A note to myself, mostly.
Stripe lets you add “recommended products” to a checkout – what direct-response people call bumps. I’ve resisted this until now, partly out of squeamishness about the language (“upsell,” “conversion,” “average order value”). But I’m trying to get over that.
When someone buys the book, they’re already choosing to spend money with me directly rather than on Amazon or wherever. They’ve made that decision, and they’ve somehow found their way to this little corner of the internet. Offering related things at that moment isn’t pushing – it’s just saying “these also exist.” People can add or ignore. No follow-up email, no reminder, no algorithm.
So there are now two things offered at the paperback checkout:
- How to Silence Your Inner Critic, a week-long email course I made a while ago. I’ve offered it at £47 to book buyers, which is less than the standalone price. Not because I doubt it, but because I trust that people already reading the book are the right audience.
- A signed A5 art print of some dahlias I drew to thank a friend who called me in psychiatric hospital and, unexpectedly, made me laugh. £50, sent with the book.
At the collectors’ edition checkout, there’s the Inner Critic course again, and a paperback copy of the book to give to a friend – included in the same parcel, no extra postage.
That’s the whole system. If you buy nothing extra, that’s fine. If you add one thing, that helps me sell more directly. If it looks a bit commercial for a site about creative self-expression – it is. Direct sales are how the work is even possible.