Why the Amanda Hocking Story Is the Worst Thing That Could Have Happened to the EPub Business

[...] Why the Amanda Hocking Story is the Worst Thing that Could Have Happened to the Epub Business … Why the Amanda Hocking Story Is the Worst Thing That Could Have Happened to the EPub Business | Fast… A great Fastlane story of EPIC PROPORTIONS … but a prime invitation for the Commandment of Entry [...]

It is true, that it is going to get flooded with a lot of crappy books. But the truth of the matter is, there have always been crappy books out there. Users are smart enough, based on reviews as well, whether to buy a book or not. The bad ones will fade away, while the good ones will stay afloat.

Same thing happens with the apps as you said. There are a lot of crappy apps out there, but no one knows about them because they are exactly that…CRAPPY. Good ones are the only ones that we hear about (good ones or the ones with good marketing). I do admit though, there are some good ones we never hear about…as well as there will be some good eBooks that we will never hear about either…

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately because while I have been traditionally published in the past, I want to move into self publishing in the future and have been devouring as much as I can about getting onto the Kindle/Nook and of course printed copies of any future books I write.

There has already been a few ebooks/courses listed on places like the Warrior Forum promoting how you can set your ebook up onto the Kindle so the Amanda Hocking story, while inspirational, isn’t the only avenue that is promoting getting e-published. And once Internet Marketer’s start jumping onto it .. oh boy ..

Amanda sells her books for 0.99 cents – which is why she is selling so many, so her profit margin would be 30% or 0.33 per book. Which of course is still an impressive $33,000 odd per month if she is really selling 100,000 per month (although I have heard that while she did that one month, it hasn’t been consistently that high).

Anyway, back to my point.

I tend to agree that while the barrier of entry has been lifted you will still need to produce a quality product for it to do well.

As the previous commenter said, there are plenty of crap apps around (it’s easy to make an app too) but only the good one’s are bringing in any real money.

Marketing and social proof is going to be stronger than ever, and word will quickly get around if an ebook is good or not. I’ve already seen the customer feedback on Amazon for a few ebooks that people have put up on the Kindle and they are not good. Word will get around pretty fast.

Amazon isn’t stupid, and either are customers. They’ll find a way to sift out the bad and let the cream rise to the top. (or at least I hope this is so otherwise my future ventures into self publishing is doomed to fail!).

I still have confidence that if you provide a quality product you can succeed.

Great takes Tracey n JM … I agree with everything! Social proof especially!

You still have to be able to type 300 pages.

Writing is not easy. Even bad writing.

I actually wanted to ask a question about this on the forum. I am working on a business where a book is the first product in a product line/funnel. However, I wondered if it met the commandment of entry. I thought about it and thought just like @stephen grey that it may still meet the commandment because not many people have the dedication to write a complete book. Most people I know can’t even write 10 pages, even though they wish they can write a book!

I was also wondering whether I should self-publish or go with a boutique publisher which lets you kind of do both self-publish and traditional publish. However, with the boutique publisher, I will not be in control of the profit I can get by raising it or lowering (they also provide only 20% of the NET sale, not retail). I could only control how many can be sold.

I also realize that the marketing of a book is more important than the book itself. I have a following, but not 1 million. I would have to get very creative in marketing my book.

Anyone who can answer my concerns would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Emily

I prefer self-publishing vs boutique — self publishing = you OWN the publishing company. (Not Lulu) Granted such an approach isn’t as easy, but I prefer to maximize control and profit. My opinion, results my vary. =)

All markets become saturated, and online publishing is no different. Work from home offers are now work online anywhere offers.

There will always be more content than we have time to consume, and the successful people will have the best marketing and/or product.

I think you’re missing the mark here MJ on what the true barrier to entry is in publishing.

It’s not printing a book…any idiot can get a book printed.  Even before ebooks, anyone with a few thousand dollar credit line on their credit card could get a vanity publisher to print their book.

No, the real barrier to entries (which haven’t changed a bit post-Hocking and ebooks) are :

1. The ability to write 300 pages.
2. The ability to write 300 pages that someone will actually want to read.
3. The ability to get your 300 pages in front of people who will actually want to read them.
4. The ability to develop a name brand and niche so that people will keep coming back to read your next 300 pages and so on.

None of those barriers have been in any way diminished by ebooks.

Isn’t the “fastlane” available in ebook format, and marketed the same way? Correct me if I’m wrong.
I think you already popped the cherry must. LOL.

Wait, don’t tell me.. you were looking for a controversial headline, right?