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Everything Is Bullshit: A Book by Priceonomics

priceonomics.com

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Re: Everything Is Bullshit: A Book by Priceonomics

#41

Post by ivansavz »

I wouldn't have said it in so much words, but the authors are onto an important new business model:

   free web stuff and sell books
The key point is that content in the form of a book (a unit of meaningful discourse) can be productized and offered in a sidebar. Instead of advertisements that pay micro cents per impression, why not offer a book and make 40% profit on print books and 97% profit on eBooks sold?

I'm not sure this will work for journalism, but for a lot of other types of content (ahm... hm.... textbooks), it's going to work for sure. The questions are: (1) what kind of reading is better done in book-sized chunks, and (2) how to decide which content goes into the free stuff and how much into the paid book.

The OPs are using the improved blog posts + new content equation, which has never been tried before. It will be very interesting to watch.

Re: Everything Is Bullshit: A Book by Priceonomics

#42

Post by base698 »

dublinben wrote: post #27
aluhut wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get Calibre for free and convert it there.

Kindle ebooks have DRM and require you to buy them from Amazon. Some people prefer to avoid both when paying for books.

I have my Calibre folder backed up with BT Sync and unDRM my kindle books there, so I can open them on anything with BT Sync installed.

I always buy with Kindle and convert with Calibre then read in iBooks. It'd be nice not to have to do that.

Re: Everything Is Bullshit: A Book by Priceonomics

#44

Post by ivansavz »

LoganCale wrote: post #37
blisterpeanuts wrote: post #22

I guess when you can't think of a creative title, just use a profanity. I don't want my 9-year-old to be exposed to this kind of language either on the coffee table or on the tablet, so I won't be buying the book. Could you put out a PG-rated version for those of us prudish and old-fashioned types?

The horror! Someone might encounter a word!

It says parent under your post, but are you really a parent?

Could it be that some people have different points of view on language usage around their kids?

Re: Everything Is Bullshit: A Book by Priceonomics

#45

Post by [deleted] »

rohin wrote: post #40
ChuckFrank wrote: post #35

It seems like the Amazon reviews might be stacked. There certainly are a ton of them popping up at 10 am this morning. Plus you can always tell a sock puppet review when they don't actually mention content and say things like "Greatest Book Evah" instead. I know it's important to appear that the book is a proven reading experience, and reviews are the essential way to do that, but fake/paid/friend reviews just raise…

Hi there, I work at Priceonomics. Thanks for the suggestions. We'll probably do a blog post about our marketing strategy of this book, but I wanted to address your point that the book had reviews as soon as it launched on Amazon. How is that even possible? Many people had advanced copies of various drafts of the book. When the book went live this morning we emailed all of them letting them know it was up there. Hence…

[deleted]

Re: Everything Is Bullshit: A Book by Priceonomics

#46

Post by steveklabnik »

ivansavz wrote: post #41

I wouldn't have said it in so much words, but the authors are onto an important new business model: free web stuff and sell books The key point is that content in the form of a book (a unit of meaningful discourse) can be productized and offered in a sidebar. Instead of advertisements that pay micro cents per impression, why not offer a book and make 40% profit on print books and 97% profit on eBooks sold? I'm not su…

This model isn't that new. Webcomics and Tumblrs have been putting out coffee table books for years.

Re: Everything Is Bullshit: A Book by Priceonomics

#47

Post by patcon »

rohin wrote: post #40
ChuckFrank wrote: post #35

It seems like the Amazon reviews might be stacked. There certainly are a ton of them popping up at 10 am this morning. Plus you can always tell a sock puppet review when they don't actually mention content and say things like "Greatest Book Evah" instead. I know it's important to appear that the book is a proven reading experience, and reviews are the essential way to do that, but fake/paid/friend reviews just raise…

Hi there, I work at Priceonomics. Thanks for the suggestions. We'll probably do a blog post about our marketing strategy of this book, but I wanted to address your point that the book had reviews as soon as it launched on Amazon. How is that even possible? Many people had advanced copies of various drafts of the book. When the book went live this morning we emailed all of them letting them know it was up there. Hence…

Thanks. I was assuming some fake reviews were a ironic piece of guerilla marketing :)

Re: Everything Is Bullshit: A Book by Priceonomics

#48

Post by ivansavz »

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #22

I guess when you can't think of a creative title, just use a profanity. I don't want my 9-year-old to be exposed to this kind of language either on the coffee table or on the tablet, so I won't be buying the book. Could you put out a PG-rated version for those of us prudish and old-fashioned types?

> this kind of language

Could you explain a bit about this? Is this an American thing? Two different online advertisement platforms refused to place ads for my book because of the "swear word" in the title. I didn't get it...

To me bullshit isn't a swear word at all... except for the unpleasant graphical nature of reference, I would classify it totally in a different category from other swear words. It like a strong version of "crap" ... as in what kind of crap is this?

Re: Everything Is Bullshit: A Book by Priceonomics

#49

Post by steveklabnik »

rohin wrote: post #40
ChuckFrank wrote: post #35

It seems like the Amazon reviews might be stacked. There certainly are a ton of them popping up at 10 am this morning. Plus you can always tell a sock puppet review when they don't actually mention content and say things like "Greatest Book Evah" instead. I know it's important to appear that the book is a proven reading experience, and reviews are the essential way to do that, but fake/paid/friend reviews just raise…

Hi there, I work at Priceonomics. Thanks for the suggestions. We'll probably do a blog post about our marketing strategy of this book, but I wanted to address your point that the book had reviews as soon as it launched on Amazon. How is that even possible? Many people had advanced copies of various drafts of the book. When the book went live this morning we emailed all of them letting them know it was up there. Hence…

> BTW, do you have any data on the optimum pricing of an ebook being $2.99-4.99?

I smell a new post!!!

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