I decided to start IM on January 1st of this year. I hung around this forum and learned. I soaked up as much info as I could. I saw that there were experts here who would be glad to help me if I showed them that I was trying to help myself. They'd be more than happy to give me tips and expert advice as long as I wasn't just a lazyass looking for easy money. I took their advice to heart and worked hard, and worked smart. I went through project after project. Most of them failed. But every time I did a little better. My last website earned me $218 in Clickbank sales, then I sold it for $300 to take on this new website. I think it's going to make a lot of money. I've also made $110 from Adult FriendFinder.
Where is this story going? Well, I never spent any money in the learning phase. I never bought any phony e-books from "SEO gurus" or any shit like that. I just read this forum, paid attention, and used my own aptitudes to my advantage. The only money I spent was on domain names, hosting plans, Fiverr gigs that would help me out, etc.
The moral of the story is, the only people who spend tons of money on e-books touting some magical "system" are goofuses who are looking for a shortcut. Who don't want to work hard. That's what all those e-books are advertising, right? A way to never work hard again? A way to make a full-time income in 4 hours per week? Of course, anyone who has done real IM work knows that's impossible. These are people who would fail anyway, because they don't have the motivation to work hard. Instead, they're willing to shell out hundreds of dollars for some info that they (wishfully) think will make them rich. THOSE are the people who get scammed.
I hope these people (and YOU) will see that internet marketing IS hard work, but for certain kinds of people, it beats the hell out of a regular job. It's not a magic ticket out of the 9-5; and in many ways it's harder.
IM is not a scam. There are a lot of scams in this whole profession, but that doesn't mean it's all a big racket. Work hard, work smart, and you'll succeed.