With the new year kick off I promised myself to start an eBook store as my new year resolution. I have been reading a lot of books over the last decade and I had always felt that starting eBook store will come natural to me giving my web designing background and love for the books. However, I have been always reluctant to begin due to the huge competition, Amazon to name the main one. I'm no longer feeling that I need to achieve what Amazon has achieved, I just want to have my book store. I have secured one author whose ebooks and reports are already on my website so the dream is coming true.<p>Would love to hear what the community thinks and if you guys have your own experience in running ebook stores that could share with your fellow HN reader.
I can say the one reason I only buy from eBook stores that are not Amazon: If I buy an eBook, I expect it to be DRM-free. I am a pretty big patron of Informit for this reason, and I buy a lot of Humble Book Bundles as well.<p>I've noticed many publishers have DRM'd up versions on Amazon or other book stores, but often have DRM-free offerings on their own site. Simon and Schuster is another one that does this, particularly with Star Trek novels. Authors may be extremely hesitant to sell just through you because losing Amazon discoverability is painful, but you can definitely offer things that Amazon will not.
You should start a niche bookstore. So, as with any other product - look out for a profitable niche first. And you have to secure exclusive deals with respectable authors in that niche which is a tough task. As with any other marketplace you have to attract authors and readers at the same time, but it requires a lot of marketing and business skills.
I have bought quite a few ebooks from LeanPub.<p>It was a great experience, they email you when there is an update to a ebook you have purchased.<p>Take a look their site and how they work with authors.<p><a href="https://leanpub.com/bookstore/type/book?search=vue" rel="nofollow">https://leanpub.com/bookstore/type/book?search=vue</a>
It depends.<p>The odds against an eBook store:<p>0. Undefensible business model - little/no barrier to entry, few patents, anyone can start such a store<p>1. Getting advertising and distribution at scale<p>On the plus side:<p>2. It might work at a tiny scale for niche categories/communities/local businesses.<p>Otherwise, I wouldn't waste too much time on it. I would something that's more difficult to copy or emulate.
I think it's a bad idea to sell them through a dedicated stand-alone website/store. Many people are selling ebooks successfully using ClickFunnels, especially when combined with upsells. Don't think of an ebook as a way to earn $15, rather as an entry point to a $500+ sale of another related product/service.
The trick is to make a sublime experience for the seller. Make your cut less than what amazon takes. Then convince people with successful ebooks to sell via your store. They’ll send you the traffic because they want to sell their books. You only need a single book to start making money.
It is, but don't let that stop you. It seems like a tough nut to crack to me, but I have bought directly from publishers when they offered better value for money over Amazon or the Dutch giant Bol.com. You can get your 1000 true fans if you offer something specific and great.
Have you ever checked out Bandcamp? It's a competitor to iTunes - a place to support the music you like. I feel that this might be a good model for you.<p>Their niche is indie music, plus it allows for artists to be more flexible on pricing. I think there are a number of parallels when it comes to ebooks and supporting authors.
Great response from the HN community.
For anyone interested in the project: <a href="https://hundredfoot.com/" rel="nofollow">https://hundredfoot.com/</a> If anyone would like to get in touch, shoot me an email: info[at]hundredfoot com