How to Create a DVD without Spending a Dime

It’s common knowledge that information products have high margins.  Information in all forms (books, ebooks, CDs, DVDs, online videos, etc) commonly sells for multiples of 10, 50, 100 times the unit cost of manufacturing the product.  It’s no wonder there are so many information marketers.  Those healthy margins tend to attract a crowd.

DVDs are an excellent choice for the delivery of an information product.  And despite what many people seem to think, DVDs are not difficult to create, don’t require investing in expensive software, and don’t come with the requisite hassle of carrying inventory, manufacturing, and shipping.  Those are just convenient excuses for marketers who won’t put forth a little effort to discover the truth.

The fact is that DVDs are very simple to make and don’t require investing in expensive software.  In fact, I create DVDs without spending a nickel.  Yes it does require a few software programs but the ones I use are freely available on the Internet and they work incredibly well.  In fact, the software I use to convert avi files to DVD files comes with an incredible support forum that answered my questions within 24 hours.  That’s better service than a lot of products I’ve actually paid for.

As for manufacturing & shipping, there are several options.  The one I use (Kunaki)will create & ship the DVD on demand at their facilities and pass the costs on to the customer.  They charge less than $2 for the physical DVD (including DVD cover) and a nominal $3 handling charge.  And first class shipping via the US Postal Service to most US locations is less than $2 as well.  Customers have the option of paying more for speedier delivery if they so choose.  All you have to do is upload the files to the publisher and drive traffic to your order page.  It couldn’t be much simpler.

Several aspects of DVDs should be appealing to information publishers.  First, DVDs have a higher perceived value than an online video course or a book.  How much will you pay for a book?  You can march into almost any bookstore in America and buy a book on any topic for less than $20.  Good luck selling your book for more than that.  DVDs on the other hand are often sold for over $100…and remember it costs less than $2 for the physical DVD (including DVD cover).  The rest of it goes straight into your bank account.  And since you’re self-publishing you don’t have to share the profits with a middleman.

The service I use also provides the option of putting a UPC code on the product.  This may not seem like such a big deal but this makes it incredibly easy to sell your DVD on Amazon.  Talk about instant credibility.  While most information marketers are schlepping their DVDs on homemade websites, yours is available on Amazon so it must be better.

DVDs aren’t restricted to videos either.  There are data DVDs on which you can put software programs or many other types of data or information.  That’s just the tip of the iceberg.  There are too many reasons for creating DVD information products to be covered in a single article.