Do you sell e-books?

I have been talking about publishing and writing books a lot on this site lately.  Why?  Because I think it is going to be my next step in making money online.  I have some subjects that I have some authority on, and I feel that I have some books inside me just waiting to get out too, so why not write some books and earn a little money from them?  Frankly, a lot of the subjects that I want to write on are based on e-mail questions that I get almost every day anyway, so why not expand on my answers, and also make a little money from answering these questions for people.

One of the discussions that we have been having on this site lately is whether to go for printed books or electronic books (e-books).  I have decided to do both.  One question, though, that several people have asked me via e-mail is this:

How will you deliver those e-books?  Do you need to get an account with Clickbank or some other provider who can ensure delivery as soon as the customer pays?

Well, to be honest… no.  The more different companies that you use in the delivery, payment and such, the more people who are going to take a percentage of your earnings!  I don’t mind paying for services when people can offer value.  I mean, if there is a company that can do a premium job at delivering an electronic product, I honestly don’t mind giving them a percentage of the money.  However, when it comes to delivering the e-book, I already have a solution.

For my e-commerce sites, I use OSCommerce (OSC) for the shopping cart software.  OSC has a built in e-book (or other electronic item) delivery system as a standard part of the shopping cart software!  That’s right, when a customer pays, the software instantly gives him a link where he can download the book!  So, the customer shops the site, checks out through the checkout, makes payment, and instantly has a link where he can download the book!  It doesn’t get any easier than that, and I don’t have to pay anybody to handle the downloads.

So, if you are looking for a perfect solution for delivering digital downloadable items, give OSCommerce a look!  The learning curve is rather steep for the software, but I think that you’ll find that it is well worth it!

More thoughts about self-publishing

The other day I wrote an article here about book publishing. I want to write some books, and have been exploring the idea of how to handle the publishing end of it. I have also been thinking about the format that the books should take, electronic or paper.

I have come up with some answers, thanks to my friend Dave. Of course, the comments on my last article were very helpful too. Dave left a comment there, but he also took the much appreciated step of sending me a book from his personal library to assist me in making the decisions needed.

The book that Dave sent to me (via LBC) is entitled “How to Write, Publish, & Sell Your Own How-To Book” by John T. Reed. John has been a self-publisher for decades now, and a lot of the things in the book really enforced things that were already in my mind. I believe that I have now made a decision on what path I will pursue when it comes to writing.

In his book, John talks about one method of shoestring publishing that appeals to me. Write your book using typsetting software (heck, even with Microsoft Word, or Open Office you can accomplish this these days), then start advertising it. When you get an order for the book print it on your laser printer, bind it with an Ibico Comb Binder, and send it off! After a while, you will have an idea of how the book sells, and if necessary you can then order a run of printed/bound books to sell. Alternatively, you can always still just print the books out at your house, bind them and send them off.

One of the reasons why this method appeals to me is that it kind of mirrors a business that I was doing some 20 years ago (wow, was it that long already?!?). Back in those days, I had designed a series of maps that showed the location of Amateur Radio repeaters all over the USA. I self-published these maps, printing them on one of the earliest models of a color-inkjet printer. I would then laminate the maps in plastic, and sell them myself. They were very professional looking, and sold very well too. I advertised the maps in Amateur Radio Magazines, and also sold them through Amateur Radio stores around the USA. I even went to trade shows around the country selling these maps. What John Reed describes in his book practically mirrors what I was doing with the maps, and it worked well. The idea of doing this with books really appeals to me.

So, what about the digital vs. paper debate? I’ve decided on that too… I’ll do both! Whoever orders can take their choice between paper or electronic. Each method has advantages for the customer, so it will be their choice as to what will be best for them!

Because I am in the Philippines, and my target customer will be abroad, I am toying with the idea of also using Print on Demand to fulfill orders. Companies like Lightning Source or Lulu come to mind. Having them do the printing will be more costly than having the printing done here in the Philippines (or doing it myself), but there is also an advantage in that it would save immensely on postage costs, and also speed up delivery time. One advantage, though, of shipping from here in the Philippines is that I can then offer signed copies of the books too, which I feel some people will want.

So, what do you think about my publishing ideas? Let me know by leaving a comment. Pro or con, I want to hear your opinion - it’s just one more thing for me to consider!

Book publishing

I have been kicking around the idea of writing a book.  I have written about a dozen books in the past, and have had them all published.  I used two different publishers before.  One experience was a disaster, the other experience was great.  Now, though, I am conflicted when it comes to publication.

Conflicted about what?  Well, I am debating about whether to go the traditional way of writing a book and having a publishing house print it and distribute it, or whether I should self publish.  If I decide to self publish (which is the way that I am leaning), I can see two paths to take there too.

1. Go the traditional route of printing the book on paper, and distributing it to book stores and such.
2. Go the new route of doing an e-book (electronic book) and distributing it over the Internet.

It’s a tough choice.  Each route has advantages.  I know that from my past experience, you can expect to get maybe 10% of the sales price as your share of the money.  So, a $15 book would bring you maybe $1.50 per copy sold.  This, of course, is if you use a publishing house.  If you self publish, you would get a lot more than $1.50 per copy, but that means that you also have to front all of the costs for printing, distribution and such yourself.

One nice thing about living in the Philippines, though, is that you can self publish a printed book relatively cheaply here.  So, let’s say that I got 5,000 or 10,000 copies printed and then distributed them myself.  I can imagine that most sales would be off my own websites.  I’m OK with that, because I have a lot of traffic on my various sites, and I think that I could sell that quantity of books relatively easily.

The electronic press path is attractive too.  You just write the book, publish it as a PDF file, and you are ready to go.  No real costs involved, except for your time (I already have all the software that would be needed for the project).  You could then sell the book, even at a lower price, and still make more money.

I feel that I actually have several different books in me, just waiting to come out.  I just have to decide the proper path for publication and selling.  It’s been a decade and a half since I’ve done this, and a lot of things have changed in that time.

So, what do you think?  Which method of publication is best in today’s environment?  If you are buying a book, do you feel that a paper book is better or more desirable than an electronic book?

Share your thoughts, I need them!