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If you're worried about piracy and high fees, why not create an online course instead of pdf e-books. If it's an how-to book and not a work of fiction, you don

If you're worried about piracy and high fees, why not create an online course instead of pdf e-books. If it's an how-to book and not a work of fiction, you don't want to create a pdf e-book anyway. Here's why: * Low perceived value. People know how to create pdf e-books. Just choose ‘Save As’ in MS Word. So it has a low perceived value. Much lower than the $13 real book you can buy from Amazon. This means you cannot charge a high price for your pdf e-book. * They’re static. Once they’re out there, they’re out there. You cannot add stuff, correct material or fix typos. * As you mentioned, they’re (way) too easy targets for piracy. * Lots of people don’t want to read anymore. They want to watch videos instead. So might as well add some video. * No analytics. Which chapter is most popular? You will never know. * No interaction. People read a chapter in your e-book and have clarifying questions. But alas – no interaction is possible. So that's why I think online courses are the way to go. How to create an online course and sell it? This is what my startup does: http://traindom.com http://traindom.com

tptacek 16y ago
Against your low perceived value, pit 37signals "Getting Real", which generated more profits for them (6 figures) than almost any mainstream paper tech book published the same year. I agree that piracy is an issue, though.
- peeplaja 16y ago
  There are always exceptions. 37Signals is a known brand. If you're not known, it's hard to charge a lot for a pdf.
  - tptacek 16y ago
    If you generalize this logic one step more, you'll be in a happy place where you can make money from PDF e-books: "There are always exceptions. XXX. If you're not XXX, it's hard to charge a lot for an e-book." "There are always exceptions. I'm the world expert on home tarantula care. If you're not the world expert on home tarantula care, it's hard to charge a lot for an e-book." "There are always exceptions. I'm a talented marketer. If you're not a talented marketer, it's hard to charge a lot for an e-book." "There are always exceptions. I'm a former HFT project team lead writing about trading strategies. If you're not selling a book that can potentially make people thousands of dollars, it's hard to charge money for an e-book."

tptacek 16y ago

Against your low perceived value, pit 37signals "Getting Real", which generated more profits for them (6 figures) than almost any mainstream paper tech book published the same year. I agree that piracy is an issue, though.

peeplaja 16y ago
There are always exceptions. 37Signals is a known brand. If you're not known, it's hard to charge a lot for a pdf.
- tptacek 16y ago
  If you generalize this logic one step more, you'll be in a happy place where you can make money from PDF e-books: "There are always exceptions. XXX. If you're not XXX, it's hard to charge a lot for an e-book." "There are always exceptions. I'm the world expert on home tarantula care. If you're not the world expert on home tarantula care, it's hard to charge a lot for an e-book." "There are always exceptions. I'm a talented marketer. If you're not a talented marketer, it's hard to charge a lot for an e-book." "There are always exceptions. I'm a former HFT project team lead writing about trading strategies. If you're not selling a book that can potentially make people thousands of dollars, it's hard to charge money for an e-book."