Will Ebooks Kill The Market For Selling Used Books Online
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Writen by Steve Weber
QUESTION: The new Sony e-book reader is getting a lot of publicity, and I'm concerned that it may kill the market for selling used books online. It can hold thousands of book-sized files like an Ipod.
ANSWER: I've always been a skeptic about e-books for a simple reason: Most people hate them, and so do I.
For example, I've looked at some of the most popular e-books available on Amazon for download (and not available as a hard-copy book) and a lot of the reader reviews, even when they are positive reviews, mention something like "I was very hesitant about buying an e-book ..."
That tells me that your average consumer is not interested. Based on my own experience, I've bought a couple of e-books and in each case I've been extremely disappointed with the quality of the writing and content. And what happens then? You're stuck. There's no way to get your money back. Lots of people have already been through this experience, generating even more more hatred of e-books.
Nobody talks about how these Sony readers have already flopped in Japan. And I predict they'll be an even bigger flop in the United States. They'd flop even if Sony gave them away.
People keep saying the paper book is dead, but regular books are more popular than ever. Every year, the number of titles authored, printed, and purchased goes up. Plain old books can't be improved that much because they're already a great deal -- they're cheap, portable, nonfragile, and require no batteries.
Nevertheless, technology could have a big negative impact on used bookselling in the next 10 years, but the scenario I see has nothing to do with e-books. The potential nightmare I see for used booksellers is "print-on-demand."
One reason it's fairly easy to sell used books profitably is the publishing industry (and book retailing) is terribly inefficient. Publishers never print anywhere near the right number of a title. Either they print way too many, or not nearly enough. Either way, it's an opportunity big enough for online sellers to drive a bookmobile through. We create value by organizing and handling the publishers' mistakes, whether it's selling (overprinted) leftover books at low prices, or (underprinted) scarce books at high prices.
Print-on-demand could throw a money wrench into our gravy train by allowing publishers to get a lot more efficient. Printing machines are already available that can print a single paperback for a few dollars. In the past, publishers were locked into printing huge quantities of books on traditional printing presses. If they start using print-on-demand, they can efficiently print a the right number of copies -- even if there's only one buyer for the book.
Will this nightmare come true in our lifetimes? I'm not losing any sleep yet. The "experts" have been predicting the death of the paper book for more than a decade now, and they've been predicting the "paperless office" for a couple of decades now, and they've been dead wrong on both.
See a real-time list of the most highly sought after used and collectible books.
Read more free articles on selling used books profitably online: http://www.weberbooks.com/selling/selling.htm
Steve Weber is author of "The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site" (ISBN 0977240606). Got a question for Steve? Send to: steve_weber@yahoo.com
posted by Alexis WATERS @ 2:00 AM,
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How To Make Your Ebook A Money Machine
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Writen by Jeff Shanton
The cat is out of the bag! It's here and I have it. You can get it too.
But first, you want to get your 30 plus page eBook information out there and at the same time you want people to pay for the information.
How can you stop people from viewing your eBook without paying you?
How can you prevent people from copying and pasting your information for free?
Keep reading my friend.
First, let me explain the difference between a PDF file and a secure eBook.
In a PDF file:
You want to give information away for free. You want as many people to view the PDF file and you want them to give the file to their friends. You want it to spread like wildfire. In your free PDF file you have a link to your website where they can purchase your eBook for $50, $100, $200 or more. They want your information, but now they will have to pay for it.
So, the question is, how can you prevent people from viewing your eBook with out them paying for the information?
The eBook is similar to the PDF file except:
That you have the option to secure the eBook. Why would you want to secure your eBook? So you can be paid. Cha ching, cha ching.
The software does all it all. The toolbar gives you options for the amount of security you want. It's that simple.
But wait, there's more, much more. This is just one of many powerful ideas found in a just released video course.
How about everything you need to know from start to finish about creating your very own professional looking website. All this information is contained in this free12 hour video course.
Can you believe it? At first I didn't. But then, I watched the first video and I was hooked. It blew my socks off. This guy in the video is crazy; his course could easily sell for $7500. But he's giving away this over 12 hour video course for free.
What? You don't know where to start? The video assumes you know nothing about websites, just what I needed. What do you get? Everything! You will learn:
What products to sell Everything you need to know about affiliates 3 ways to get instant traffic The sales process Payment processing Having the right tools There are only 2 ways in increase you profits 1. Get more visitors 2. Increase your sales per visitor How to create a website
HTML code. Don't panic! You will learn everything you need to know in less than 1 hour. 1. The biggest misconception 2. Source code 3. Tags 4. Color codes
How to upload your website
Everything is included in this over 12 hour video course, for free.
I have it, now you can get it too.
Jeff Shanton is a Franchise Consultant
posted by Alexis WATERS @ 2:00 AM,
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