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Ask HN: Is starting eBook store today an insane idea?

11 points by goqu ↗ HN
With the new year kick off I promised myself to start an eBook store as my new year resolution. I have been reading a lot of books over the last decade and I had always felt that starting eBook store will come natural to me giving my web designing background and love for the books. However, I have been always reluctant to begin due to the huge competition, Amazon to name the main one. I'm no longer feeling that I need to achieve what Amazon has achieved, I just want to have my book store. I have secured one author whose ebooks and reports are already on my website so the dream is coming true.

Would love to hear what the community thinks and if you guys have your own experience in running ebook stores that could share with your fellow HN reader.

17 comments

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 51.3 ms ] thread
ocdtrekkie
I can say the one reason I only buy from eBook stores that are not Amazon: If I buy an eBook, I expect it to be DRM-free. I am a pretty big patron of Informit for this reason, and I buy a lot of Humble Book Bundles as well.

I've noticed many publishers have DRM'd up versions on Amazon or other book stores, but often have DRM-free offerings on their own site. Simon and Schuster is another one that does this, particularly with Star Trek novels. Authors may be extremely hesitant to sell just through you because losing Amazon discoverability is painful, but you can definitely offer things that Amazon will not.

__d
I'll second this: when I buy a book, I want to own it. DRM means I'm constantly at risk of my "ownership" being revoked. So I always try to buy the non-DRM version.

In recent years, I've found that Amazon's Kindle store has become less good. Their recommendations are much worse than they used to be, their handling of book series is bad (if a book is in a series, show me them all, in order, and identify those I already own), the pages are just awfully messy and cluttered, they push Prime in my face all the time, etc, etc.

I'll love a great, curated online book store. Much like a real bookstore, have things organized well, have staff recommendations (not random bot-boosted rubbish); focus on authors with interviews, and AMAs, and so on; and make it a nice place to browse (and buy).

If you make the commercial deal for authors/publishers decent, I suspect you would be able to build a decent list of suppliers. And if you focus on the "good bookstore" feel, I think you've got a good chance at some success.

goqu
Love the feedback about curated book store with staff recommendations. Authors interviews is something that I already have on my list so you just ensured me of heading into the right direction. Appreciate the comment.
idunno246
I go to bookstores for the curation, but then feel bad not buying anything cause I really don’t want to carry a physical book around. I’d take something online, or somehow plugged into an actual store - snap a qr referral code then the barcode and buy straight to the device.

Going against giants, it seems like finding a niche and doing it really well is the way to survive.

goqu
Good point. I talk to many authors who have no fears publishing their books without DRM. They realize how little damage can realistically be made by an individual who has no presence online and way to distribute the book and the ones that do have can quickly be caught.
stfwn
It is, but don't let that stop you. It seems like a tough nut to crack to me, but I have bought directly from publishers when they offered better value for money over Amazon or the Dutch giant Bol.com. You can get your 1000 true fans if you offer something specific and great.
goqu
I think my main motivation is that I can anticipate and bring extra value to the customers. I do a lot of videos and social media content to promote the books, I feel like building community around it will give everyone new experience.
goqu
Thanks to all who took the time and wrote back. Every comment is valuable to me.
aviv
I think it's a bad idea to sell them through a dedicated stand-alone website/store. Many people are selling ebooks successfully using ClickFunnels, especially when combined with upsells. Don't think of an ebook as a way to earn $15, rather as an entry point to a $500+ sale of another related product/service.
sierdolij
It depends.

The odds against an eBook store:

0. Undefensible business model - little/no barrier to entry, few patents, anyone can start such a store

1. Getting advertising and distribution at scale

On the plus side:

2. It might work at a tiny scale for niche categories/communities/local businesses.

Otherwise, I wouldn't waste too much time on it. I would something that's more difficult to copy or emulate.

quickthrower2
The trick is to make a sublime experience for the seller. Make your cut less than what amazon takes. Then convince people with successful ebooks to sell via your store. They’ll send you the traffic because they want to sell their books. You only need a single book to start making money.
dmitripopov
You should start a niche bookstore. So, as with any other product - look out for a profitable niche first. And you have to secure exclusive deals with respectable authors in that niche which is a tough task. As with any other marketplace you have to attract authors and readers at the same time, but it requires a lot of marketing and business skills.
deanalevitt
Have you ever checked out Bandcamp? It's a competitor to iTunes - a place to support the music you like. I feel that this might be a good model for you.

Their niche is indie music, plus it allows for artists to be more flexible on pricing. I think there are a number of parallels when it comes to ebooks and supporting authors.

goqu
I never heard of the Bandcamp service. They seem like a definition of perfectly executed niche service, I'll watch them closely from now.
saluki
I have bought quite a few ebooks from LeanPub.

It was a great experience, they email you when there is an update to a ebook you have purchased.

Take a look their site and how they work with authors.

https://leanpub.com/bookstore/type/book?search=vue

goqu
Very interesting idea. There is definitely many useful parts of their service that I could implement. Thanks for sharing.
goqu
Great response from the HN community. For anyone interested in the project: https://hundredfoot.com/ If anyone would like to get in touch, shoot me an email: info[at]hundredfoot com