If it was useful, increased my earnings, and was something I don't know already, I would be willing to pay in the thousands...but then again, I would want to know the info before paying money...therefore I would have to say that i wouldn't pay anything for a promise without the actual tip/trick.
If I thought it was worth buying then I would. Is it going to have information in it that I couldn't fid online somewhere - probably not. But, is it going to save me the time searching for said information - that's worth paying for. Let's take another example: Is all the information on how to program in PHP available online and free ? - yes, pretty much. Then why have I got $200+ worth of php books next to my desk. OK adsense isn't as involved as an entire language, but the saving time principle still counts. Then you start thinking of newbies. Could they learn quicker from a book than from sifting through these forums ? - probably. That's where the market lies.
Eric, I think you are definitely questioning the wrong crowd here LOL Too many long timers here who learned via the web. I have definitely learned from Ebooks that I have bought and it has saved me tons of time. I bought Joel's ebook and am not embarassed to admit it and didn't ask for a refund! I actually did a major increase of Adsense revenue after reading through his information. Yes, alot of it was "well DUH, ya think?" type information, but for me, I guess I just didn't have enough time to actually read and absorb the tips on the message boards in order for it to sink in. I have several very busy ecommerce websites and, while I would love to be able to sit and read through all the awesome informative posts on boards like this, I just don't have the time. Sometimes, a concise ebook with all the great tips compiled into it, even if they are freely available elsewhere, saves time and does make a dramatic difference. There is a market for ebooks like this, just not a die hard money making webmaster board like this
I never thought this was the best place to promote my book, and I've only talked about it because someone else brought it up and I wanted to clear up any misconceptions other forum members might have. What you just said about a "concise ebook" applies just as well to printed books. Why else do I have a shelf full of Java books beside my monitor? Those of you reading this might be interested in an interview I did last week (PDF) with a local newspaper. Anyhow, whether or not people buy and read e-books, you can sure waste a lot of your time reading these forums!