12 ms·

$26,679 in 24 hours: Stats from my latest book launch

110 points by richaclark 14y ago

nathanbarry 14y ago
Thanks for posting the link to this. I'm happy to answer any questions.
- anthonys 14y ago
  Maybe have a chat to Drew Wilson who is working on http://spacebox.io http://spacebox.io. It's a nifty little tool for collecting payments via Stripe. I believe he's currently working on adding subscription payments (and hopefully invoicing) which I am very keen to get but affiliates/electronic delivery could be another great add-on for him to deliver.
- richaclark 14y ago
  Since you're here, how did you go about writing two books so close together?
  - nathanbarry 14y ago
    The most important thing was my commitment to write 1,000 words a day. I am 160 days in. After that was having a short deadline. Since I made the december 12th launch date public I knew I had to hit it. So I compressed everything necessary into that short time. More about that here: http://nathanbarry.com/commitment-changed-career/ http://nathanbarry.com/commitment-changed-career/
    - tspike 14y ago
      I'm fascinated by your goal and the way you accomplished it. Aside from writing 1,000 words a day, there are so many other things that must have gone into your books and sites that I am left wondering how you found the motivation for it all. Did you really make all of the graphics and layouts (perfectly I might add), create a book landing page, tweak your blog to promote the book, maintain your Twitter following, deal with miscellaneous tasks (server configurations, etc), conduct interviews, do the copyediting and review process, all while writing 1,000 words a day, in the same timespan? Did you have a life? Did you ever take time to watch a TV show or switch off your computer or phone? Really inspiring stuff man, great work!
      - deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
      - jasondenizac 14y ago
        Having met Nathan in person, I assure you 1) he did it, and 2) I'm still not sure how.
- justjimmy 14y ago
  I have a few questions: 1. Did you have to 'kick back' any money? To those that you interviewed, or companies where you used their screenshots in your examples/critiques? Did you reach out to them and notifying them that they/their company will be in your book for profit? 2. From the sample chapter, you talk a lot about principles and critiques of interface design but are there any area in the book where there are data or user ability studies to explain it further (ie: why they work)? Or is most of it based on experience? 3. Any plans for a sample page on the case study? I think that's where the most value is - the full process of where you take us through your thoughts and reasoning on designing a product.
  - nathanbarry 14y ago
    1. No, I didn't. Everyone was very gracious and there was never an expectation for money. For some people like patio11 and Jason Fried my book sales would not represent a meaningful amount of money. It's better to not even bring it up. Many of the people I interviewed have become friends and I try to help them in any way possible. For companies I didn't contact them in most cases. The few I did talk to were thrilled their designs were being used as an example in a book. 2. This book is light on data and studies. That's a short coming. These are all techniques that I know work well, but I don't always have a study to back it up. 3. I'm not sure what you mean about a sample page for the case study. To better market it? That case study has a lot of great content and I'll be working with the company further to write a lot more articles and tutorials around what we all learned in that process.
    - justjimmy 14y ago
      Thanks for the answers. Copyright use of images, especially screenshots, had always been a confusion point for me. For the case study, basically I'd like to know what it entails before purchasing. All the other content speak of principles and guidelines but I find it more interesting to read about an actual case study, the thoughts and reasoning behind the decisions made. (I can't find what the case study was about too - just that it's a time tracking service. Is it Harvest? Basecamp?) You said you'll be working with the company further, I look forward to that one!
- pnathan 14y ago
  Glad to see another Idaho person on HN!
- fudged71 14y ago
  The twitter handle on your book's site should really be a link. For better UX ;)
sixQuarks 14y ago
great post. You are obviously a good copy writer. Perhaps you should consider doing your next book on that subject.
- nathanbarry 14y ago
  Thanks, but I'm just getting started on learning copywriting. Maybe in a year or two. For now check out CopyHackers: http://copyhackers.com http://copyhackers.com
antidaily 14y ago
Guess no one really cared about Facebook, etc. logo usage.
jjets718 14y ago
Nathan, if you see this, have you thought about using AdWords to promote your books instead of using an affiliate network? I think it might be interesting to see if the CPA with AdWords or other online ads can be optimized to the point where it is cheaper than the CPA with affiliates.
- nathanbarry 14y ago
  When I worked out the value of each visitor (on average) I thought about using AdWords. I really don't know much about it, so it will be a new area to pursue. Unfortunately selling with Gumroad I can't track conversions effectively, so that may make page optimization more difficult. I'll give it a try soon and report back the results (on my blog).
  - pdog 14y ago
    Gumroad doesn't give you meaningful metrics? Can someone recommend a competitor that does?
    - nathanbarry 14y ago
      Gumroad gives awesome metrics and stats, they even track the source of each sale. The downside for me is that almost every sale is through my site, so the referrer is always the same (nathanbarry.com). Since the entire purchase happens in a secure iFrame I have no way of knowing on my site when the transaction completes. So I can't use Visual Website Optimizer or Google Analytics to track the conversion. I hear they are working on this... Otherwise they are wonderful.
      - robryan 14y ago
        They don't allow you to pass through a custom id with each customer? That way you can record the referrer and customers actions on the site and tie it back to the sale, if they allow it.
  - dools 14y ago
robbiea 14y ago
Nathan, I finished v1 of my ebook from a post that did really well on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3837264 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3837264 I have been really looking into distribution of the eBook and this is such a timely post for me. Did you think about publishing the book on amazon / other eBook sites? Did you ever think about making this into a real book or using kickstarter to get funding? Thanks for this post. Seriously Awesome.
- nathanbarry 14y ago
  There are three reasons I sold exclusively through my own site: - Stores like Amazon and iBooks limit the price you can charge. iBooks limits it to $15 for the book, Amazon radically changes the royalty payments if you go above $10 (or so). I want to charge premium prices, so those audiences wouldn't work. - Selling through another provider means that they aren't my customers. I don't have contact information for follow-ups, other sales offers, or anything else. Owning the customer list is really important to building a sustainable business. - When I sell through my own site I keep about 95% from every sale. If I sold through the iBooks store I would only get 70%. I would be willing to accept a lower percentage if it meant I was able to build my customer lists. A final thought is that I've seen people put all their effort into creating the product (whether it is an app or an eBook) then put it up on the store, just expecting it to take off and organically get sales. By selling through my own site I was forced to do all the marketing and promotion myself. Since that is a skill I am still developing, it was important to me. Good luck!
  - robbiea 14y ago
    great, thank you.
- nathanbarry 14y ago
  By the way, I love the post! Excited to hear more about the book. Email me, nathan@thinklegend.com, if you have more questions.
ruswick 14y ago
I'm fascinated with and profoundly envious of people who can accrue huge sums of money in such short periods of time. Given that this was all done within 24 hours, it's unlikely that many sales came from the quality of the book: people won't have had time to read the book, and so word-of-mouth-based sales will be negligible if not nonexistent. In the first few days of sales, most every transaction is derived from presentation, notoriety, or luck... I haven't read the book (and I couldn't afford it even if I had a desire to do so), and it may be a fine product. However, Nathan could have easily published a piece of abject trash, full of platitudes and banal tautology, and done perhaps just as well. Quality has no bearing on the initial success of a product, and only comes into play later. It just goes to show how much gravity factors like marketing have on sales.
- nathanbarry 14y ago
  I guess that's true, but it is really important to build a reputation for quality work. Also this was my second book, so I had people buy off of the quality from my previous book.
  - ruswick 14y ago
    Was your first book anywhere near as successful in the first 24 hours as this one?
    - nathanbarry 14y ago
      If you read the post you can see the number comparison (further down the page). Or you can read my summary of the first launch here: http://nathanbarry.com/learned-selling-6000-ebook-today/ http://nathanbarry.com/learned-selling-6000-ebook-today/ I sold about $12,000 in the first 24 hours for my first book.
      - ruswick 14y ago
        If anything, the first book is a better indicator of pure marketing-based success, considering that you didn't have a following at that point. For the record, I'm not asserting that it's bad that you made so much money based on theses factors. I don't expect you not to market you products. If anything, I was commenting on the importance of marketing to initial success.
stinkbubble 14y ago
I just downloaded you full book for Free! You need better security on your WordPress website!
- nathanbarry 14y ago
  Curious how you got it. Send me an email: nathan@thinklegend.com
  - tekniiq 14y ago
    u made 26k so quick u better know!!
tekniiq 14y ago
"to be successful, one must portray an image of being successful", good marketing strategy imo but yeah probably bogus lol
azio 14y ago
Bullshit. Fake it till you make it, huh? Don't believe this bullcrap people. This person is lying to get covered by Hacker News and similar sites. I bet he didn't make $500 in total.
- hartror 14y ago
  Proof?
  - azio 14y ago
    You've to ask him for that, not me!
- daeken 14y ago
  What evidence do you have for that allegation? Regardless, your tone isn't even remotely constructive; you should back that off a bit.
  - azio 14y ago
    He's a fucking lair what constructive tone you want me to use.
- nathanbarry 14y ago
  It's real. Though I'm not sure how to prove it to you in a way you would believe. Want to see a screenshot of my Gumroad account showing $75,000 in book sales? Oh wait, I've already included that in my posts.
kennethologist 14y ago
Congrats Nathan! Has anyone gone through the material completely and can comment on the quality and utility of the book? I'm considering purchasing (I'm a developer with no design skills) and was wondering how hopefully this will be to me.
- nathanbarry 14y ago
  Yes, a few people. One said "The book paid for itself in the first 10 pages." Still working on getting a few more reviews live that I can link to.
pushpak_io 14y ago
Nathan: i think you should run that discounted sale again because i was one of the person who missed to buy it even though i had subscribed to email alerts (because i was hospitalized). Wouldn't buy it for $250 so im still waiting for another round of discounted sale and expecting an email obviously.

110 points by richaclark 14y ago

nathanbarry 14y ago

Thanks for posting the link to this. I'm happy to answer any questions.

anthonys 14y ago
Maybe have a chat to Drew Wilson who is working on http://spacebox.io http://spacebox.io. It's a nifty little tool for collecting payments via Stripe. I believe he's currently working on adding subscription payments (and hopefully invoicing) which I am very keen to get but affiliates/electronic delivery could be another great add-on for him to deliver.
richaclark 14y ago
Since you're here, how did you go about writing two books so close together?
- nathanbarry 14y ago
  The most important thing was my commitment to write 1,000 words a day. I am 160 days in. After that was having a short deadline. Since I made the december 12th launch date public I knew I had to hit it. So I compressed everything necessary into that short time. More about that here: http://nathanbarry.com/commitment-changed-career/ http://nathanbarry.com/commitment-changed-career/
  - tspike 14y ago
    I'm fascinated by your goal and the way you accomplished it. Aside from writing 1,000 words a day, there are so many other things that must have gone into your books and sites that I am left wondering how you found the motivation for it all. Did you really make all of the graphics and layouts (perfectly I might add), create a book landing page, tweak your blog to promote the book, maintain your Twitter following, deal with miscellaneous tasks (server configurations, etc), conduct interviews, do the copyediting and review process, all while writing 1,000 words a day, in the same timespan? Did you have a life? Did you ever take time to watch a TV show or switch off your computer or phone? Really inspiring stuff man, great work!
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
    - jasondenizac 14y ago
      Having met Nathan in person, I assure you 1) he did it, and 2) I'm still not sure how.
justjimmy 14y ago
I have a few questions: 1. Did you have to 'kick back' any money? To those that you interviewed, or companies where you used their screenshots in your examples/critiques? Did you reach out to them and notifying them that they/their company will be in your book for profit? 2. From the sample chapter, you talk a lot about principles and critiques of interface design but are there any area in the book where there are data or user ability studies to explain it further (ie: why they work)? Or is most of it based on experience? 3. Any plans for a sample page on the case study? I think that's where the most value is - the full process of where you take us through your thoughts and reasoning on designing a product.
- nathanbarry 14y ago
  1. No, I didn't. Everyone was very gracious and there was never an expectation for money. For some people like patio11 and Jason Fried my book sales would not represent a meaningful amount of money. It's better to not even bring it up. Many of the people I interviewed have become friends and I try to help them in any way possible. For companies I didn't contact them in most cases. The few I did talk to were thrilled their designs were being used as an example in a book. 2. This book is light on data and studies. That's a short coming. These are all techniques that I know work well, but I don't always have a study to back it up. 3. I'm not sure what you mean about a sample page for the case study. To better market it? That case study has a lot of great content and I'll be working with the company further to write a lot more articles and tutorials around what we all learned in that process.
  - justjimmy 14y ago
    Thanks for the answers. Copyright use of images, especially screenshots, had always been a confusion point for me. For the case study, basically I'd like to know what it entails before purchasing. All the other content speak of principles and guidelines but I find it more interesting to read about an actual case study, the thoughts and reasoning behind the decisions made. (I can't find what the case study was about too - just that it's a time tracking service. Is it Harvest? Basecamp?) You said you'll be working with the company further, I look forward to that one!
pnathan 14y ago
Glad to see another Idaho person on HN!
fudged71 14y ago
The twitter handle on your book's site should really be a link. For better UX ;)

sixQuarks 14y ago

great post. You are obviously a good copy writer. Perhaps you should consider doing your next book on that subject.

nathanbarry 14y ago
Thanks, but I'm just getting started on learning copywriting. Maybe in a year or two. For now check out CopyHackers: http://copyhackers.com http://copyhackers.com

antidaily 14y ago

Guess no one really cared about Facebook, etc. logo usage.

jjets718 14y ago

Nathan, if you see this, have you thought about using AdWords to promote your books instead of using an affiliate network? I think it might be interesting to see if the CPA with AdWords or other online ads can be optimized to the point where it is cheaper than the CPA with affiliates.

nathanbarry 14y ago
When I worked out the value of each visitor (on average) I thought about using AdWords. I really don't know much about it, so it will be a new area to pursue. Unfortunately selling with Gumroad I can't track conversions effectively, so that may make page optimization more difficult. I'll give it a try soon and report back the results (on my blog).
- pdog 14y ago
  Gumroad doesn't give you meaningful metrics? Can someone recommend a competitor that does?
  - nathanbarry 14y ago
    Gumroad gives awesome metrics and stats, they even track the source of each sale. The downside for me is that almost every sale is through my site, so the referrer is always the same (nathanbarry.com). Since the entire purchase happens in a secure iFrame I have no way of knowing on my site when the transaction completes. So I can't use Visual Website Optimizer or Google Analytics to track the conversion. I hear they are working on this... Otherwise they are wonderful.
    - robryan 14y ago
      They don't allow you to pass through a custom id with each customer? That way you can record the referrer and customers actions on the site and tie it back to the sale, if they allow it.
- dools 14y ago

robbiea 14y ago

Nathan, I finished v1 of my ebook from a post that did really well on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3837264 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3837264 I have been really looking into distribution of the eBook and this is such a timely post for me. Did you think about publishing the book on amazon / other eBook sites? Did you ever think about making this into a real book or using kickstarter to get funding? Thanks for this post. Seriously Awesome.

nathanbarry 14y ago
There are three reasons I sold exclusively through my own site: - Stores like Amazon and iBooks limit the price you can charge. iBooks limits it to $15 for the book, Amazon radically changes the royalty payments if you go above $10 (or so). I want to charge premium prices, so those audiences wouldn't work. - Selling through another provider means that they aren't my customers. I don't have contact information for follow-ups, other sales offers, or anything else. Owning the customer list is really important to building a sustainable business. - When I sell through my own site I keep about 95% from every sale. If I sold through the iBooks store I would only get 70%. I would be willing to accept a lower percentage if it meant I was able to build my customer lists. A final thought is that I've seen people put all their effort into creating the product (whether it is an app or an eBook) then put it up on the store, just expecting it to take off and organically get sales. By selling through my own site I was forced to do all the marketing and promotion myself. Since that is a skill I am still developing, it was important to me. Good luck!
- robbiea 14y ago
  great, thank you.
nathanbarry 14y ago
By the way, I love the post! Excited to hear more about the book. Email me, nathan@thinklegend.com, if you have more questions.

ruswick 14y ago

I'm fascinated with and profoundly envious of people who can accrue huge sums of money in such short periods of time. Given that this was all done within 24 hours, it's unlikely that many sales came from the quality of the book: people won't have had time to read the book, and so word-of-mouth-based sales will be negligible if not nonexistent. In the first few days of sales, most every transaction is derived from presentation, notoriety, or luck... I haven't read the book (and I couldn't afford it even if I had a desire to do so), and it may be a fine product. However, Nathan could have easily published a piece of abject trash, full of platitudes and banal tautology, and done perhaps just as well. Quality has no bearing on the initial success of a product, and only comes into play later. It just goes to show how much gravity factors like marketing have on sales.

nathanbarry 14y ago
I guess that's true, but it is really important to build a reputation for quality work. Also this was my second book, so I had people buy off of the quality from my previous book.
- ruswick 14y ago
  Was your first book anywhere near as successful in the first 24 hours as this one?
  - nathanbarry 14y ago
    If you read the post you can see the number comparison (further down the page). Or you can read my summary of the first launch here: http://nathanbarry.com/learned-selling-6000-ebook-today/ http://nathanbarry.com/learned-selling-6000-ebook-today/ I sold about $12,000 in the first 24 hours for my first book.
    - ruswick 14y ago
      If anything, the first book is a better indicator of pure marketing-based success, considering that you didn't have a following at that point. For the record, I'm not asserting that it's bad that you made so much money based on theses factors. I don't expect you not to market you products. If anything, I was commenting on the importance of marketing to initial success.

stinkbubble 14y ago

I just downloaded you full book for Free! You need better security on your WordPress website!

nathanbarry 14y ago
Curious how you got it. Send me an email: nathan@thinklegend.com
- tekniiq 14y ago
  u made 26k so quick u better know!!

tekniiq 14y ago

"to be successful, one must portray an image of being successful", good marketing strategy imo but yeah probably bogus lol

azio 14y ago

Bullshit. Fake it till you make it, huh? Don't believe this bullcrap people. This person is lying to get covered by Hacker News and similar sites. I bet he didn't make $500 in total.

hartror 14y ago
Proof?
- azio 14y ago
  You've to ask him for that, not me!
daeken 14y ago
What evidence do you have for that allegation? Regardless, your tone isn't even remotely constructive; you should back that off a bit.
- azio 14y ago
  He's a fucking lair what constructive tone you want me to use.
nathanbarry 14y ago
It's real. Though I'm not sure how to prove it to you in a way you would believe. Want to see a screenshot of my Gumroad account showing $75,000 in book sales? Oh wait, I've already included that in my posts.

kennethologist 14y ago

Congrats Nathan! Has anyone gone through the material completely and can comment on the quality and utility of the book? I'm considering purchasing (I'm a developer with no design skills) and was wondering how hopefully this will be to me.

nathanbarry 14y ago
Yes, a few people. One said "The book paid for itself in the first 10 pages." Still working on getting a few more reviews live that I can link to.

pushpak_io 14y ago

Nathan: i think you should run that discounted sale again because i was one of the person who missed to buy it even though i had subscribed to email alerts (because i was hospitalized). Wouldn't buy it for $250 so im still waiting for another round of discounted sale and expecting an email obviously.