11 ms·

How To Profit From Selling Digital Products

70 points by acconrad 12y ago

programminggeek 12y ago
I always enjoy Nathan Barry's writing and his work provides a pretty good template to reverse engineer a lot of good ideas, similar to what Patrick McKenzie does as well.
- poopsintub 12y ago
  I think the notion that we can all copy the 'template' of what Nathan does isn't really possible. He writes really, really well. I don't know if I could pull in an audience or sell books with what I would consider mediocre writing skills. I'm a programmer after all. Maybe someone like myself should go for it, if that's where there passion's at, then seek out a really great editor.
nawitus 12y ago
The concept of "digital product" is flawed, as it implies scarcity, which is obviously artificial and mostly based on regulation (e.g. copyright law). Instead, you should sell digital services.
- FigBug 12y ago
  I'm not sure artificial scarcity is a bad thing, as it allows digital products to exist. As a consumer I'd much rather have the option to choose between a digital product and a digital service. Somethings like email and web hosting obviously have to be a digital service. Things like games and music can be either. And I usually choose the product since it'll exist long after the service is gone. (Assuming no DRM) I think we may be entering a digital dark age, where in the not too distant future, a lot of the software of today will no longer be useable. There will be no DOSBOX equivalent to play web games of 2014.
  - dublinben 12y ago
    Digital products don't require artificial scarcity. They can be given away for free as advertising for the service. They can also be crowdfunded by a bounty, and then freely released upon completion.
    - graeme 12y ago
      If there's no copyright, what's to stop OTHER people from giving away someone's digital products for free? I mean, I put all my books for free online. But I'd still rather be able to prevent others from using them commercially. I'd never have written them if a better funded competitor could just take them and provide them for free and outrank me. http://lsathacks.com/explanations/ http://lsathacks.com/explanations/ is my free stuff.
      - nawitus 12y ago
        http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/intellectual/againstfinal.htm http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/intellectual/againstfi...
        graeme 12y ago
        You haven't addressed my point. The parent comment was arguing that I could give away my material for free as advertising for services. I pointed out that I couldn't do that without intellectual property, as someone else with a larger platform could give away my material for free. Does that book you linked to address this point?
    - corysama 12y ago
      When you figure out how to crowdfund the next Avatar/Game of Thrones/Last of Us let me know. You might not care about them, but enough people did value them enough to pay 100s of millions for them after they were created. I'm eagerly awaiting anyone to put forward a plan on how to convince the masses to risk pre-paying 100s of millions for the creation of a new-but-equivalently-awesome IP. It would not be a sensible risk proposition by any measure.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- snowwrestler 12y ago
  Selling digital products is just a way to crowdsource the service of digital product development. It's even more beneficial to the consumer than something like Kickstarter, since they get to see the finished product before deciding whether to kick in funding.
kasbah 12y ago
This point, that making copies of software, comes at no direct cost to the creator is often glossed over in articles that express amazement at the free software and open-source movements. "Why would someone spend so much time working on something and then give it away for free?" they ask and I personally like Linus Torvalds' response that it was the only thing to do that made sense to him. It is a generous act but it comes at no additional cost to the donor and what person doesn't want their work to be as useful to as many people as possible? I believe it is also the key thing to consider in explaining the rise of software piracy and the opposition to DRM. I hope to see a complete paradigm shift in my life-time, in the everyday software-user, in understanding what what they can reasonably be expected to do with a digital work, i.e. copy, copy and copy again as it doesn't cost anyone anything. A business with an 85% percent profit margin makes me uneasy and seems exploitative to say the least. It is unfair to the consumer, it's just that most consumers don't really know or care, they can always pirate it if they can't afford it.
- Swizec 12y ago
  > This point, that making copies of software, comes at no direct cost to the creator Support cost. Support cost will sink a business if they're not taken into account. That's why you should never sell software for less than $x0 to consumers and less than $x00 to businesses. Because the support costs will eat you alive. The only way you can get away with free is if there's absolutely no support (your product isn't likely to see much use) or you like doing support as a hobby (you will eventually find a shinier toy). Oh and I'm being very liberal when I say support. Even dealing with pull requests can be a bitch. Even if you only get one or two a month. You will forget to deal with them.
  - x1798DE 12y ago
    It's very, very common that open source developers will provide zero support for their products. That's almost part of the open source ethos, where someone starts as a core dev, eventually moves on and then the project is picked up or forked by the next person. If a product becomes sufficiently popular, the support gets provided by the various volunteer armies in IRC who provide free tech support for nothing more than the pleasure of berating strangers that they are helping on the internet.
joereggan190 12y ago
http://www.goldcoastoutfitters.com/node/698 http://www.goldcoastoutfitters.com/node/698
joereggan190 12y ago
http://www.goldcoastoutfitters.com/node/705 http://www.goldcoastoutfitters.com/node/705
joereggan190 12y ago
http://www.chicagoartistsresource.org/node/204382 http://www.chicagoartistsresource.org/node/204382
joereggan190 12y ago
http://drupalladder.org/lesson/aea671eb-897d-46ef-a48e-aba318f54163 http://drupalladder.org/lesson/aea671eb-897d-46ef-a48e-aba31...

70 points by acconrad 12y ago

I always enjoy Nathan Barry's writing and his work provides a pretty good template to reverse engineer a lot of good ideas, similar to what Patrick McKenzie does as well.

poopsintub 12y ago
I think the notion that we can all copy the 'template' of what Nathan does isn't really possible. He writes really, really well. I don't know if I could pull in an audience or sell books with what I would consider mediocre writing skills. I'm a programmer after all. Maybe someone like myself should go for it, if that's where there passion's at, then seek out a really great editor.

nawitus 12y ago

The concept of "digital product" is flawed, as it implies scarcity, which is obviously artificial and mostly based on regulation (e.g. copyright law). Instead, you should sell digital services.

FigBug 12y ago
I'm not sure artificial scarcity is a bad thing, as it allows digital products to exist. As a consumer I'd much rather have the option to choose between a digital product and a digital service. Somethings like email and web hosting obviously have to be a digital service. Things like games and music can be either. And I usually choose the product since it'll exist long after the service is gone. (Assuming no DRM) I think we may be entering a digital dark age, where in the not too distant future, a lot of the software of today will no longer be useable. There will be no DOSBOX equivalent to play web games of 2014.
- dublinben 12y ago
  Digital products don't require artificial scarcity. They can be given away for free as advertising for the service. They can also be crowdfunded by a bounty, and then freely released upon completion.
  - graeme 12y ago
    If there's no copyright, what's to stop OTHER people from giving away someone's digital products for free? I mean, I put all my books for free online. But I'd still rather be able to prevent others from using them commercially. I'd never have written them if a better funded competitor could just take them and provide them for free and outrank me. http://lsathacks.com/explanations/ http://lsathacks.com/explanations/ is my free stuff.
    - nawitus 12y ago
      http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/intellectual/againstfinal.htm http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/intellectual/againstfi...
      - graeme 12y ago
        You haven't addressed my point. The parent comment was arguing that I could give away my material for free as advertising for services. I pointed out that I couldn't do that without intellectual property, as someone else with a larger platform could give away my material for free. Does that book you linked to address this point?
  - corysama 12y ago
    When you figure out how to crowdfund the next Avatar/Game of Thrones/Last of Us let me know. You might not care about them, but enough people did value them enough to pay 100s of millions for them after they were created. I'm eagerly awaiting anyone to put forward a plan on how to convince the masses to risk pre-paying 100s of millions for the creation of a new-but-equivalently-awesome IP. It would not be a sensible risk proposition by any measure.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
snowwrestler 12y ago
Selling digital products is just a way to crowdsource the service of digital product development. It's even more beneficial to the consumer than something like Kickstarter, since they get to see the finished product before deciding whether to kick in funding.

kasbah 12y ago

This point, that making copies of software, comes at no direct cost to the creator is often glossed over in articles that express amazement at the free software and open-source movements. "Why would someone spend so much time working on something and then give it away for free?" they ask and I personally like Linus Torvalds' response that it was the only thing to do that made sense to him. It is a generous act but it comes at no additional cost to the donor and what person doesn't want their work to be as useful to as many people as possible? I believe it is also the key thing to consider in explaining the rise of software piracy and the opposition to DRM. I hope to see a complete paradigm shift in my life-time, in the everyday software-user, in understanding what what they can reasonably be expected to do with a digital work, i.e. copy, copy and copy again as it doesn't cost anyone anything. A business with an 85% percent profit margin makes me uneasy and seems exploitative to say the least. It is unfair to the consumer, it's just that most consumers don't really know or care, they can always pirate it if they can't afford it.

Swizec 12y ago
> This point, that making copies of software, comes at no direct cost to the creator Support cost. Support cost will sink a business if they're not taken into account. That's why you should never sell software for less than $x0 to consumers and less than $x00 to businesses. Because the support costs will eat you alive. The only way you can get away with free is if there's absolutely no support (your product isn't likely to see much use) or you like doing support as a hobby (you will eventually find a shinier toy). Oh and I'm being very liberal when I say support. Even dealing with pull requests can be a bitch. Even if you only get one or two a month. You will forget to deal with them.
- x1798DE 12y ago
  It's very, very common that open source developers will provide zero support for their products. That's almost part of the open source ethos, where someone starts as a core dev, eventually moves on and then the project is picked up or forked by the next person. If a product becomes sufficiently popular, the support gets provided by the various volunteer armies in IRC who provide free tech support for nothing more than the pleasure of berating strangers that they are helping on the internet.

joereggan190 12y ago

http://www.goldcoastoutfitters.com/node/698 http://www.goldcoastoutfitters.com/node/698

joereggan190 12y ago

http://www.goldcoastoutfitters.com/node/705 http://www.goldcoastoutfitters.com/node/705

joereggan190 12y ago

http://www.chicagoartistsresource.org/node/204382 http://www.chicagoartistsresource.org/node/204382

joereggan190 12y ago

http://drupalladder.org/lesson/aea671eb-897d-46ef-a48e-aba318f54163 http://drupalladder.org/lesson/aea671eb-897d-46ef-a48e-aba31...