I’m looking for some ideas for useful (or semi-useful) free online tools I could write as a way to garner some link love for this blog. Actually, I have several ideas in mind but who knows if anyone else would find them useful. So I thought I’d just ask my readers what they’d like to see and do a bit of market research that way…

Here’s the deal. Leave a comment telling me about an online tool you’d like to see developed. Could be anything, but it has to be something I can offer for free (or at least a free version). It can be a tool I place on one of my sites, a script I give away, a WordPress plugin, etc. The incentive? If I build the tool, I’ll give you a link back to a site of your choosing as your reward.

I have no idea if anyone will participate in this, but I hope a few (or many!) of you do…

Speaking of AdSense books, today I coincidentally received a copy of the latest royalty report for Make Easy Money With Google: Using the AdSense Advertising Program, the book that was the genesis for this blog. As of December 31, 2007, just over 6300 copies of MEMWG have been sold. This includes several hundred copies of Gagnez facilement de l’argent avec Google et AdSense, the French translation of the book. (No, I didn’t do the translation!)

6300 copies may sound like a lot, but it’s not. The book was published in 2005, after all, so it’s hardly a bestseller. I haven’t even earned out the advance yet, although it’s coming close now. But as I’ve stated before in The Uneconomics of Book Publishing, there’s so much work involved in writing a conventionally-published book for the money you get that I doubt I’ll write another one without first having ensured that it would be a bestseller.

Money aside, though, it’s nice to hear from the readers who enjoyed the book and learned from it. I’m still surprised it sells, to be honest, but the material still stands the test of time even if the screenshots are now wrong.

Feel free to pick up a copy to use as a gift. Or a doorstop

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Eric Giguere is the author of several printed books and knows a thing or two about content monetization. Subscribe to his AdSense blog today and never miss any of his insightful comments. And the not-so-insightful ones, for that matter.

It’s been a while since AdSense publishers have heard from Joel Comm, but today Joel has released AdSense Secrets 4.0, the latest version of his bestselling AdSense ebook. I’m downloading it right now as I write this. It’s big — over 200 pages. I’ll post a detailed review later.

The new version costs only $9.95, which is a big price drop from the previous versions. However, some caveats:

• You can only purchase by credit card. (No PayPal.)
• You will be presented with some upsells. (Well, what did you expect?)
• You will be given a 1-month trial subscription to his new Internet marketing newsletter, “The Top 1% Report”. You’ll receive it in the mail (along with a bonus CD, apparently) within a few weeks of your purchase. (Hopefully less than 4!) The trial subscription will continue as a paid $29.95/month subscription unless you cancel.

So let’s call a spade a spade: this release of AdSense Secrets is really just a way to get people to subscribe to his new physical newsletter. I really dislike the negative billing option. Now I have to remind myself to cancel the subscription in a month. Be happy I took one for the team!

I’m sure the book is good. Too bad you can’t just buy it without the report.

Sponsored Link: PLRSiteBuilder is an easy way to create and maintain content-rich websites written by yours truly. Try it today!

Eric Giguere is the author of several printed books and knows a thing or two about content monetization. Subscribe to his AdSense blog today and never miss any of his insightful comments. And the not-so-insightful ones, for that matter.