Hilton Hamann's Blog - Posts Tagged "digital-publishing"
Allowing the reader to decide what they want to pay!
For somewhere around 18 months now I've sold my digital novel, "I can hear them singing now!" on Amazon and Smashwords, a process that has not been particularly satisfactory.
There is little doubt those platforms work well for authors in the US, UK and a few other countries but, for writers in the rest of the world, it does not seem worth the effort.
US regulations create so many hoops through which offshore writers must jump that, for me, it is just not worth the hassle. In addition, Amazon is not the fastest payer around!
With that in mind, I spent many months seeking the best way directly sell my digital novel, even from the depths of Africa. Using Paypal as the payments platform and directing purchasers to a download site was a partial, if somewhat clumsy solution. But I had other requirements. I did not want to have to constantly check my emails and bank statements, to verify purchases and then manually email a link to the buyers.
There's no doubt a way to automate the process but, I am a writer, I am cheap, and have no desire to learn how to set up such a system.
In addition, I wanted a pricing model where the reader could decide what he or she thought the property was worth and could PAY WHAT THEY WANT. Neither Paypal nor Amazon allowed that.
After much searching and researching, I chose Gumroad (www.gumroad.com), a payments facility that allows absolutely secure credit card payments to be made from anywhere in the world. They piggy-back on Stripe, one of the planet's largest payment gateways.
It is a wonderful system that works seamlessly and efficiently.
Readers can now PAY WHAT THEY WANT! -- anything from $1.00 upwards. Visit any of these download links to check it out:
Epub - https://gum.co/KmYw
Mobi - https://gum.co/gHwQZ
PDF - https://gum.co/xatDh
HTML - https://gum.co/iEsiW
Am I not afraid I'll be ripped off? After all, publishing has always operated on set pricing. I was pleasantly surprised. Almost all my readers paid fair prices and the few who didn't... well that's okay, it's not something I am going to become bitter and twisted about. There are many, many, more good people out there than there are rogues!
While I have now taken personal control of the sales of my novel, I did not want to completely abandon Amazon and Smashwords. In order to market directly from my website, I needed to change the title of the book. It is now called, "Hobson's Choice" and is the same book as "I can hear them singing now!" that is still offered for sale on Amazon, Smashwords and other platforms. All the reviews apply, the only difference is, readers can now choose the price they wish to pay and can TRY BEFORE THEY BUY when they download the first 28 of 74 chapters.
Visit my website http://www.hiltonhamann.com to download the sample chapters.
It's going to be interesting and exciting!
There is little doubt those platforms work well for authors in the US, UK and a few other countries but, for writers in the rest of the world, it does not seem worth the effort.
US regulations create so many hoops through which offshore writers must jump that, for me, it is just not worth the hassle. In addition, Amazon is not the fastest payer around!
With that in mind, I spent many months seeking the best way directly sell my digital novel, even from the depths of Africa. Using Paypal as the payments platform and directing purchasers to a download site was a partial, if somewhat clumsy solution. But I had other requirements. I did not want to have to constantly check my emails and bank statements, to verify purchases and then manually email a link to the buyers.
There's no doubt a way to automate the process but, I am a writer, I am cheap, and have no desire to learn how to set up such a system.
In addition, I wanted a pricing model where the reader could decide what he or she thought the property was worth and could PAY WHAT THEY WANT. Neither Paypal nor Amazon allowed that.
After much searching and researching, I chose Gumroad (www.gumroad.com), a payments facility that allows absolutely secure credit card payments to be made from anywhere in the world. They piggy-back on Stripe, one of the planet's largest payment gateways.
It is a wonderful system that works seamlessly and efficiently.
Readers can now PAY WHAT THEY WANT! -- anything from $1.00 upwards. Visit any of these download links to check it out:
Epub - https://gum.co/KmYw
Mobi - https://gum.co/gHwQZ
PDF - https://gum.co/xatDh
HTML - https://gum.co/iEsiW
Am I not afraid I'll be ripped off? After all, publishing has always operated on set pricing. I was pleasantly surprised. Almost all my readers paid fair prices and the few who didn't... well that's okay, it's not something I am going to become bitter and twisted about. There are many, many, more good people out there than there are rogues!
While I have now taken personal control of the sales of my novel, I did not want to completely abandon Amazon and Smashwords. In order to market directly from my website, I needed to change the title of the book. It is now called, "Hobson's Choice" and is the same book as "I can hear them singing now!" that is still offered for sale on Amazon, Smashwords and other platforms. All the reviews apply, the only difference is, readers can now choose the price they wish to pay and can TRY BEFORE THEY BUY when they download the first 28 of 74 chapters.
Visit my website http://www.hiltonhamann.com to download the sample chapters.
It's going to be interesting and exciting!
2014 Digital Book Awards Winners
I have just posted the results of the 2014 Digital Book Awards on my other blog.
Take a look at who walked away with the titles!
http://bit.ly/1eM6Wsa
Take a look at who walked away with the titles!
http://bit.ly/1eM6Wsa
Free online reading - madness or genius?
I would imagine most authors and indie publishers constantly seek new ways to promote their work and find new readers.
Self-promotion for today's writer is a way of life. And being discovered, is like the well-worn cliche "finding a needle in a haystack".
As authors, we are confident that, if reader's will simply read one of our works, they'll be persuaded to plonk down their cash and buy more.
But there are millions of books competing for the same eyeballs and it's a buyer's market out there.
I continue to search for new ways to get my books and stories read.
In my internet travels, I came across Canadian author, Corey Doctorow, who's long been a champion of giving away ebook copies of his work. In fact, he encourages readers to copy and distribute them and maintains the practice has encouraged a huge spike in the sales of printed copies of the same works.
I do not (yet) offer printed versions of my indie-published work but figured why not offer something similar - allow readers to read online for free and if they wanted a copy of their own, or preferred the convenience of reading on a mobile device, give them the opportunity to purchase the work at a nominal rate.
I've put this facility in place on my website ( http://www.hiltonhamann.com ) and will see how this pans out.
We are always advised to "think outside the box" but the internet has effectively "destroyed the box". Letting readers read books, for free, in the hope they will then buy them, would be considered madness in the mainstream publishing world and maybe it's the same online.
Heck, I don't know! Time will tell and I'll keep you updated.
Self-promotion for today's writer is a way of life. And being discovered, is like the well-worn cliche "finding a needle in a haystack".
As authors, we are confident that, if reader's will simply read one of our works, they'll be persuaded to plonk down their cash and buy more.
But there are millions of books competing for the same eyeballs and it's a buyer's market out there.
I continue to search for new ways to get my books and stories read.
In my internet travels, I came across Canadian author, Corey Doctorow, who's long been a champion of giving away ebook copies of his work. In fact, he encourages readers to copy and distribute them and maintains the practice has encouraged a huge spike in the sales of printed copies of the same works.
I do not (yet) offer printed versions of my indie-published work but figured why not offer something similar - allow readers to read online for free and if they wanted a copy of their own, or preferred the convenience of reading on a mobile device, give them the opportunity to purchase the work at a nominal rate.
I've put this facility in place on my website ( http://www.hiltonhamann.com ) and will see how this pans out.
We are always advised to "think outside the box" but the internet has effectively "destroyed the box". Letting readers read books, for free, in the hope they will then buy them, would be considered madness in the mainstream publishing world and maybe it's the same online.
Heck, I don't know! Time will tell and I'll keep you updated.
