Hi Dave,

I think there are two things to think about here....

Of course, one thing is - will you make sales of your ebook? Will it make you fabulously wealthy, so you can afford to buy a big boat to cruise the Caribbean?

Of course, if it let's you do that, it's a good thing. :)

The other question is - what will I gain from it in other ways? Will I gain valuable experience or knowledge?

You say your friend who you are planning to JV with has 20 years of sales experience, and you are lacking in sales experience. Obviously, from working on a book like this with him you will gain some valuable knowledge. And by selling it with him you will also gain some valuable selling experience yourself. In this sense, you can't lose - you will gain valuable knowledge and experience, whether the book sells well or doesn't.

So the way I look at it, you can't lose, at least not when you look at the "big picture".

How you divide up the work will be between you and your friend, but certainly from your perspective, if it's a choice of doing this or doing nothing, then I say, go for it. Because you can't lose.

Now, having said that, the market for sales and marketing related stuff is very tough. It's a very competitive area. Why is that? Because the people selling this stuff know how to sell! So you are up against the "pros" as your competition. I think it's usually easier to succeed in a different area - one where your competition are not so skilfull at selling. (I've talked with other marketers who agree me here too.) Or find a specialized niche.

So, keep that in mind. However, if you can do it, it will definitely be valuable experience, and you will learn a lot.

And finally, I would consider the "positioning" of your sales ebook. It will probably have a better chance of success if it is targeting a unique niche in the market.

For example, take Yanik Silver, who is quite successful online. Here's a business of his which you may not know about....

http://www.morepatients.com/

Here, Yanik is selling sales knowledge - but he's targeting a niche. He's targeting doctors. That way, he has less competition, because few others are trying to sell sales knowledge to this niche.

If you can choose a niche like this - one where there is little competition - you could do well. If you're just selling very "general" sales knowledge, you are competiting against thousands of other books.

Hope that helps, Dave!

Dien Rice


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