Dabbler's Guide to Health and Fitness

[impaul99]

Hey guys, I've got a question for you. Some of you may know about my plan before the new year to finally get in shape and take my health and fitness to a new level. I started with daily exercise on Dec 19th and implemented a healthy nutrition plan on Jan 3rd. So far I have lost 10lbs of fat, and have been able to stick to both my diet and exercise plans on a daily basis. My goal is to lose 30-40lbs of fat. I don't know which it is because the two body fat analyzers I use are totally different. Either way, I want to lose the gut around my waist

I have tried diet plans before and I have tried exercise plans before, but I've always dabbled with them without success. After a few weeks I always go back to my normal ways which is what I see almost everyone else doing as well. This time, what I decided to do is to pull out all stops and to use everything I have learned about self-development in the last 10-12 years to put together a plan for myself that works.

To ensure that I do not forget any steps along the way, I am documenting everything I am doing and have decided to write an eBook detailing my plan. I am about 40% through it now, and have some questions.

Firstly, I'd like to know what you guys think in terms of whether I should sell the book once it is 100% completed or if I should give it away for free. My intention is to help people who have dabbled with their health and fitness levels and are looking for a plan that works. Here are the pro's and cons of both sides:

Charging for the eBook:

Pros:
- People usually value something they paid for more than what they get for free, so they are more likely to actually READ the whole book if they pay for it. ie. I paid full price for a Tony Robbins program and finished it because it cost me something. I gave the same program to a friend who wanted it, but because he got it for free, he didn't see it as important to finish it. I don't want people to feel the book has no value because it's free.

- If I can generate money from selling this and other eBooks I'll have more resources and time to work on other books.

- Steve Pavlina's advice is "Whatever you do, make sure it's profitable."

Cons:
- People might not buy the book because they don't have the money, and they might have really benefited from the information in the book


While I work on the book, I am collecting names of anyone who's interested in the book and for anyone that does sign up I will be offering the book free of charge. Once it is finished they will receive a free copy, and if I do decide to charge for it, everyone else will have to pay for it from that point forward.

What do you guys think? What should I do?

I have a signup page here if anyone's intersted: The Dabbler's Guide to Health and Fitness by Paul Piotrowski

I'd really like to hear what you guys think.

Thanks.

[impaul99]

Ok, since 36 people have viewed this thread and no replies, maybe I made the question too complicated. Let me simplify it.

What would you need to see in a Health and Fitness eBook to make you want to pay for it, and what do you think is a reasonable price if it contained the information that once and for all helped you establish a level of health and fitness you have never been able to achieve before?

Paul

[icesar]

I like the way you approach the market. The weight loss market is a huge and highly competitive field and targetting the "dabblers" might be a good angle for you to take. As to whether to sell it or give it away, why not go with Steve's read, fire, aim approach?

Give yourself a $100 budget, buy some Google Ads, and see if you can make any money selling the eBook. If you can, tweak it, otherwise, try another approach. Giving the eBook away in order to put together an email list could also be very valuable, especially in this market, where you could recommend other people's products that have worked for you.

Good luck!

[impaul99]

Originally Posted by icesar

I like the way you approach the market. The weight loss market is a huge and highly competitive field and targetting the "dabblers" might be a good angle for you to take. As to whether to sell it or give it away, why not go with Steve's read, fire, aim approach?

Give yourself a $100 budget, buy some Google Ads, and see if you can make any money selling the eBook. If you can, tweak it, otherwise, try another approach. Giving the eBook away in order to put together an email list could also be very valuable, especially in this market, where you could recommend other people's products that have worked for you.

Good luck!

Thanks for your feedback! I know exactly what you mean. I'm actually doing that Ready, Fire, Aim approach already by writing the book and just focusing on putting as much value for people to use and then worrying about whether to sell it or give it away later. I see your point though, in terms of using the ready,fire,aim approach to marketing it as well. Set a budget, try selling it, and then lower the price until it grabs traction or just give it away if needbe.

Yeah, the dabbler market I think is HUGE, because a lot of people like to Dabble and so did I for over 10 years. Then I got tired of dabbling and decided to do it properly, but instead of just learning myself I wanted to do it in such a way that I could document and then teach others. I'm excited about the project.

[ticktockclok]

No offense intended, but definitely give it away for free. I can't see anybody actually buying another fitness e-book when there are already so many great books out there, and numerous free online sources as well. You could just load it with affiliate links with items that you like; supplements, equipment, food, etc.

[impaul99]

Originally Posted by ticktockclok

No offense intended, but definitely give it away for free. I can't see anybody actually buying another fitness e-book when there are already so many great books out there, and numerous free online sources as well. You could just load it with affiliate links with items that you like; supplements, equipment, food, etc.

But if I load it with links for affiliates, the problem becomes that the book then becomes a sales pitch to buy products and I don't really want to do that. I want to offer advice that people can implement in their own ways, not by saying "To be healthy you need this specific water filter from this company, here is a link, buy it from them." because I get a commission for each sale. If I recommend a product, I want to recommend it and have people know that I don't make any $ on the recommendation of that product so that I'm not biased towards it.

I think if I decide to give it away for free, I would expect to make no money from the book in any way, even not from affiliate links. I'd have to figure out some other source of revenue the book leads to.

Thanks for your input though, I'll definitely take it into consideration and think about it.