Help my 16-year-old sell his skateboarding booklet.
May 30, 2012 8:08 PM Subscribe
What is the best way for my teenage son to distribute a self-published book on skateboarding tricks?
My 16-year-old has an advanced high school marketing class. For their final project, they must develop a product and marketing plan. My son, who is an accomplished street skater with sponsors and a youtube following, is doing a website on the art of street skating, and is marketing a three-booklet how-to series on street tricks.
What would be the best way for him to sell his book? On his website as a pdf file? And, if so, how would he go about setting this up? What is the easiest way? He is a skateboarder, not a computer geek.
Or, could he just set up a Paypal account, then print up a bunch of booklets at Kinkos, and send them out via snail mail?
I know there are print-on-demand outlets, but these seem a little advanced for what he's up to. Also Kindle and Amazon seem beyond his reach at this point. What is the easiest way for a 16-year-old to sell his little pet marketing project on a website he just built for his class.
My 16-year-old has an advanced high school marketing class. For their final project, they must develop a product and marketing plan. My son, who is an accomplished street skater with sponsors and a youtube following, is doing a website on the art of street skating, and is marketing a three-booklet how-to series on street tricks.
What would be the best way for him to sell his book? On his website as a pdf file? And, if so, how would he go about setting this up? What is the easiest way? He is a skateboarder, not a computer geek.
Or, could he just set up a Paypal account, then print up a bunch of booklets at Kinkos, and send them out via snail mail?
I know there are print-on-demand outlets, but these seem a little advanced for what he's up to. Also Kindle and Amazon seem beyond his reach at this point. What is the easiest way for a 16-year-old to sell his little pet marketing project on a website he just built for his class.
print up a bunch of booklets at Kinkos, and send them out via snail mail?
This would be a refreshing return to how we did stuff back in the early 80's when I was a sponsored surfer/skater but somehow I don't think it would take off in the internet age. Perhaps a combination of twitter/facebook/kickstarter (not that funds would be high, but he could offer some cool returns for those who donate) would be the way to go. Or get the backing of a couple notable skate shops.
posted by blaneyphoto at 8:54 PM on May 30, 2012 [1 favorite]
This would be a refreshing return to how we did stuff back in the early 80's when I was a sponsored surfer/skater but somehow I don't think it would take off in the internet age. Perhaps a combination of twitter/facebook/kickstarter (not that funds would be high, but he could offer some cool returns for those who donate) would be the way to go. Or get the backing of a couple notable skate shops.
posted by blaneyphoto at 8:54 PM on May 30, 2012 [1 favorite]
Another option might be to see if he could convince a music/skate/surf magazine to publish the booklet as an article rather than self-publishing. If he's that good, maybe they'd be interested.
posted by blaneyphoto at 8:59 PM on May 30, 2012
posted by blaneyphoto at 8:59 PM on May 30, 2012
If he is really trying to make money and "build his brand", he should put out an app.
posted by acidic at 9:04 PM on May 30, 2012
posted by acidic at 9:04 PM on May 30, 2012
Response by poster: Excellent suggestions, all. Now he just has to find the time to develop it beyond a marketing class project.
posted by zagyzebra at 9:51 PM on May 30, 2012
posted by zagyzebra at 9:51 PM on May 30, 2012
Just do a pay-what-you-want thing with a PDF and PayPal donate button. Piracy and getting paid are far less important than getting your name out there at this stage.
posted by empath at 10:06 PM on May 30, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by empath at 10:06 PM on May 30, 2012 [3 favorites]
A lot of services nominally allow you do to a Kindle ebook for free, but don't be surprised if your free Kindle edition comes out looking like crap. Higher-quality, paid Kindle conversion services range from around $1-3/page. If you aren't happy with your Kindle edition results and don't want to pay for conversion services I think empath's suggestion of PDF and donate button is a good one. There are some shopping cart providers out there too that aren't too hard (like eJunkie) but for dead simple and easy it's hard to beat a donate button and a download link.
CreateSpace for hardcopy is not insurmountably difficult but hard copies do have a different set of challenges, including sales tax, cover design, and image quality requirements. Selling an electronic edition, at least to start, is probably a little bit easier.
posted by phoenixy at 1:25 AM on May 31, 2012
CreateSpace for hardcopy is not insurmountably difficult but hard copies do have a different set of challenges, including sales tax, cover design, and image quality requirements. Selling an electronic edition, at least to start, is probably a little bit easier.
posted by phoenixy at 1:25 AM on May 31, 2012
Zines, zine distributors, and small presses still exist. Microcosm is one of my favorites.
But really it comes down to what the people who would buy his book want to use. If skateboarders who want to learn from him don't have Kindles and/or don't use the Kindle app, the Amazon store isn't going to do much.
posted by mendel at 1:00 PM on May 31, 2012
But really it comes down to what the people who would buy his book want to use. If skateboarders who want to learn from him don't have Kindles and/or don't use the Kindle app, the Amazon store isn't going to do much.
posted by mendel at 1:00 PM on May 31, 2012
If he wants an actual printed magazine/booklet, how about Magcloud? If he knows how to save his document as a PDF, he can use Magcloud without any fancy design software. They handle printing and shipping. The customers can buy one a time. He can promote it through youtube, twitter, facebook, etc. Here is a short how-to video.
posted by biscuits at 2:55 PM on May 31, 2012
posted by biscuits at 2:55 PM on May 31, 2012
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posted by flex at 8:43 PM on May 30, 2012