Have you ever being ripped by any Ebook author/Ebook affiliate promoter? If yes, please share with us about your experience.
Personally, when I first came across the ebook industry, back in the year of 2005, I have least or no knowledge at all, about how the industry works. I bought an ebook from an author in my own country (Malaysia). In my opinion, It was the worst ebook I've ever seen.
What's worst, is the situation that I am going to explain later on. Before going on into that topic, allow me to explain in advance, about the currency issue in my country.
I think it would be good to take something which has the same value, to let you guys have a clearer view in the process of the comparison on the currency issue. Let's take Pizza Hut in this case. 1 supreme pizza (not the meal package,without any other additional order, just a supreme pizza) in the Pizza Hut in our country would costs us about USD $7.7 (USD$1 = about MYR 3.45, at this moment)... I don't know how much does it cost in the U.S or other country. Do the math yourself, and take that to compare along with the standard of living in our country.
Average high school and college graduate's MONTHLY salary would be around $175 - $380 (this is the case in my city)... Larger city will have a higher rate of payment, of course. But then the cost of living will of course be higher too, comparitively. Considering the kind of technology and stuff that we have today, a decent "comfortable life" would surely cost much more than those amount above. So, after paying all the debts for some services such as Cellphone, Satellite TV, meals, Broadband, Personal Insurance, sundries, the list can go on. Do the maths and you will get that $175 - $380 per MONTH is like nothing ! People in our country thinks that having a MYR $3k is like having a very high salary, and yet, that is not even 1K of USD !!! Now you can at least understand a little bit about how 'high' is the standard of living in my country, well at least in the matter of $$$ ...
Ok, back to the story now. So, I have bought the ebook, and its price was USD $20, on the author's website (exchange rate was about $1 to MYR 3.75, which was quite high at that moment)... I was kind of 'need' the ebook at that time, and I thought it is ok to pay for the ebook (if it is a quality ebook). $20 was quite a lot for me, as that was about 8% of my income for that particular month. Before buying the ebook, I have actually seen the SAME THING from so many other websites, with different price tag. I remember that all of them was under $20. Somehow, I found out that the original author was Mr. Z (fake name), so I contacted him on the phone, and asked him why is that so many other different price tag out there. He straight away told me that : "oh, those are not the GENUINE ebook, I wrote the ebook and it's $20".. So, I thought, ok, it would be better off to buy from the 'REAL/GENUINE' author, and if there is anything, I can claim for a refund.... After downloading the product from him, I found out that the ebook came with a thing called Master Resell Rights (I didn't know that there is such a thing called Resell Right before that)... Darn.. I felt bad because I was being fooled, those ebooks which I saw, is actually being sold/promoted by those who have bought the ebook....
The quality of the ebook? Needless to say, it was a rubbish ! I didn't ask for a refund, I took it as a lesson. And I didn't blame the author for that, I can only blame myself for not having enough knowledge on that.
That's my personal experience, and anyone is welcome to post their own good/bad experience.
Personally, when I first came across the ebook industry, back in the year of 2005, I have least or no knowledge at all, about how the industry works. I bought an ebook from an author in my own country (Malaysia). In my opinion, It was the worst ebook I've ever seen.
What's worst, is the situation that I am going to explain later on. Before going on into that topic, allow me to explain in advance, about the currency issue in my country.
I think it would be good to take something which has the same value, to let you guys have a clearer view in the process of the comparison on the currency issue. Let's take Pizza Hut in this case. 1 supreme pizza (not the meal package,without any other additional order, just a supreme pizza) in the Pizza Hut in our country would costs us about USD $7.7 (USD$1 = about MYR 3.45, at this moment)... I don't know how much does it cost in the U.S or other country. Do the math yourself, and take that to compare along with the standard of living in our country.
Average high school and college graduate's MONTHLY salary would be around $175 - $380 (this is the case in my city)... Larger city will have a higher rate of payment, of course. But then the cost of living will of course be higher too, comparitively. Considering the kind of technology and stuff that we have today, a decent "comfortable life" would surely cost much more than those amount above. So, after paying all the debts for some services such as Cellphone, Satellite TV, meals, Broadband, Personal Insurance, sundries, the list can go on. Do the maths and you will get that $175 - $380 per MONTH is like nothing ! People in our country thinks that having a MYR $3k is like having a very high salary, and yet, that is not even 1K of USD !!! Now you can at least understand a little bit about how 'high' is the standard of living in my country, well at least in the matter of $$$ ...
Ok, back to the story now. So, I have bought the ebook, and its price was USD $20, on the author's website (exchange rate was about $1 to MYR 3.75, which was quite high at that moment)... I was kind of 'need' the ebook at that time, and I thought it is ok to pay for the ebook (if it is a quality ebook). $20 was quite a lot for me, as that was about 8% of my income for that particular month. Before buying the ebook, I have actually seen the SAME THING from so many other websites, with different price tag. I remember that all of them was under $20. Somehow, I found out that the original author was Mr. Z (fake name), so I contacted him on the phone, and asked him why is that so many other different price tag out there. He straight away told me that : "oh, those are not the GENUINE ebook, I wrote the ebook and it's $20".. So, I thought, ok, it would be better off to buy from the 'REAL/GENUINE' author, and if there is anything, I can claim for a refund.... After downloading the product from him, I found out that the ebook came with a thing called Master Resell Rights (I didn't know that there is such a thing called Resell Right before that)... Darn.. I felt bad because I was being fooled, those ebooks which I saw, is actually being sold/promoted by those who have bought the ebook....
The quality of the ebook? Needless to say, it was a rubbish ! I didn't ask for a refund, I took it as a lesson. And I didn't blame the author for that, I can only blame myself for not having enough knowledge on that.
That's my personal experience, and anyone is welcome to post their own good/bad experience.
