Much of the ebook market follows not just a pyramid, but a loop — making money online. You know what I’m talking about. Those ebooks that have sales letters of the author boasting of bringing in thousands of dollars a day — with screenshots to prove it. Of course, what he doesn’t tell you is those Clickbank sales screenshots were for ebooks on how to make money online.

Does something sound wrong here?

Yes, some “get rich quick” ebook marketers do very well. These are the guys with the right contacts, huge email lists, or those just ready to break that crusty mold.

The ebook market full of Warrior Forum fanatics isn’t useless. It fills a need. Plenty of guys will continue to rake in millions of dollars from this “garbage” for years. Why? Because of demand.

There is a huge market of consumers who want to be rich. The problem is they really don’t want to do a whole lot of work to get there. Oh, and they also want someone to spell out for them, step-by-step, how to do everything. Well, we’ve just taken out the two critical parts of making a lot of money. Not much left, is there?

So, after purchasing that ebook about making money online, the consumer is given instructions on how to become an affiliate and sell this same ebook to his friends. A few will recoup their investment, but thats hardly anything worth bragging about.

If the market you are in — ebooks, real estate, the stock market — is a pyramid, make sure your not on the bottom. Its not a very profitable place to be.

Are you an ebook affiliate marketer? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Write your own book. Yeah, it helps if you’ve actually made some money online so you don’t have to photoshop your screenshots.

2. Get the book printed for real. Broke? Try some print-on-demand alternatives.

3. Do something different. Everyone and their pet rabbit is a guru these days. A cheap suit and conference room at a hotel just isn’t going to cut it anymore.

4. Become really friendly with affiliates who have access to a large audience on demand (e.g. targeted e-mail lists.)

In case you haven’t gotten the message, a blog where you only post affiliate links to other crappy ebooks isn’t a very good strategy. Neither is spamming established webmaster forums. If you are satisfied with a few sales a day, perhaps. You want to make 7 figures? You better be ready to do some real work.