do you really see this as a “sudden cashgrab?” I made this incredibly cheap for the amount of time I put into it, and the only reason I’m not giving it all away for free is because I want people to be invested in it enough to read it after they download it! I’m hoping to just make enough money to pay for my site’s hosting every year so this becomes a bit less expensive of a hobby for me.
Thank you for being frank with me. I’m a big fan of buying ebooks on my favorite topics, but I guess I should have done some market research beyond just that.
When I first saw your post on the course, I have to admit I was put off by it since it felt like I was getting a really hard sell without any previous expectation that you were going to attempt something like this.
Had you asked as a part of your normal blogging routine and on Twitter, before your first blog post attempt at selling the course, I would have been much more willing to buy in at the original prices you had planned.
In my experience as a former salesperson selling everything from high-end electronics, lawn/garden equipment, video games and cell phones, a hard sell might work if you’re building up the product and its clear benefits beforehand to people who are already your most devoted followers and customers, but there’s a catch.
The product has to fit what they’re looking for to begin with. If it doesn’t, they won’t buy in at any price, regardless of necessity, which is why giving away the first part for subscribing via email is a wise move.
That lets people decide whether they want to buy the rest or move on, and 9 times out of 10, they’ll buy into the rest to just make sure they aren’t missing anything important.
I wish you good luck, Lauren. If anyone can pull it off, I know you can.
I think it is allright to charge whatever you see fit for your work. If it’s a very specialized knowledge you are sharing, that’s fair I think. But don’t expect there’s many buyers getting it right away. Could be a long tail seller. Anyway, you should keep promoting it, for sure.
I think you need to position your offer on several channels, because you still may not be perceived as a heavyweight writer. Also, don’t expect everyone here wants to be a writer, but are interested in some of the insights you share with us.