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ConvertKit: How Nathan Barry Bootstrapped an Email Marketing Business

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Re: ConvertKit: How Nathan Barry Bootstrapped an Email Marketing Business

#81

Post by ashark »

polysaturate wrote: post #77
ashark wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh. "Buy my (assuredly terrible, amateurish, e-)book!" or "sign up for a free PDF copy of my book!" is one of the quickest ways to lower my opinion of a person (or website). Immediately digs a giant hole that they then have to climb out of to convince me they're not scumbag get-rich-quick scam artists or one of their hangers-on or imitators, assuming I don't just close the tab immediately on seeing that kind of thin…

So, wait, anyone who writes an eBook and would like to sell it is a scumbag? Unless there is a clear association with a real publisher or university? Is this opinion specific to marketing or do you hold the same disdain to programming books as well?

My observation has been that there's a strong correlation between "buy my ebook!" in a website sidebar and someone ticking boxes on some scumbag marketing process which they probably learned from someone using scumbag marketing processes to sell their ebook and lessons in the sidebar of their website about how to get rich quick selling ebooks and lessons. Apparently it works, but I'd prefer to avoid the whole mess, aside from using it as a strong signal to Beware everything else on the site.

Re: ConvertKit: How Nathan Barry Bootstrapped an Email Marketing Business

#82

Post by austenallred »

polysaturate wrote: post #80
austenallred wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talk to the people who wrote the first book on Meteor.js. I know they pulled in over $500k. That's probably a unique case because in the beginning the documentation was so bad, but especially in new and esoteric programming languages/methods $50 is no big deal, and there are lots of willing buyers. I'd bet the HaskellBook authors pulled in 100k+ too.

True, but that seemed like a really trending market. Anyway, do you know if there are any articles, etc about their experiences?

Not that I'm aware of

Re: ConvertKit: How Nathan Barry Bootstrapped an Email Marketing Business

#83

Post by thekevan »

Nathan, thanks for telling your story! I'd like to hear what your take is on something I thought when reading this article. One factor in ConvertKit's success is that RSS is still sort of broken.

My thinking is that a big benefit of the service is that I can sign up for my favorite blogger or YouTuber to email me when they post something new, rather than checking the page a couple times a week and finding nothing new half the time. I've never found an effect RSS service for myself and I suspect many, many others feel the same. If we had, the content providers we love would reply on that instead of being a potential customer for you.

Re: ConvertKit: How Nathan Barry Bootstrapped an Email Marketing Business

#84

Post by polysaturate »

ashark wrote: post #81
polysaturate wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, wait, anyone who writes an eBook and would like to sell it is a scumbag? Unless there is a clear association with a real publisher or university? Is this opinion specific to marketing or do you hold the same disdain to programming books as well?

My observation has been that there's a strong correlation between "buy my ebook!" in a website sidebar and someone ticking boxes on some scumbag marketing process which they probably learned from someone using scumbag marketing processes to sell their ebook and lessons in the sidebar of their website about how to get rich quick selling ebooks and lessons. Apparently it works, but I'd prefer to avoid the whole mess, a…

Everything is a skill. Writing is a skill. Marketing is a skill. Some people will pay to read a book about the skill. Said writers would like to make money from writing said books.

I would think it would be fairly known if someone's books are snake oil. Just my opinion, though. Scumbag seems like a harsh judgement.

Re: ConvertKit: How Nathan Barry Bootstrapped an Email Marketing Business

#85

Post by dogas »

Dir. of Engineering at ConvertKit here. We're hiring![1]

Nathan is super smart, genuine, honest and generous. Our culture is a reflection of his personality, which makes ConvertKit a fantastic company to work for.

[1]: https://weworkremotely.com/jobs/4266-senior-rails-engineer

Re: ConvertKit: How Nathan Barry Bootstrapped an Email Marketing Business

#86

Post by blennon »

polysaturate wrote: post #80
austenallred wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talk to the people who wrote the first book on Meteor.js. I know they pulled in over $500k. That's probably a unique case because in the beginning the documentation was so bad, but especially in new and esoteric programming languages/methods $50 is no big deal, and there are lots of willing buyers. I'd bet the HaskellBook authors pulled in 100k+ too.

True, but that seemed like a really trending market. Anyway, do you know if there are any articles, etc about their experiences?

This is not meant to be a dig but just an observation for you to think about. Your last two comments are about how it isn't or shouldn't be possible to make money.

It's true that market opportunities are hard to find, but you'll never find one if all you see is the "yes, buts". You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

Re: ConvertKit: How Nathan Barry Bootstrapped an Email Marketing Business

#87

Post by graeme »

GuiA wrote: post #46
scardine wrote: post #21

I love his book "Authority" (not affiliated with the author, just got a lot of value from it). It states that one of the best moves to make a claim of expertise is writing a book, and contains a framework to write a book about something you know in ~3 months. http://nathanbarry.com/authority/

The fact that you can't buy the book alone for $20 or so - but instead have to buy some sort of premium package that starts at $179 - is a definite put off for me, and also makes me wonder whether the content of the book is that deep/interesting, or if it's a trick to get the buyer so involved emotionally with the purchase that they'll end up believing it was absolutely worth it. I get that by selling $300 book bundl…

Here, $29: https://www.amazon.com/Authority-Become-Following-Financial-...

I read it in 2013, and it's probably earned me at least $100,000. That's being veeeery conservative.

Not everyone will have that experience, of course. I had an existing book series, and Authority gave me an idea for how to repurpose it into a larger business.

As for the package on his site: he probably wants to avoid support. You get a lot of it with a $20 price point, and as he wrote in the article, he's focussing on converkit. Whereas with the amazon listing, amazon handles all customer support.

(I learned that lesson with my own books. My amazon royalties are smaller than my overall business, but I'm still very glad to get them, because there's basically zero admin work required.)

Re: ConvertKit: How Nathan Barry Bootstrapped an Email Marketing Business

#88

Post by graeme »

polysaturate wrote: post #78
austenallred wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can confirm. I co-wrote a book on "growth hacking" ( https://secretsaucenow.com ), which really serves as a hand-held, step-by-step guide to user acquisition. (I originally called it "user acquisition" but unfortunately "growth hacking" performed 4x better in A/B tests). It was really hard to do, but wow. Sometimes the self-promotional marketing feels kind of cheesy to me, but man, it's so worth it. First there's t…

Second time in a week I've seen you post about this(not a dig). Not quite sure there is the same sort of market for 120k in eBook sales for programming books, but your success definitely helps me hold hope my pre-sale continues to gain traction.

I wouldn't be so sure. Programming has a distinct advantage: people can make money from programming skills. And also, people can save money on programming costs if a book teaches them/their programmer enough knowledge that outside talent isn't required.

So there's a lot more money potential for the average programming book than there is for the average novel. (Bestselling novels make much more, but only a few books get that status)

Re: ConvertKit: How Nathan Barry Bootstrapped an Email Marketing Business

#89

Post by graeme »

jacquesm wrote: post #8
pdog wrote: post #2

Great interview. Most people would have given up after two years of zero growth and paltry revenue.

Almost every company ever took two to three years to establish themselves. It's not all that incredible. That simply distinguishes every successful business ever (with a few lucky exceptions) from the ones that failed because their owners gave up too early. Two years is about a minimum that you should be prepared to dedicate to your newborn business if you are at all serious about it. I've written a bit about this he…

Yup. My precarious period was juuuust under three years. It's eerily consistent, from other stories I've heard.

Re: ConvertKit: How Nathan Barry Bootstrapped an Email Marketing Business

#90

Post by j_s »

zem wrote: post #61
mendelk wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to be available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Authority-Become-Following-Financial-...

there's no ebook on amazon, just the hardcover

You can get the audio book for $15 there.
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