Create Your Own eBook Store The Ins and Outs

Many people nowadays are inclined towards building extra sources of income apart from milking their regular cows. As such, the growing popularity of eBooks provide them with a lucrative option; and no — we are not talking about writing your own eBook, but rather getting involved in a much larger monopoly. We bring to you the prospect of How to create Your Own eBook Store!

Just after reading those words in bold, different emotions may have been running through you.

Excited with the new cash flow.

Intimidated with the task at hand.

Undecided and in a state of confusion since it’s an unchartered territory, about which you know nothing.

It’s a splurge that is bound to happen but you don’t have to worry. If we have proposed you the idea, it is us who will guide you through all the ins and outs of, how to create your own eBook store.

All you need to do is: put your phone on the silent mode; blend your coffee and fill it in that large mug of yours; relax and sip through the rest of this blog. One day you will recall this moment, while sitting on a huge pile of cash!

Why Should I Even Do It?

You must be staring at the screen, questioning: “WHY should I even create my own eBook store”.

We can hear you!

Higher Profit$$$

With your own eBook store you get to have higher profits than you will by exercising other direct sales platforms like Amazon Kindle Store, Barnes & Noble Book Store, and Kobo Books etc. You can be the master of your own royalties. But that is not where the fun ends, definitely not the cash flows. By creating your own eBook store, you can also sell the work of others and earn commission through these sales.

You Get to Choose Your Customers

Having the option to create your own eBook store, also allows you to target the audience niche that you want to do. Where this may help you with your objective of wider visibility, you can also exploit the target restrictions of other eBook stores and get ahead of the race.

For instance, the Amazon surcharge zone robs it off a section of customers who are not willing to pay extra. You can target them.

For example, Barnes & Noble only serve the US customer base, while Amazon has a restricted catering coverage of Asia, Middle East and large parts of Africa. You can exploit this.

And another example: Recently there was a sudden outcry where Amazon was found guilty of not serving same day delivery to some neighborhoods of New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas and Washington, particularly in residential areas which had majority of people belonging from Black and Latino ethnicity. Although Amazon leapt to its defense but the complaints are authentic. You can exploit this.

Convenience of Choice

By creating your own eBook store, you can tap thousands of customers who bounce back from some major online retailers just because they don’t want to create an account for just one purchase. Similarly, often there are cases where customers may look for alternatives in case their preferred retailer is down because of maintenance or some other networking issues. By providing these customers with a collection that may interest them, you increase their alternative options.

Customer Link

Through direct sales oriented with your own eBook store, you can capture the contact links of your customers, hence making it easier for you to generate profit through backend sales.

BUT, hey hey hey… Wait before you jump in. There are few things that we would like you to consider before you get all your hands messed up.

What Should You Look Out For Before Getting Into the Business

Believe us; we only did this for your benefit! Because we think there are few things you should be on the lookout for before you go with — Create Your Own eBook Store!

When You Are The Owner, You Are Responsible!

Depending on the option that you choose to create your own eBook store, your responsibilities can vary. There are options that will need days before you can get your own eBook store, up and running. It won’t be a matter of hours with every option out there. Then, if anything goes wrong, you are responsible for the fix. This could vary from some issues with your online store to cases of mishandling when a transaction was executed. Therefore choose your options wisely and own your decision.

Do You Have the Appeal?

This is one of the main issues you will be facing when you create your own eBook store. With every writer dreaming to be on the charts of bestsellers, people may have reservations using your eBook store to sell their beloved digital copies. You will have to convince them through your marketing strategy.

Taxes, Taxes, Everywhere!

Now this may not be applicable in every situation, but you may have to deal with payment of taxes, depending on your location, if you want to create your own eBook store and get into the business of selling. Be educated and be prepared.

The Mind Numbing Regulations and Rights

When you want to create your own eBook store and be an online retailer, although you get to be your own boss and have greater control over the moolah, reality is you are still at the mercy of your publishers. When you are selling a printed version, you have to get another copy from the publisher. But when it’s about the digital papers, they are not sold in actual — they are licensed for use. The terms and conditions for these licenses are dictated by the publisher, stated in lengthy jargon based contracts. Furthermore, you also have to convince your publisher about the intactness of your cyber security. If you fail with any of these, you will soon find your eBook store relegated to cyber wilderness.

With the advantages and areas of concerns covered, it’s now time to look into the different options that you have, to create your own eBook store.

Options to Create Your Own eBook Store

This could well be renovating your current website; point is that through this option of creating your own eBook store, you transform your existing cyber presence.

How to do that?

Well one of the most common techniques is to integrate shopping carts with your blog or website. The shopping cart packages are of different types. You can either go for a shopping cart that charges you monthly — kind of flat rates, or, you can simply go for shopping carts that are free but take a percentage of your sales. It all depends on what you prefer.

However if you are looking to opt for this option, there are few things that you should keep in mind.

Firstly, you may need to redesign your website or blog to make it compatible with the option of using shopping carts. And if you own a free WordPress website, there is no way you can integrate these shopping carts. For that, you will have to switch to the premium WordPress option.

Secondly, since you are locating your eBook store on your current cyber address, you have to make sure that you generate enough traffic for you to set up a running, profitable business.

Selling Through PayPal

You can create your own eBook store, well kind of, through the buy now buttons of your PayPal account. You obviously need a PayPal account; a sales page or a sales copy which can be in the form of an online video or blog post; a page from where your customers can download the product once they have made the purchase and… Aye, the eBooks!

Once the customers have been through the sales page, they are directed to a payment processor platform which PayPal will serve to be and once the payment process is complete, they are then directed to a page from where they can download the eBook.

But again, there are some downsides to this way of creating your own eBook store.

Firstly, you will have to come up with more than one sales page for your eBooks collection.

Secondly, you will have to be online every time an order needs to be executed. This could be problematic if you can’t access internet for some reason as you have to supervise the provision of downloadable links manually.

Custom Built Stores

With the option of custom built, you create your own eBook store, through different online platforms. This option provides you with the convenience of automation, as you no longer have to worry about structuring your payment methods, calculating taxes manually or maintaining a supply chain. Everything is built for you, you just have to fill those shelves and select the outlook.

Custom built stores are a great way of setting up your own eBook store but the only negative about this option is that you also have to pay the architecture who designed your eBook store. So if you are failing to generate sales, you can soon find yourself flirting with monetary losses rather than gains.

The Option of Gum Road

Much similar to the PayPal option but without the hassle of manual supervision, Gum Road is one of the most convenient choice when it comes to exploring different create your own eBook store options. All you have to do is, upload your eBooks on Gum Road and they will provide you with a download link that you can post at your website or blog. Once the customers complete the payment process, they can access the link form your website. Convenient, easy and quick!

You now know the advantages, things to look out for and the options to consider, while creating your own eBook store. Congratulations, you are good to go. But our work is not finished here. We feel that you can do with some tips that can help you get the maximum out of your eBook store.

You deserve your full, juicy platter!

Some Valuable Tips to Improve Your eBook Store

• Your eBook store should have the best of collections and for that you need to conduct a market research. Use tools like Pixel fast, Word Tracker to conduct a keyword research and find out what people are looking for. Once you have a pool of keywords, look for the content that is available for those keywords and shortlist accordingly. Now you know the niche to target with your eBooks collection, get ready to receive lots of orders.
• Use survey sites as a marketing tool for your eBooks store and the collection it would shelve. By knowing the interest of people and making them feel that their input is valuable, you can make yourself appealing and standout from the rest of your competitors. Survey sites are also a great way of gauging your future sales.
• Hire copywriting professionals to increase traffic on your eBook store as they can make it look more appealing. It’s not about having visitors, it’s about converting those visitors into customers and copywriters can do that very effectively.
• If you eBook store, sells digital as well as printed versions, make sure that you sort your collection accordingly. Customers don’t want to end up getting confused and lost in the process.
• Make sure that the format of your eBooks is not just mobi or epub files, but you also provide PDF and zipped versions as different customers have different requirements.
• More and people are making mobile transaction nowadays, so always optimize your eBook store for the mobile platform and as well as for the desktop users.
• Make sure that you shrink the eBook covers on display as it will make the layout more presentable and customers won’t have to keep scrolling to infinite depths.
• Use solutions like Adobe Content Server 4, to deliver DRM services so that publishers can have more trust in your retailing.
• Go for a check out system that is user friendly, convenient and do not involve much hassle. Amazon uses 1-Click patented technology, while Apple has its own payment system. Overlooking this part can result in the loss of customers.

So here we are, hopefully you are still with us, with all the ins and outs of creating your own eBook store briefed and discussed. We hope that the blog post would have helped you in clearing your reservations and make you feel more confident about opening your own eBook store. Just don’t forget to invite us at your success party!