What should the Systematic Mixing eBook cost?

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

You definitely shouldn't undervalue your work, but then again, an ebook is an ebook and the expenses of publishing one are pretty much nothing compared to a physical book. Someone made the comparison to Mastering Audio in this thread, but you can grab a real, physical copy of it for $25. That said, $25 would definitely be a bit high IMHO. Somewhere around the $15 range seems a lot more sensible to me.

 

[LeSedna]

What sort of pictures would you guys like to see? I can take screen captures of plug-ins running various settings to illustrate certain points, or snaps of gear to stay visually topical, but otherwise I can't think of any ways to use photos outside a supportive context.

You can see those pictures either as informative to help explain things (it's incredible how much information can forms and colours carry, much more than words) or as a way to make it easy on the eyes. Just not too much, but if it makes the reading experience easier, it's worth it, as long as it doesn't make the book 300 pages for nothing.

I'd say don't fall in the trap of putting pictures illustrating basic stuff like the basis of EQing or compressing, but only on very specific processes or particular cases, unless your e-book is also aiming at newcomers.

 

[crillemannen]

People want PRESETS man hahah!!! Would probably attract some buyers, and pictures on your the mix window etc

 

[Habsburgs]

It would be great to include some Raw tracks to practice.. and some examples of you processing them and maybe explaining why? eg: cheap muddy bass, bright jazz bass, weak snare, shitty OH (?)

 

[abt]

Not to undercut everyone but I think it should be $5-10. I feel like it is hard to keep anything on the internet from being pirated and its only a matter of time before it shows up on a torrent site or something. But if the price is low, people may be more willing to shell out a quick $5-10 to get it legit than to pirate it. Just something to consider. I know it seems like a ridiculously low price but you got to find the balance point, if the price is too high, many people will just say "fuck it"

Unfortunately this is correct. I'm always looking for the impulse buy price point. This price is where people are going to hit "buy now" without thinking about it. You also need to think outside of the sneap forum. You'll sell a bunch here to begin with but then what? I'd be starting at $15 and drop it to $10 a month or so after the sales drop.

 

[Ermz]

All good ideas, and truth be told I'm somewhat deathly afraid of advertising it on Gearslutz. I left that place about a year ago due to a majority of the member base seemingly having the hormonal balance of a menopausal sewing circle.

I like the idea of starting off small here, with this close knit community where many of us know each other, and have been like distant friends for years. It'll definitely have to expand at some point though.

 

[[UEAK]Clowd]

I would hope that nobody here would upload it to a torrent site, so hopefully piracy won't be an issue till sometime in the future.

 

[MaellaJohn]

I voted $20. I'll definitely pick it up, however much it costs.

Unless it's more than $50, of course.

 

[mva801]

I think you'd be in a great range at around $15. You can get many printed titles for $20 or less, so people wouldn't see it as out of the standard range.

I'd also second the idea of a couple audio samples. Say for example you're talking about how release times on your compressors affect the drum sound, you could include a 30 second clip of one or two different release settings, illustrating the point. While people could just play with that on their own, I think it would be helpful to hear your before and afters of say parallel drum compression, guitar eq and some other things... I wouldn't think it would take TOO much extra time, if you could open up a couple sessions, automate some plugin mutes, and bounce it down real quick... Of course everything is always easy in theory.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing this!

 

[GeertSamuel]

25$ is a very fair amount!

 

[Melb_shredder]

I'd happily pay $20

 

[rispsira]

Wow great news i havent been reading this section for a while. sounds great. I'll definitely buy it but i really hope you can have some audio examples. I would pay more for that as the book would be much more valuable to me. See the thing i liked about this forum is its always been able to back up what its saying with clips and thats what exponentially helped me.. i could understand what you guys were talking about and things get stuck into your memory like that,; in the end its a book about audio lol.
But either way i wish you a lot of success on your project and will be buying the book. Gluck Ermz.

 

[C-Martin]

I voted for 15 as i think its a good balance between not too cheap but not too expensive. I would and will gladly pay more for it if it ends up being more expensive because i know its worth it. However, as some others have said, the higher you raise it the more you risk people pirating it because they don't want to pay "too much" for something they are unsure of. You don't want to people second guess if they want to buy it or wait for it to be available free. Ebooks need to be that instant no brainer "buy it now" impulse reaction that someone else mentioned. IMO you'd get more sales out of it this way.

I second the idea about adding pictures and clips. Without going over the top and using up to much of your time, a few pictures can definitely increase the value of your book. It definitely makes things more pleasant and less fatiguing to read when there's pictures even if they aren't really necessary. Clips would add another pleasant touch to this as sometimes just reading how it works doesn't always mean your brain is following. Hearing it in action can put all those words together and make your brain click and understand what they actually mean. Think of all this like adding the final polishing touches to a mix, you don't go overboard on anything but the fine details makes the whole thing feel much more complete.

I also think video would be great, but if i were you id release the book first to see how big of an interest it actually got. If the sales are good then make some extra content videos that you can sell separately. There's nothing people like more than new stuff and updates.

 

[Ermz]

Yes, you pretty much nailed my thoughts C-Martin. That will likely be the price it sells for. It will include topical pictures to help digestion of the source content, and to break up the monotony of reading. It will not initially come with audio or video clips. They may be released later as an accompaniment, or 'expansion' to the book, if you will. Including them outright would simply delay the release too much.

Thanks for all your input guys. I think I'm pretty well sorted with how to proceed now!

 

[jipchen]

I think $20 is a good price. More than 30 on a eBook seem a bit weird to me, even the really big books like the "Mixing Engineer's Handbook" with its 300 pages are about 20 dollars, and those are actual paperback books. I agree that samples / pictures / videos would make it even more interesting and worth some extra cash though

 

[slayercannibalsuffohead]

Hmmmmmm .... 2 Jack Daniels cans at a night club, or, a $20 e-book from Ermz that gives me more insight to mixing metal than most other offerings out there.
Looks like I'm staying sober tonight.

 

[Uros]

I don't want you to get the wrong impression, but just wanted to point out this:

If you look at this small community we have here, a fair price could be 25$, and even go up to maybe 30$ (IMO).

But if you want to spread this outside of this forum, you have to take into consideration that you are not well known engineer/author on a big level (don't have a certain number of major releases under your name that would give you street cred).

FWIW, I think that your mixes are on a pair with/better from a lot of well known engineers in the field that you are trying to get your name out there on (that is, modern metal)

With all this taken into account and all that 'impulse buying' stuff - I'd say 10/15$ is probably the best option to pick.

Also, good point for Jipchen (btw, I love that book )

 

[Ermz]

Completely agree with you, Heavy Jerk. While we enjoy a small community here, and my past records are fairly well documented locally, I'm of course barely known in the outside engineering world, and the majority of people would think 'wait, why is this prick trying to tell me how to mix.. and why is he charging me $25 for it?'.

It's really a matter of cracking the bigger markets slowly, somehow finding a way to gain exposure there, and of course maintaining a highly affordable rate such as $15. Above all, the more people here can spread the word to the wider community, the better things will be. I think I will rely on word of mouth a lot, and perhaps 3rd party advertising to crack bigger markets like the GS crowd and whatnot. Perhaps should also look into targeting the home recording boards, where something like this could be very popular. Even if I were to offer commission to some individuals to do advertising on my behalf on those places, that might be an idea.

 

[sebby123]

Completely agree with you, Heavy Jerk. While we enjoy a small community here, and my past records are fairly well documented locally, I'm of course barely known in the outside engineering world, and the majority of people would think 'wait, why is this prick trying to tell me how to mix.. and why is he charging me $25 for it?'.

It's really a matter of cracking the bigger markets slowly, somehow finding a way to gain exposure there, and of course maintaining a highly affordable rate such as $15. Above all, the more people here can spread the word to the wider community, the better things will be. I think I will rely on word of mouth a lot, and perhaps 3rd party advertising to crack bigger markets like the GS crowd and whatnot. Perhaps should also look into targeting the home recording boards, where something like this could be very popular. Even if I were to offer commission to some individuals to do advertising on my behalf on those places, that might be an idea.

Hell i'll whore it around on the sevenstring forum,The recording section on there is full of kids trying to be the next misha mansoor (bulb) and i know nolly has a sticky with your drum/guitar mixing guide already so this could easily be added there.

 

[Ermz]

It would be excellent if you could do that. Anyone who is a member on any of the 'home recording' based forums, I'd be greatly appreciative if you were to make them aware of the guide too. I don't have accounts on any of those.