Best distribution method for a guide
May 9, 2013 3:40 PM Subscribe
I'm writing a guide to sell to what I think is a pretty small target audience, probably consisting of maybe 25,000 people total with the percentage of potential buyers being very tiny. (Let us not ask why I'm writing for such a niche audience. Let us say that it is primarily because I want to share the information, but I also want to earn something for my work.) I am writing it so that each major section is self-contained and should be able to be sold separately, with the possibility of buying the full guide at a discount compared to buying each section individually. How can I best distribute this electronically?
Basically, I want to put out this guide (or set of sections that make up the guide) online. I don't have any interest in publishing hard copies. I also want to use a pseudonym.
Due to those conditions, I was initially thinking about selling PDFs directly from a website, but the piracy aspect has me concerned. It's a small audience to begin with and all it would take is a few people sharing the PDFs to significantly lower any possible income I may gain from this project.
I've started looking at Kindle and iBook formats, but I know those take 30% from any sales in most cases and I'm unsure about the use of pseudonyms being okay. The ebook format would likely be better for a full version of the guide, but I feel that would remove the choice to just purchase one module of the guide that people would find useful. For example, say someone just wants to buy Section 3. They won't purchase the full guide and if there's no Section 3 only option, they likely won't buy anything. Relatedly, I feel getting separate PDFs for each section to store as they like is less weird than downloading separate Kindle/iBooks, but maybe that's just me.
Lastly, I'd really like for the guide to arrive/be able to be downloaded immediately after payment has cleared. I don't want them to wait long for the goods to arrive.
So, awesome people of the legendary green, what do you think would be the best idea for me here? (In case it has any bearing on anything, I'm in Canada.)
Anonymous email: theholyfog (at) gmail (dot) com
Basically, I want to put out this guide (or set of sections that make up the guide) online. I don't have any interest in publishing hard copies. I also want to use a pseudonym.
Due to those conditions, I was initially thinking about selling PDFs directly from a website, but the piracy aspect has me concerned. It's a small audience to begin with and all it would take is a few people sharing the PDFs to significantly lower any possible income I may gain from this project.
I've started looking at Kindle and iBook formats, but I know those take 30% from any sales in most cases and I'm unsure about the use of pseudonyms being okay. The ebook format would likely be better for a full version of the guide, but I feel that would remove the choice to just purchase one module of the guide that people would find useful. For example, say someone just wants to buy Section 3. They won't purchase the full guide and if there's no Section 3 only option, they likely won't buy anything. Relatedly, I feel getting separate PDFs for each section to store as they like is less weird than downloading separate Kindle/iBooks, but maybe that's just me.
Lastly, I'd really like for the guide to arrive/be able to be downloaded immediately after payment has cleared. I don't want them to wait long for the goods to arrive.
So, awesome people of the legendary green, what do you think would be the best idea for me here? (In case it has any bearing on anything, I'm in Canada.)
Anonymous email: theholyfog (at) gmail (dot) com
Pseudonyms are fine on Kindle. It's pretty stress-free since it handles all the distribution and costs you nothing.
The 70% royalty only applies if you charge at least $3, so if you're dividing in sections, that may or may not work for you.
Being on Amazon is nice, but I wouldn't make that your only publicity outlet. Hopefully you have a website or blog or something where you can promote it.
It's also easy to publish for Nook, though for some reason sales are marginal for me there.
posted by zompist at 4:24 AM on May 10, 2013
The 70% royalty only applies if you charge at least $3, so if you're dividing in sections, that may or may not work for you.
Being on Amazon is nice, but I wouldn't make that your only publicity outlet. Hopefully you have a website or blog or something where you can promote it.
It's also easy to publish for Nook, though for some reason sales are marginal for me there.
posted by zompist at 4:24 AM on May 10, 2013
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As folks in that thread point out, there's really no way to prevent pirates from stealing. Even Kindle and iBook titles are regularly cracked. That being said, could you publish the book on a website and put it behind a members-only paywall?
posted by sevensnowflakes at 4:06 PM on May 9, 2013