A lot of POD publishers offer (for a fee) to set up a website for your book, and some even include book fulfillment sales options. Does anyone have experience in this? Is there a site that will do this for you separate from the POD groups? Any thoughts on the website promotion option?
Website promo for book
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Pohaver,
Often these 'websites' are simply page listings for your book on the POD publishers own websites with basic info on the book and author. The services for a proper website from the POD's usually comes at a premium fee above the going rates.
You could steer clear of the POD publishers and go directly to the printer many of them use. You can set up your own imprint and register your own account once you have purchased a block (10) of ISBN's.
Try looking at
http://www.lightningsource.com
Often these 'websites' are simply page listings for your book on the POD publishers own websites with basic info on the book and author. The services for a proper website from the POD's usually comes at a premium fee above the going rates.
You could steer clear of the POD publishers and go directly to the printer many of them use. You can set up your own imprint and register your own account once you have purchased a block (10) of ISBN's.
Try looking at
http://www.lightningsource.com
Last edited:
Hi again Paul,
If you want to sell a book in 2009, it is pretty much an expectation that you have a website at a bare minimum. The Internet is where people go to find out about just about everything now. A few browse through Amazon or a bookstore, but more find what they want via the web first, or at least look to see what they can find out about you/the book if someone recommends it.
It is just as important that you own your own site. For example, if by chance the publisher goes out of business, is slow to do maintenance, that's a really bad place to be. In addition, having a url (web address) like "www.yourbook.freebiesite.com" is generally considered less than professional since buying a domain is $10 a year and hosting can be as little as $8/$10 a month. The site doesn't have to be super fancy with a lot of bells and whistles to start, and you may be able to get up and running for just a few hundred dollars.
With regard to fulfillment, it all depends on where you think you'll send your customers. If you're mainly going to link them to Amazon, fulfillment is taken care of. If you'd rather sell direct from your site (because you'll make more money) you might need help with fulfillment but probably not for a while unless you really do a big launch and start selling tons of copies a week to the point where you can't handle it. A nice problem to have, but not always realistic at the start.
Hope that helps point you in the right direction.
If you want to sell a book in 2009, it is pretty much an expectation that you have a website at a bare minimum. The Internet is where people go to find out about just about everything now. A few browse through Amazon or a bookstore, but more find what they want via the web first, or at least look to see what they can find out about you/the book if someone recommends it.
It is just as important that you own your own site. For example, if by chance the publisher goes out of business, is slow to do maintenance, that's a really bad place to be. In addition, having a url (web address) like "www.yourbook.freebiesite.com" is generally considered less than professional since buying a domain is $10 a year and hosting can be as little as $8/$10 a month. The site doesn't have to be super fancy with a lot of bells and whistles to start, and you may be able to get up and running for just a few hundred dollars.
With regard to fulfillment, it all depends on where you think you'll send your customers. If you're mainly going to link them to Amazon, fulfillment is taken care of. If you'd rather sell direct from your site (because you'll make more money) you might need help with fulfillment but probably not for a while unless you really do a big launch and start selling tons of copies a week to the point where you can't handle it. A nice problem to have, but not always realistic at the start.
Hope that helps point you in the right direction.
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Beware of third parties who "set up" websites for writers. For only one objection: what if the third party goes out of business?
Most writers, particularly new ones are served as well by a blog as by a website. A good blog can do almost everything a site can and requires no expertise to maintain. And you can get into them for free.
And your URL can be quite simple. Like www.mybook.wordpress.com for instance ( a very recommended instance, actually: there are some fairly important writers using wordpress.com)
If, down the road, you feel the need for a proprietary domain, you can get it and make it point to your blog. Or set up a site with your initial blog as a "My Blog" click.
Another possibility is to get a domain (don't use GoDaddy) and host it somewhere that has "Fantastico" or other software that gives you a pre-installed blog that you can customize and control completely. Then set your URL to direct to that blog. Again, you can add other pages and features if necessary. This would cost about $100 a year or less. And require almost no technical assistance.
Most writers, particularly new ones are served as well by a blog as by a website. A good blog can do almost everything a site can and requires no expertise to maintain. And you can get into them for free.
And your URL can be quite simple. Like www.mybook.wordpress.com for instance ( a very recommended instance, actually: there are some fairly important writers using wordpress.com)
If, down the road, you feel the need for a proprietary domain, you can get it and make it point to your blog. Or set up a site with your initial blog as a "My Blog" click.
Another possibility is to get a domain (don't use GoDaddy) and host it somewhere that has "Fantastico" or other software that gives you a pre-installed blog that you can customize and control completely. Then set your URL to direct to that blog. Again, you can add other pages and features if necessary. This would cost about $100 a year or less. And require almost no technical assistance.
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