Thoughts on MetaFortune.com - an SL ebook site

Hi all,

I was wondering about your experiences with www.metafortune.com. Has anyone used it? How they liked it? And how much it helped them?

Thanks for the guidance.

Haven't heard of it . . . just looks like "How To Open A Store In SL". Which, ya know, I'm already planning on doing, but hey. Seems to be targeted more towards people who have never even touched SL in the first place.

I might be curious about it if only to see if he has any tips on how to run a store that I haven't thought of yet. I just hope he doesn't suggest spamming the Events calendar to get traffic!

Gotcha. I run a SL business forum and thought it would be a good match to recommend to my members if anyone had tried it before.

Okay, so I downloaded it and . . .

Hey waaaaaait a minute . . . aren't you the guy who WROTE it? Why the hell are you asking about your own book as if you don't know about it?

Actually i did, but I was wondering about user experiences and trying to find out member thoughts and if it would be a good match for other SL business users. Essentially looking for feedback. Thx (sorry for the confusion).

Let's see, I just paid $7.99 US for a twelve-page PDF document (that's not an e-book, that's an e-pamphlet) written on about the level of the Monty Python How To Do It Sketch.

To say I was expecting a little bit more might be an understatement.

I'm hoping the 'free bonus' of store and stock might make it a little bit worth it, but somehow I don't think it's going to be worth the equivalent of L$2000 I dropped on it. I'll get back to you on that once I'm inworld and have time to examine the contents.

Laughable. Although I am tempted to pay the 8 bux just to see how laughable.

lol...the knowledge is too simple and can be extractd from any websites, blogs and forums. I guess is for newbies references only

Even newbies are going to be a little stumped by it, I think. There's no Second Life for Dummies section, just--here's the link to sign up and now let's make some money!

Some of the information is incomplete and even out of date. The book recommends using afilliate links to earn referral bonuses, but neglects to mention that the bonus is only paid if the referred member upgrades to a paid membership. There's also a reference to First Land, which was gotten rid of back in February precisely because of people snatching it up and selling it for a profit as the book recommends!

And the most egregious part is the tip recommending legitimizing your business by using a seal of approval bestowed by talksecondlife.com. A quick Google search reveals that Jacob Roundel is the owner of talksecondlife.

There wasn't a damn thing in there I didn't already know outside of the fact that afilliate links paid L$2000, which I could have found out from secondlife.com if I'd bothered to look.

I just unpacked the Business in a Box--it was mediocre furniture and a store to put it in. Made by somebody else entirely, I should add. I might see if I can hack the vending scripts for my own usage, but outside of that it was pretty much a waste of time and cash.

Mr. Roundel, I hope your refund offer still stands. Because it is well within thirty days, and I am decidedly unsatisfied.

There's is no short cut to make money in SL, hope u get ur refund, Cyfishy.

Oh, I wasn't looking for a short cut, not by any means. I'm already working on making things to sell with my friend Miles Montgolfier and I know it's not going to be magically easy. I was just hoping for perhaps some tips that might help with the learning curve in getting things set up. Instead I got . . . well, I've already ranted at length about it.

I am sorry u get an unvalueable ebook, hope ur problem will get solved soon..

My money was fully refunded as of about an hour ago. I don't really feel like demanding the double-the-money-back guarantee that's touted on the website (though if Mr. Roundel chooses to live up to it, I certainly won't complain.) At any rate, I'm back to where I was, a tiny bit wiser, though probably not in the way intended.

I'm sorry Mr. Roundel didn't find my criticisms sufficiently 'constructive', but I hope he can perhaps take them under consideration as he strives to improve his product.

Affiliate links are actually only L$1000 now and have been for sometime.

http://blog.secondlife.com/2006/08/15/changes-coming-to-the-second-life-affiliate-and-resident-referral-programs/

If that's the case, they really need to update their page . . .

http://www.secondlife.com/community/referral.php

Mr. Roundel, if you're still reading, could you explain why you're seeking feedback on the site if you're planning on selling it anyway?

"Before I authored Secrets of Second Life I enrolled in a Top Tier MBA program. I absorbed everything I could and used the skills that I learned to make a fortune on the internet."
http://www.metafortune.com

Sounds very much like a sort of religious preacher: "I have the power, pay me to touch Jesus."