Do I NEED to have a Publisher for an e-book?
Posted Wednesday, July 28, 2010 by admin
I’m writing an e-book and will be producing the actual book with a pdf program and other applications.
If I set up my own webpage and utilize a download program in order for people to buy my book online – is there a need to have a ‘Publisher’?
Can I set myself up as my own Publisher?
Thanks!
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Posted in Books & Authors
I don’t know. I think you would.
Yep.
If all you plan to do is sell your book from your web site, then a PDF and Paypal/Google Checkout is all you really need.
If you want to sell your ebook elsewhere though, you’ll need an ISBN and then things get more expensive. In the US, you can buy a single ISBN from Bowker for $99. A block of 10 costs $250. Other countries have their own ISBN registries and some are even free.
If you have more questions, the best place to get them answered is ebook-community on Yahoo Groups.
Yup, you most certainly can, you would be “self-published”.
No.
Go to Editred.com and check out the deal they have. They publish e-books for free, it’s free to join and they charge whatever you want for the book. It’s probably the best, hassle-free deal out there.
So long as you are prepared to handle all of the proofreading, editing, design, layout, distribution, accounting, marketing, and advertising costs and processes, then no. But keep in mind that NO AUTHOR is so talented that she can edit her own work. Even the bestselling authors have editors, and that is for a reason. You know what you meant, so you don’t always read what you actually wrote.
Do you have marketing experience? There are thousands of new self-published books published every week. How will you make yours stand out from the crowd? Do you know how to define your target market, locate them, and advertise to them? Do you have an advertising budget?
Do you have accounting experience? Have you checked the laws in your home state regarding tax law? Have you checked with your local township regarding running a business out of your home and zoning requirements? Have you discussed this with your accountant as far as self-employment taxes, as well as potential tax deducation (people always forget that one!)
When I launched my company five years ago, these are just some of the things I suddenly had to worry about. If you self-publish, you in effect become a publisher and need to worry about all of this. It is not enough to just create a website and hope people find it. If you can handle all of these functions, then no you don’t need a publisher. If you can’t, you should be looking for a publisher to do this for you so you can focus on your writing.