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Comment by apo | Hacker News Reader

I'm ready to share this now: our book on Angular 2 did $400k a revenue, per year, the first two years. BUT the reason this was possible was we had a huge audience that trusted us.

Helpful insights.

What are the major factors you credit with getting the large audience?

How large is "large"?

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Just guessing based on rough numbers:

$400,000 / $20 = 20,000 purchasers at that $20 price point (which is probably low for the books I see around in the space). If you guess a conversion rate of 2-4%[0] you’re talking 500k - 1mm people. Obviously those numbers shift down with purchase price normalizing to what feels more standard in the tech space ($30-$40).

[0]: https://chrismcmullen.com/2017/11/03/book-marketing-by-the-n...

This is why being able to write great email sales copy has an outsized effect on your success as an independent author. Think about how long it takes (and how many blog posts!) to add 500,000 email subscribers, even if you already have that many. That's the difference between 2% and 4%. Imagine you already have those million email subscribers and you can increase your conversions from 4% to 5% with a price increase from $20 to $25.

That's going to be much more effective to the bottom line of your business[0] than the best Facebook ad or marginally better SEO.

[0] Let's be honest if you're making half a million dollars with book releases, it's a business.

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