Hi romanmar~
Fortunately, starting an e-bookstore isn't much different than
starting a traditional bookstore. Once you have your site (in this
case--naturally--a website instead of a storefront), your goal will be
to find stock.
Many e-book sellers are really e-publishers; they sell books that
haven't been published elsewhere. But it sounds like what you want is
a true *bookstore.* This makes your task much easier.
Judging from the website you offered as an example, it appears that
you want to sell books that have been traditionally published on
paper, but are also available in electronic format. Therefore, all you
need to do is contact the publishers of the books you'd like to carry.
Many well-known publishers now offer at least a few e-books, so
contact them just as you would as a traditional bookstore.
Call or write their orders department, and ask for information about
wholesale orders. Let them known that you're only interested in
e-books. Be sure to include your tax ID number. (A tax ID number is a
special number assigned to you once you have a business name; it is
also possible to use your personal social security number, if you are
the sole proprietor of the business; however, it's a better idea to
get a separate number for your business. For more information on
business tax IDs, visit:
http://www.applyingforataxidnumber.com/what.html )
It's really that simple. The publishers will then give you information
about how they structure their prices for e-books, and will provide
information on getting their e-books onto your website. Each publisher
may have slightly different "rules."
As an example of how to go about this, I'll use the e-book "The
Complete Idiot's Guide To Organizing Your Life" by Georgene Lockwood,
published by Alpha Books. I did a Google search for "Alpha Books" to
come up with the publisher's website. ( http://www.idiotsguides.com )
There, I found their sales contact information. (You'll often find it
under the "sales," "wholesale," or "about us" sections.) In this case,
there's an 800 number (800-428-5331), as well as an editorial office
phone number and address (Pearson Education, 1185 6th Avenue, 26th
Floor, New York, NY 10036, 212-782-3494) The next step would simply be
to contact them and ask for wholesale information on their e-books.
You may find this article on the mechanics of selling e-books helpful:
http://www.ebookapprentice.com/sell
This site also offers information on what kind of website you'll need
to sell e-books:
http://www.ebookapprentice.com/website/index.html
Here's an interesting article on e-book selling, published by Wired:
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,42021,00.html
This PBS article on the future of e-books may also be interesting to
you:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/jan-june00/e-books_3-16.html
A helpful article on the audience for e-books:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/2002/05/08/ebooks.htm
Keywords Used:
"Alpha Books"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22Alpha+Books%22&btnG=Google+Search
Selling e-books
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=selling+e-books&btnG=Google+Search
"tax ID number" "How to get"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22tax+ID+number%22+%22How+to+get%22
Good luck!
kriswrite |
