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giddion · 03-08-2009, 04:05 PM

OK, background to start with in case you haven't caught me in other threads.

I'm a professional web developer, I work for a college and I own my own business as well. I am familiar with ebooks and have done some work with the publishing tools for each format. I'm a supporter of the technology and want to encourage it's adoption.

I have a business client that has been in online retail for over a decade, and in the catalog of products he sells there are a small number of books. For the books he sells he has a very close working relationship with the authors. Business has been slow for him the last year or so, as it has been for many retailers, and he's been looking for new products and new ways to make a profit.

I pointed out to him that ebooks are a growing business and I suggested that his established online presence coupled with his relationship those authors might be an untapped opportunity.

So my client has spoken to two of the authors, and they are interested in getting some of their books out on the market in ebook format. Additional they have books that are either no longer under contract with a publisher and/or books that have never been picked up by a publisher.

I've also convinced my client that's customers are happier buying DRM free products and that selling DRM free products reduces the potential customer service over head as people look to moved purchased content from one device to another as they purchase new devices.

So things I'm looking for advice on, with the assumption that I'm generating the ebook files:

What percentages of the retail sale should each party expect?

If I/we format and generate the ebook and the author wants to sell the book through another retailer should their be a service fee for the generated book or should that retailer get a smaller cut and a share go to me/us as essentially the publisher?

In this model who handles litigation for IP issues? I mean if someone takes a copy of a book and starts selling it on their website who takes care of that?

And in general if anyone has gone down this road already and can provide helpful advice I'd like to hear it.

Oh - not sure if this is the correct thread - I'm not the author of the content so if it should be somewhere else I apologize.

03-08-2009, 04:05 PM	#1
giddion Connoisseur Posts: 73 Karma: 186 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: CT, USA Device: samsung i910 now - cybook later	new eRetailor / pub looking for advice OK, background to start with in case you haven't caught me in other threads. I'm a professional web developer, I work for a college and I own my own business as well. I am familiar with ebooks and have done some work with the publishing tools for each format. I'm a supporter of the technology and want to encourage it's adoption. I have a business client that has been in online retail for over a decade, and in the catalog of products he sells there are a small number of books. For the books he sells he has a very close working relationship with the authors. Business has been slow for him the last year or so, as it has been for many retailers, and he's been looking for new products and new ways to make a profit. I pointed out to him that ebooks are a growing business and I suggested that his established online presence coupled with his relationship those authors might be an untapped opportunity. So my client has spoken to two of the authors, and they are interested in getting some of their books out on the market in ebook format. Additional they have books that are either no longer under contract with a publisher and/or books that have never been picked up by a publisher. I've also convinced my client that's customers are happier buying DRM free products and that selling DRM free products reduces the potential customer service over head as people look to moved purchased content from one device to another as they purchase new devices. So things I'm looking for advice on, with the assumption that I'm generating the ebook files: What percentages of the retail sale should each party expect? If I/we format and generate the ebook and the author wants to sell the book through another retailer should their be a service fee for the generated book or should that retailer get a smaller cut and a share go to me/us as essentially the publisher? In this model who handles litigation for IP issues? I mean if someone takes a copy of a book and starts selling it on their website who takes care of that? And in general if anyone has gone down this road already and can provide helpful advice I'd like to hear it. Oh - not sure if this is the correct thread - I'm not the author of the content so if it should be somewhere else I apologize.