Archives: January 2004
eBooks Poised - Demographics Key
This eBook story from The Guardian in the UK covers some ground that we covered months ago here at Knowledge Download.
However, it does a fine job of exposing one interesting angle I was unaware of:
"Unlike music, the book business's core demographic is older and female and not drawn to piracy. But the fear of "Napsterisation" has led to rather stringent DRM measures in e- publishing. Rogaty suggests things are beginning to settle down, with companies recognising that the right to use ebooks in certain ways is important to consumers."
That traditional publishers consider their main ebook demographic as older females is quite interesting to me.
My gut feeling is that is due to the fiction nature of the ebooks that demographic are buying.
None the less, on inspection, over 70% of my ezine subscribers are female.
Those numbers are comparable.
However, most of the authors using the Knowledge Download system, while also largely female, are writing non-fiction, "how-to" types of ebooks.
Regardless, the interviews by the author(s) are very good and insightful.
sp
Posted on Jan 31, 04 | 3:56 pm
Authors Need To Market
This press release gives five (5) excellent points that authors need to consider before entering the ebook or book writing and selling business.
I receive a lot of inquiries from authors or prospective authors who feel eBooks are the way to go for them.
Most of their topics are outstanding and they are well qualified individuals.
Yesterday I received an unsolicited proposal to help an author market their ebook.
If you do not have the passion to get out and promote, speak, market, do joint ventures, write articles, do search engine optimization, join forums or any of the other myriads of marketing options, your book is going no where.
That's why it's so impressive when you find those folks who have legitimately built their ebook or book business.
It's an entrepreneurial endeavour. Period.
Do you have the juice to start your own business? If so, ebooks are an excellent way to get going.
sp
Posted on Jan 30, 04 | 1:05 pm
Triathlete eBook
This is exactly the type of ebook that I've been harping on my readers to get busy writing.
I'm not a triathlete.
In fact, I don't even know one.
However, there are lots of triathletes, and there are certainly those people who are considering becoming one.
This fellow wrote an ebook. Clearly he's been coaching, teaching and mentoring long before he wrote the ebook.
Now however, he's got people like me posting links to his site, talking about it and hopefully, selling them.
What do you know? What experiences do you have? What are you passionate about?
Write an ebook!
If nothing else, you'll leave behind a wonderful piece of you for your family. In the best case, you sell them, make some money, and learn a LOT about websites and internet marketing.
What are you waiting for?
Posted on Jan 27, 04 | 9:20 pm
Libraries Continue the eBook March
This article from Detroit News gives continuing evidence that libraries are playing an increasing role in the eBook business.
There are six local Detroit libraries participating in the experiment.
Users can download the eBooks to a local hard disk and via an unspecified reader.
This article says the libraries and their consortium are paying $1,000 per month "maintenance fee" plus whatever fee the library pays to acquire any given title.
What the article doesn't say is whom they are paying that to, where the technology lives, who is maintaining it, etc.
I suspect that Overdrive may be providing it.
Unsure of those facts, I'm still a big beliver and predict that individual authors can write and distribute their eBooks into these markets.
So get busy and write those ebooks!
Posted on Jan 26, 04 | 5:23 pm
Sell, sell and sell some more
Many authors underestimate what it takes to make money selling ebooks. Many authors of self-published materials severely underestimate the effort.
This article tells the story about a Cambodian refugee who came to America and now has his own publishing company.
He got his start by selling his children's books directly to students and teachers in classrooms.
Now that's direct sales!
Writing an eBook or even a print book is just the beginning.
Marketing and sales is everything else. Promotions, advertising, signings, newsletters and public relations are all necessary tools to use to sell your material.
Regardless of print or electronic media, some of the tips from that article can provide a major boost to your efforts.
Posted on Jan 19, 04 | 10:42 pm
Blog Directory
This post is in response to many readers' requests.
There are many directories and search engines on the web to locate blogs of all types.
Here is a list of some of them:
blogwise.com - BlogWise
blogarama.com - Blogarama
daypop.com - DayPop
blogdex.net - BlogDex
There are others that I will post in the near future.
Posted on Jan 16, 04 | 9:20 am
eBook PDF Utility
PDF Enhancer offers some great functionality for eBook authors who utilize the PDF format for publishing their ebook.
Among other features included in the product is a file size compression capability.
If your eBooks contain large graphics or loads of text and are large in size, PDF Enhancer will compress your file size down considerably.
Having your PDF be as small as possible is key to helping those users who are still on dial-up lines to get the file downloaded fast.
Posted on Jan 11, 04 | 9:49 pm
eBook Drought?
I've been searching and researching. Honestly.
There's simply been no ebook or self-publishing news this last week.
I mean, nothing.
However, today, a news report from the BBC on DRM is an EXCELLENT piece on the state of DRM and us, the users. (sorry, URL removed due to the BBC removing the link)
I completely concur with the writer.
The fundamental problem in copyright protections for digital information have remained the same since the Internet was born. That issue is control of the info by the publisher.
The big publishers, regardless of music, print, video industry, continue to try to control the market with an iron grip. It is this grip, or attempt of it, that gives rise to the Napster's of the 'net.
As long as big companies and their marketing departments try to shove their ideals down our throat, for the sake of pure profit, as compared to having the motive of pleasing the user and market in exchange for a reaonable profit, the issue will persist.
Note to big publishing companies: the first one of you that figure out the balance of rights protections and reasonableness of profit, wins.
Posted on Jan 09, 04 | 9:40 pm
E Ink Technology
This article on Phillips and e-paper display technology is rather fascinating.
Given that Phillips has recently received it's 100,000 patent, it's evident they are an engineering driven company.
And the news on the e-paper display technology certainly qualifies as an engineering accomplishment.
However I don't see how that technology becomes useful to us for reading ebooks.
Having the technology to show reflective characters on a computer screen is nice, no doubt. But there is no shortage of vendors who have tried proprietary technologies in the ebook market. Most of them are gone or soon to be.
Why?
In my humble opinion, it's due to yet another device.
Generally, we don't want another device. Notebooks, portable phones, cellular phones, PDA's, pagers, Blackberry's (and now, knockoffs) are all part of our connected world.
Hopefully Phillips will find a market that will replace existing display technologies with this new e-paper one, because this analyst's eyes are getting weary of dot display tubes!
Posted on Jan 06, 04 | 8:00 pm
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