Software Advice Please

1. 70

   Charles Jamesposted 8 years ago

   I have a series of eight novels I wish to sell online. I don't wish to be ripped off by the online publishers.
   
   If I am with Paypal is there a software I can download or buy that will allow me to sell copies of the books?

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   1. 67

      psycheskinnerposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      When you sell ebooks you need to collect and submit all relevant taxes: state, national, and international (e.g. VAT for the UK).  That is why the great majority of us list with etailers like Amazon kindle and let them deal with all the paperwork. What you lose in margin you more than make up for in volume.

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      1. 78

         lobobrandonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         +1

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   2. 94

      Cardisaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I'm a published author. I publish with Amazon.com. Now, selling your books on your website it tricky. The disadvantage with that is you will have to register your book with your copyright organization, purchase your ISBN and do all the relevant formatting. You need to decide what format to sell your books so that people downloading it can read it. Mobi and ePub are safer formats, given that they are harder to copy and scrape, though not impossible.
      
      The good thing with Amazon.com is that you cannot download the book with out the amazon APP on your PC or kindle and it's hard to get a copy for conversion into another format for scarping (stealing).
      
      The minute you submit your book to Amazon, your copyright is ensures. they provide the necessary codes to market your book. I would go with Amazon, just to e safe.

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      1. 70

         Charles Jamesposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         What gets to me is the very high percentage they (Amazon etc) charge just for providing a platform. I still have to do all the marketing. I can buy ten ISBN numbers fairly cheaply.
         
         I decided long ago that there is so much work involved in marketing that I might as well write a series and publicise the series.I now have eight novels written so now it is decision time.

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         1. 94

            Cardisaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Well, all you need is an ebook converter. I would get the software that you can have on your PC, rather than using the free online version.
            
            http://download.cnet.com/s/ebook-converter/

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         2. 67

            psycheskinnerposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            50% of sales to people who are happy to buy from Amazon is going to be a lot more than 100% of sales to people happy to send money to some person who may at some point manually send them some book, that is not subject even to Amazon's basic quality control standards.
            
            Ask yourself, how many books have you bought that way?  If it is any at all, what proportion is it off all the books you bought that year?  I personally would not even consider direct buying an ebook from a unknown author because of the possible issues with faulty product, no guarantee that returns will be taken, no guarantee of being free from malware, and the chance of my email then being spammed--and more.

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            1. 94

               Cardisaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               I agree with this 10000%

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2. 78

   lobobrandonposted 8 years ago

   Paypal offers you the option to put stuff up for sale on your website. You would need a website where you can place code in order to do that. Where do you plan on selling? If you don't already have a website, then Blogger is the next best thing as you can place HTML there. I'm sorry that I can't provide links, but I do know this is possible. Maybe a few google searches will lead to the right page on Paypal

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3. 70

   Charles Jamesposted 8 years ago

   Thanks to all!
   
   Of the epublishers can you speak well of any of them?

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   1. 78

      lobobrandonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I've never self published. But most people go the Amazon way when it comes to self publishing. I can say that I do read books by self published authors via the Kindle and that it has a much larger reader base.

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      1. 70

         Charles Jamesposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks lobobrandon

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   2. 67

      psycheskinnerposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      That depends what you mean by "epublisher".  Someone who makes you book into ebook files (MOBI, EPUB etc, someone who offers them for sale, of a trade publisher that sells in digital format.

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4. 51

   Louise wheelanposted 8 years ago

   Forgive me for asking, but when you say that you want to sell novels are they you're own creation? If so, you can self publish?

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   1. 67

      psycheskinnerposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I think that is the only reasonable interpretation.

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5. 73

   jacharlessposted 8 years ago

   Charles,
   Try Shopify. It is automatically integrated into Facebook Shops for easy sales and management.

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