Distribly vs. JVZoo vs. BlueSnap vs. DigiResults vs. MyCommerce, etc.

(Your choice of dancing affiliates…)

When Leanpub showed me they weren’t publishing anything but original works, I was left finding other options for creating binders and packages – as well as getting affiliates to sell your books for you.

As I noted, the major ebook distributors don’t have any option like this. Even their “boxed sets” are simply multiple books packaged into one big ebook.

People want entire series or sets of books. And in various formats. Packages are a logical and necessary step in any ebook marketing.

This really brings us to Internet marketers who have been dealing with digital products well before the ebook formats took over book publishing.

I’d pretty much settled on Distribly, but still had a nagging question, so did this review to compare what the other possible options could be.

How to Pick a Digital Distributor

We want to follow the same tenets that set us up for successful (and profitable) ebook publishing:

• Start from scratch (or less) – using only online resources with no required upfront fees.
• Work smart, not hard – build your package once and leverage it as far as you can.

This means that these distributors should also follow the ebook publishing model, where the hosting is on them. There should be no reason to have to set up special hosting for digital downloads – which is additional monthly expense.

We also want to have integrated affiliate capabilities to enable your audience to become evangelists for your book packages.

The candidates:
All these host files and have affiliate capabilities.

Clickbank – Alexa Rank: 280 – cost: numerous fees
JVZoo – Alexa Rank: 309 – cost: 5% of sales
e-Junkie – Alexa Rank: 1999 – cost: $5 per month for up to 10 products
MyCommerce – Alexa: 10069 – cost: 2.9% + $1
Payloadz – Alexa: 13506 – cost: Basic – 20%, Premium – $14.95/mo. and 4.89% + .49
DigiResults – Alexa:21467 – cost: 7.5% + .25  or 5% + .50
BlueSnap – Alexa: 22206 – cost: “as low as 2.9% + .30”
Distribly – Alexa: 460281 – cost: 10%, reducing on volume
Scubbly – Alexa: 711525 – cost: 5% + .30

Discussion:

I’ve included the Alexa traffic rank so you can see what kind of leverage these sites will bring to you. This drops out Scubbly, since you’d essentially have to be bringing your own traffic to them to get sales (and they don’t pay you for 45 days.) Distribly stays in, simply because it is so simple to use – but with their higher fees, this is offset by the fact that their reviews integrate with Google search – plus they have instant payments to both you and your affiliates.

Anything with a monthly cost drops out, or a hosting cost of any kind. Like ebook distributors, they should be free to use and then paid from sales. There is simply no sense in paying for something which may never earn enough back in return.

So, Clickbank and e-Junkie drop out, as well as Payloadz.

The short list is then:
JVZoo, MyCommerce, DigiResults, BlueSnap, and Distribly.

How to use Digital Product Distributors

There are some possibility of interlinking these (DigiResults and JVZoo) but that actually just gives us a better idea on how to put them to use. We don’t need the extra work, but can leverage that same idea.

Like ebooks, this gives us the Lowest Common Denominator approach.

1. You make a package and compress it into a ZIP file. This would be a series of books in multiple formats, plus video clips, extra PDF files, etc.
2. Then import this into Calibre as a ZIP file, and write your description there.
3. Post this to each in turn, working out the sequence of greatest meta-data to least – copy/paste from Calibre.

Simple – like ebook publishing. Same model. It just follows on the heels of your batch publishing.

And you can make several sets up – one for each book with extra’s, then a package of the whole series.

You’ll batch post the ebooks themselves, and then batch post their packages. Much like the ebooks, you’d post logos for each vendor on the book’s landing page so that they had their choice of where to get the package – or sign up as an affiliate. You may also decide to simply make a landing page for the package and link from each ebook landing page to that one.

The point in reverse is to engage the already-existing affiliates on these sites to sell your packages of books for you. Each digital distributor above has their own set of affiliates, much as the ebook distributors have their own regular users. By getting on as many of these as possible, you leave the least money on the table while getting the best discovery you can.

End Result – More Eyeballs, More Profit

This follows the More Eyeballs theory of ebook sales. In this case, we are also reaching out to professional affiliate salespeople.

In each of these five sites, you’ll find various opportunities for special offers in addition to just a series of packages for sale. On some sites, you can give special percentages for a select group of JV affiliates.

Once you build a mailing list of some trusted affiliated associates, you’ll then be able to leverage ebook launches with pre-sale dates and so on.

What we’ve done by searching down this line is to line up a marketing base for you which will leverage those books into a much higher income range. As well, it will drive people to buy your Amazon versions.

Some of these also have physical fulfillment capabilities. This brings in Kunaki for DVD’s and perhaps Lulu or other POD delivery options – if they’ll drop-ship for you.

It’s now up to you to make a fortune with your book – over and above simply getting financial freedom. It also means that you can potentially out-source your marketing so you can concentrate on more ebooks and more binders/packages for sale.

Good Hunting!