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Author: David Fowler | Total views: 23 Comments: 0
Word Count: 1091 Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 12:00 PM

Ebooks Are Here To Stay

There has been an explosion recently in the number of ebooks sold online and written. Of course there are many rehashed or put together using a batch of articles that are not original or hardly rewritten at all. This happens whenever something becomes easy and popular and there is no control. Now with the internet anyone can produce an ebook. But most of the popular and useful ebooks are well written and provide interesting and relevant information for the readers.

The digital revolution has meant that we can read the books online, print them and read later or choose an audio book that we can listen to while relaxing or working online! The ease of production, flexibility and low costs involved has all helped to make ebooks a good choice when looking for a successful Home Business.

Before I begin let me say one thing……the unique pleasure that we get from browsing in a book shop, choosing a book and looking through it at home or while we travel will never be replaced! This has been shown by the number of visitors and sales that bookshops continue to enjoy despite the proliferation of ebooks and audio books. The predictions in the 1990’s that bookshops would be a thing of the past has not happened…..thank God!

If you look on the net today you will see millions of ebooks listed – some separately, others in packages and others in bundles of many thousands! Many older titles are offered free and prices are very competitive for others. It is possible to buy bundles of 50’000 and more but how anyone in a lifetime could read or even sort through so many is beyond me! From a consumer's point of view the cost of ebook purchases are usually less expensive than their paper counterpart.

Mainstream publishers have caught up with the popularity of ebooks and have provided several high profile titles as ebook downloads. Some established authors are now making new titles available exclusively using the ebook format. This very action helps us understand that ebooks may well be the maverick future of publishing.

Whatever the subject or category of your ebook you now have enough tools, methods and support online to handle the distribution and promotion methods yourself. This not only gives you the best return on your investment but also means you can totally control how and where your ebook is distributed and what kind of rights you allow etc. Now you do not need a publisher, distributor, printer and promoter so costs and ease of production are minimized. This also means many more people can try their hand as writers and potentially expose their creative abilities to a world-wide audience.

You do not have to worry about the book making it to brick and mortar stores because it can be purchased and downloaded by anyone with an Internet connection. If you get the traffic to the site where it is featured and launch a successful advertising/promotional campaign your exposure can be truly international. Now it is not so much how much you spend but the methods and knowledge you have about how to best promote your product online. This has opened the market to a much wider potential list of writers and producers of ebooks. It can also mean that many fail if they do not understand the total picture and various processes to use to ensure success.

The use of an ebook reseller allows you to release your creative work and permit someone else the opportunity to resell your work and account for the payment of all downloads. Often there is a fee for this service, but for many, the hands-free nature of the service makes it an attractive proposition that also allows a writer to concentrate on their main task and skill. Many books appear in general ebookshops – while others are Home Business Ebookshops (like my reseller goodies shop) or Sports Specialists or many other categories and also on sites like ebay or Amazon so exposure is optimized.

This situation also provides a means of moving forward with new ebooks without the need to deal with managing the sale and distribution of your completed works.

Ebooks have become an easy and inexpensive means of achieving home-based internet business success. There are reports of many successful ebook businesses and ebookshops that have supplied their owners with enough money to pay the majority of their monthly bills without the need for constant oversight or investment. Many entrepreneurs are finding ebooks to be a perfect compliment to other passions or interests that can provide a useful extra source of income.

The success of ebooks as a home-based business has increased with the demand for immediate information and the ease of being able to download the product at once onto your PC. Also the greater number and competition has kept prices very low. For the writer or promoter the time frame is also much less than the creation and promotion of regular books that could take up to a year. Today the public want not only immediate answers to their problems and questions but also up to date and relevant current information that tomorrow may be outdated! Also they no longer have to get to a shop and hope they have the book they are looking for.

Many ebook authors have used various approaches to distribution. Some sell ebooks exclusively on their website, but many like myself have used an ebook reseller, specialist home business (or other) ebookshop, ebay, Amazon etc. to push their product in front of a larger audience.

However, when a home-based business owner determines to make their ebook available the end result is a long-term revenue stream in residual income through payments for downloads of the ebook. The concept is similar to traditional book publishing, but leaves the control of the book in the hands of the owner of the work. Increasingly freelance writers are being used to develop the idea with ownership rebranded to the one requesting the material.

While Ebookshops will not replace traditional bookshops, they have many advantages and meet the demands of today's impatient consumers looking for immediacy, variety and affordability. How are you meeting the demand? I can show you how to best use ebooks as a writer, seller, promoter or buyer to help your internet business success.

David Fowler / a2z Group