How eBooks Can Be Very Valuable
BY ANDY GEORGE
eBooks have a number of benefits over the
traditional book. These include the following:
- Cheaper to create
- Quicker to create
- Easier to target a wide market
- High profit potential
- More versatile than traditional books
Let's look at each of these points in turn:
Cheaper to create
The eBook can be created on a shoestring budget
since it is possible for its publishing and marketing costs to be
minimal. On the other hand the traditional book has a higher cost
structure. This means the author will have to overcome a tough sales
target before they even consider making a profit on the book.
The costs the author will incur if he follows a
traditional book format include:
- Publishing costs
- The profit margin that the bookstores will want
to sell the book
- Distribution costs
- Marketing costs including advertising costs
Quicker to create
The eBook could be written and published in as
little as 7 days. For other potential authors who work at a slower pace,
the whole process of writing and publishing a book could be done within
a month.
On the other hand for a traditional book the time
span between starting a book and writing it could take around 18 months.
By that time the information contained in the book could be out of date
especially if the book is technology or research related.
Easier to target a wide market
With eBooks the sky the limit! The eBook may be
sold on the Internet to anyone who has a credit card and an Internet
connection in any place in the world. Since an author can control the
topics of their book, they can decide whom to market to.
However with a traditional book it may be
difficult to expand to new markets since it will involve further
significant costs on distribution and marketing.
High profit potential
eBooks can be produced on a shoestring budget but
since customers may believe they offer value for money, the author may
charge more for them than expected. It is not impossible for almost
everything grossed from an eBook being profit.
On the other hand traditional books have high
production and marketing costs and this means the author (unless they
are very popular) will have great difficulty in recovering these costs
and making a profit.
More versatile than traditional books
eBooks could be used for a number of purposes. The
most common method is for the sale of the eBook. However an eBook could
be used as a free gift to customers to entice them to buy a product from
you. It can also be transformed into audiocassettes or digital products.
To conclude eBooks are a very valuable tool that
could be used as a profit centre, as a publishing tool or as a marketing
tool. It has many advantages over the traditional book.
Copyright: © 2004 Andy George. All rights
reserved
Andy George is a qualified chartered
accountant who was born in Birmingham, England and who has had many
years’ experience in public practice, industry, and commerce and as a
lecturer. Since 1991 he has been based in the island of Cyprus. Andy was
a financial correspondent for eight years at the Cyprus Financial
Mirror where he wrote articles on business and accounting related
issues to a non-technical audience. He is the author of
eBooks: How to
Write and Publish Your Own With a Shoestring Budget.
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