While composing a comment response to a recent article by Shawn from AffiliateTip, it started to get pretty long, so, I thought I would make an article out of it. If you want to know more about the post I am responding to, please visit Shawn’s site at the links listed above.

Basically, one of the more controversial affiliate marketers who I have started to follow because they are so honest about their opinion is on a tear and mounting an attack on eBook writers & publishers.

I do not publish any eBooks, and I think his post is an interesting “comment” on the general tone of folks being fed up with poor quality “regurgitated” content.

I share the general sentiment and am extremely tired of the “carpetbagger” mentality of infomercials, eBooks, and other “get rich quick” schemes that permeate the U.S. market these days. I would love to see “scammers” removed from the marketplace in the hopes that we would be left with good value-added products to choose from, instead of having to sift through tons of garbage to find the one gem.

I think the originator makes a couple of mistakes though - the first is being addressed by his readers warning of copyright infringement which he threatens to do.

The second is his assumption that all eBooks have no value - just because he knows the strategies that work for him doesn’t mean that everybody knows those same strategies.

Also, when he says, “I’ve never once come across a single one of them offering anything valuable or new that you can’t find for free on a forum or a blog.” That is true of any cookbook, gaming manual, or other instruction booklet. Does that mean that Emril is an “asshole” because he is publishing another book on how to make crawfish Étouffée? I mean, come on… how many different ways can you cook crawfish and cayenne pepper together??? (That was sarcastic…) There is value in the accumulation and combining of relevant data which saves the buyer time.

It makes me wonder if this is a publicity stunt – perhaps he is getting ready to write his own eBook or has a partner who will release one soon which he will be “forced” to provide a “good” review because the content is so “in the face” of anything out there right now.

We’ll wait & see – I guess.