Are digital products (e-books, courses, etc) a meme?

You're selling a dream not actual advice
There's still unexplored niches out there
I would say getting into the freelance writing ebook/lesson is a bit saturated but if you really think you can do better then give it a practice run

I've seen people make money off of a fucking the zen of gaming for fucks sake, people will buy just about anything in the right context

>>1664719

"people will buy just about anything in the right context"

This x 10000.

In that sense, there are no saturated markets, only saturated contexts.

>>1664719
I do have actual advice, though.

So many newbie freelance writers have no idea what they're doing, but they're more than willing to throw money at a solution. I've seen this firsthand through Twitter and various private Facebook groups for content marketing and copywriting. They tell their story and then ask for books or courses.

I wouldn't be selling a dream, but a sort of no-bullshit approach (drop the six figures in a year dream, here's what you actually do, here's some templates for outreach, here's where you find actual jobs, here's how you set realistic expectations, how to make your pitches stand out, deal with clients, spot problems, etc).

The context is that there are a shitload of liberal arts majors and stay-at-home moms (I'd probably be targeting more of the former) who want to be freelance writers but need a concise guide that holds their hand and tells them what to do.

Again, I have read other books on the subject and they're either all fluff OR way too long and irrelevant (talks way too much about print versus online).

>>1664761
I understand what you mean by actionable advice, but at the same time what you have to consider is take a look at the people here on /biz/ they are just after "the easy money", I am convinced that 90% of the appeal of self help books are any of this get rich ebook shit is that people feel accomplished or closer to their goal simply through buying the book. That they'll read it. Not do anything, blame the book for bad advice and 6 months later buy another one and Rinse and Repeat.

That's why these predatory kind of books selling the dream work so well: because the audience really doesn't actually have the will or desire to act upon it.

Having said that, there MUST be a niche for people who are self motivated and just want a clear direction so that firstly means that your content needs to be more than just "better than the competition" and no-fluff it needs to actually work! Then you need to market it, position it somewhere so it doesn't attract the lazy dreamers but the people who are willing to work for their goals.

I like your idea of writing a couple free ebooks as advertising for your course. There are a lot of people doing this that make money.

You might want to study out how some other people do this and how they structure it and base it off of the most popular ones.

I know some people hate these things and think they are all bad quality and a scam. Personally, I think that if they really help people it'll be successful. If it's really a scam, sooner or later people find out and word spreads.

Give it a try. What do you have to lose?

>>1664849
Thank you for the clarification and I agree, there is a sort of predatory nature to business books. I guess I want to write more of a "how-to" guide with some no-bullshit motivation thrown in versus a pie-in-the-sky book.

>>1664857
Thanks, this is encouraging. I am paying close attention to others in the niche.

My goal is not to scam people: I really do want to build a useful resource for the sake of myself and those that I'm helping.

I say this legitimately because there really is good of money in content writing but so many people scratch at the bottom of the barrel. People will throw money at you if you're decent, but many new writers sabotage themselves.