|
Publishing through e-Books
E-publishing offers an alternative to the
traditional printed book. You
may consider
e-publishing (i.e., producing
an "e-book")
either instead of or in addition
to a printed
book. Among the advantages:
- No investment in inventory
- No fees for typesetting or other set-up costs
- No shipping costs (unless you offer POD that
you mail out -- see below)
- Ability to updated editions quickly and at
virtually no cost
Online Books
One e-publishing method is to
have the text
of your book available through
a website,
for viewing on-line and/or for
printing.
In either case, the website has
to collect
payment before viewing, downloading
or printing
is allowed.
- For customers buying the right to view on-line,
you must be prepared to give them read-only
access over a given period of time. You cannot
expect them to read your book in just one
sitting.
- If you offer the ability to download or print
the book, you risk spawning multiple unauthorized
copies that earn you no revenue and which
infringe on your copyright.
- For read-only access, be aware that some
buyers may give their passwords to others
who will try to read without paying you separately.
Print on Demand
Another e-publishing method is print-on-demand
(POD). In this model, you produce books and
ship them only when requested by a buyer.
The quality of the book may be less than
that of a traditional printing run, but for
books without pictures, it can be close enough
to be satisfactory.
Unless you are technically very adept, it
is probably advisable to seek help from experienced
e-book publishers. In particular, see what
measures they offer to guard against unauthorized
and unpaid access to your work, as noted
above. |
|
|
