Hi Scott,
It's funny you should say that you're afraid your market will see a paid ebook and move on. I was just starting to write a newsletter, and thinking through the concept of...
"You are NOT your market."
Just because you wouldn't pay money for info on that subject doesn't mean that other people won't.
An example: maybe some of the top executives at Rolex would never pay THAT much for a watch. But obviously Rolex does have a market of people who won't just pay top dollar for a watch, they'll pay that much more for the prestige than the quality of the watch.
People are funny that way.
Now will YOUR market pay? You'll have to do some market research, or if push comes to shove, do some testing.
Are there other products out there like yours? I bet there are. I bet the market exists. You just need to find a way to uniquely position yourself in the market so people will have a REASON to buy from you versus your competitors.
You might be right about people coming on the Internet looking for info, not to buy something. This is why it's a good idea to start a newsletter--you provide the info your market wants, but at the same time you're building a relationship with these people. When they trust you, they'll buy from you.
It doesn't matter if they day they found you they were "just looking for info"--they'll buy from you if you give them reasons to buy.
Not right away perhaps, because it can take 7 or more "contacts" with you before your prospect will buy...but eventually they will (not all of course).
Again, the trick is to find out what they want, and give it to them.
Makes the sales process a lot easier for you.
Hope that helps,
Becky