If you’ve published a digital book designed for e-readers such as Kindle, you should consider taking that same content and publishing it with additional media as a premium version, at a premium price, for users willing to pay more for more content.
With Apple’s iBooks Author – a free tool – you can create multimedia-rich digital books available for purchase within the Apple ecosystem. Here, you could take your existing content, layer on additional media, and upsell a premium version of the same work.
Alternatively, you could use one of any number of course creation tools – my favorite is Thinkific – to add additional content and turn your book into a digital course, using this framework as the means of delivering additional media for an additional price.
One more advanced option is to create an Alexa skill or Google action from your content, and use some of the existing monetization options to allow users to pay for additional premium content through their Amazon Echo or Google Home devices. If you’re interested in voice-first technology, and want to try your hand at software like Storyline or Alexa Skills Blueprints, this could be an option for the delivery of a premium version of your existing book.
Here are seven ways to consider creating a premium edition:
- Include the Audiobook—Get the original author of a book to record themselves reading the book out loud, and even include additional insights, if you like, that reside strictly in the audio recording. Then, include that recording within the iBook, with a button on each page that allows the reader to touch it and have the author read to them. Not only does this add immense perceived value to the content, but it also can be monetized as a separate revenue stream by selling the audiobook version separately.
- Include a Glossary—Take all the relevant vocabulary from your title – characters, settings, plot elements if a fiction title, or all relevant terminology from a non-fiction work – and utilize the built-in glossary feature of iBooks Author for your premium edition.
- Include Podcasts, TV Interviews or Other Media Interviews Conducted with the Author—A curated selection of media appearances made by an author about a new book is a great addition within the actual book. Readers who are connected with an author, or connected with the topic of a book or a book’s characters, often can’t get enough of the additional insight these media appearances bring.
- Include Video Commentary from the Author—Having an author speak, directly, yet casually, to the reader about the book or topics at hand, is something readers have shown they are willing to pay a price premium for. Keep the premium video content off of YouTube, and make it available exclusively to premium content purchasers.
- ??Include Previous Books in a Series—Throwing in a previous book in a series, as a bonus inclusion at the end, is easy to do and makes it easier for new readers to step up and engage with a franchise knowing they have all the content under one roof.
- Include Hand-written Notes, Sketches or Photos Related to the Book’s Original Production—No matter the genre, or whether we’re talking fiction or non-fiction, readers love to peek behind-the-scenes at the production process of any creative work. It’s a no-brainer to include photography, outlines, hand-written notes, or images of any other documents, which illuminate the creative process for readers.
- Include Early Access to the Follow-up Book—Letting readers know early access to a follow-up book will be made available via a title update to an original title is a great value-add.
Increase Your Revenue from Content in 2019
Readers have demonstrated time and again that a significant subset of them are willing to pay multiple times for content – once perhaps for a regular edition, and then again down the road when a newer, better version emerges. We’ve seen this not just in books, but also in other types of media, including movies and music.
Taking the time to consider having a premium edition of your content – whether one individual title or an entire series – can be well worth the effort. Give it some thought as you consider how to increase your own revenue, or your business’ revenue, from your content in 2019.