Plans market update

[Jon]

This is an update on our tool plans market, which has been running for over 2 years now. The market has grown nicely, paid out thousands of dollars to plans authors, and we've gathered good insights.

Here's a rundown of what we've learned, and what steps we'll be taking to build the plans market further.


HOW MUCH MONEY CAN YOU MAKE SELLING PLANS?
Obviously it varies, but looking at our historical data, a single plans author can make over $100 in a good month, and over $250 in a great month. Not bad for a new marketplace, and this figure should grow with time. Fortunately, once the original plans are written, this income is largely passive - it requires very little additional work by the plans author.


WHAT PLANS SELL BEST?
Plans are essentially hit-or-miss. Even plans from the same author, of the same quality, with the same promotions, will have markedly different sales.

Here are the five top-selling plans, in order of most popular first:

Machine Tool Dial Making Fixture by rossbotics
Rotary Phase Converter by nhengineer
Tool Post Grinder by rossbotics
Quick Change Tool Post by Paul Alciatore
Knurling Calculator by PJs


WHAT MAKES PLANS SELL?
While we don't have lots of hard data to correlate certain activities with plans sales, some of the trends are worth mentioning:

Community Presence: People are more likely to purchase plans from authors who regularly frequent the forum.

Posting of Free Plans: People are more likely to purchase paid plans from authors who post some other plans for free.

Posting of Tools Before Plans: People are more likely to purchase plans if a non-plans post for the tool has been made.

Sharpening/Grinding Tools: People seem to like purchasing plans for sharpening/grinding tools.

Difficult Tool Plans: People seem to like purchasing plans for more challenging tools.

Active Tool Plans Discussion: If a tool plan discussion is active and posted in frequently, it seems to increase sales of that plan.


HOW CAN WE IMPROVE?
-We should have more people post what they built from plans. We've started a promotion to give away a free set of plans to people who post the tool that they built from plans.

-Judging from internal search data, these terms most accompanied searches for "plans": belt sander, English wheel, power hammer, motorcycle lift, planishing hammer, press brake.

-Free plans is a good idea, especially when they are used as freebies that promote paid plans.

-It's a good idea to keep your plans discussion going with legitimate new posts. For example, look at the Rotary Phase Converter plans discussion. With 222 replies, it's #2 in all-time plans sales. This meshes with the current understanding of online reviews on shopping websites: having ANY reviews is better than having none, even if some of those reviews are negative.

-Plans sellers who participate in the forum have higher sales; this makes perfect sense when you consider that trust is the biggest barrier to purchase.

-We can send a monthly plans-only email. I prefer not to overload our newsletters with commercial content, but one plans-only mailing per month is perfectly reasonable.


WHAT CAN PLANS AUTHORS DO TO INCREASE SALES?
-Use your signature to promote your plans.
-Post daily on the forum as a regular person.
-Offer free plans, or convert low-selling plans to free plans (let us know if you want to do this).
-Prominently link up your free or non-sale tool post with your plans post.
-Link to your plans sales thread on other forums or blogs on the net.


To submit your tool plans for sale: How to submit your tool plans for sale.