Advise on my e-book store idea?
Discussion
I met some artists/cartoonists in Laos. The talent of these guys was phenomenal. It was all black and white ink work and very high quality but very quick and their hourly rate was amazing. They have a lot of work they wanted to do.
My idea was I could pair up some of these artists with freelance writers and design graphic e-books. Perhaps comics, or tourist guides etc.
If I get a e-book store setup I could middleman between finding writers and assigning these guys to illustrate. Obviously I'd lose some money from piracy. But apart from my own expenses, some marketing, and my personal taxes, the work would not be particularly arduous.
As a sideline I'm tempted to give it a try. Drop a few £££ into the idea, if it doesn't work, no big deal.
Does anyone know how much I should budget for a good quality website with a Paypal interface? And which freelance sites could I go on to find writers looking for work. Anything else I should be thinking of?
My idea was I could pair up some of these artists with freelance writers and design graphic e-books. Perhaps comics, or tourist guides etc.
If I get a e-book store setup I could middleman between finding writers and assigning these guys to illustrate. Obviously I'd lose some money from piracy. But apart from my own expenses, some marketing, and my personal taxes, the work would not be particularly arduous.
As a sideline I'm tempted to give it a try. Drop a few £££ into the idea, if it doesn't work, no big deal.
Does anyone know how much I should budget for a good quality website with a Paypal interface? And which freelance sites could I go on to find writers looking for work. Anything else I should be thinking of?
It’s a bit ‘how longs a piece of string’ - but judging from what you’ve said; I’d be tempted to use a store provider. The best being (IMO): Big Commerce, Shopify and Ecwid.
Check them all out.
As for writers; look at forums, Facebook writer groups and potentially (on the cheap) sites like ‘Fiverr’.
As a business model; I’m not 100% sure what you’ll be selling / or how you’ll get people wanting to buy stuff. Most people expect these type of things for free, don’t they? With advertising / placement being the source of £££?
Check them all out.
As for writers; look at forums, Facebook writer groups and potentially (on the cheap) sites like ‘Fiverr’.
As a business model; I’m not 100% sure what you’ll be selling / or how you’ll get people wanting to buy stuff. Most people expect these type of things for free, don’t they? With advertising / placement being the source of £££?
From what I can understand from what your saying it will be a little like Fivvr but specialising in Illustrations for books? Or, would it be more like a match.com kind of deal where it would put book publishers in touch with cheaper than normal illustrators? Both of these then, you take a cut from any work/payments?
Both could work, the latter I don't think would have as much competition but would be much more open to people then doing deals outside of the site to cut out your commission.
I know nothing of the publishing world so I would think your first port of call before spending any money on it would be to pitch the idea to the publishers and see if you get interest. If the Publishers are not interested then it doesn't matter how skilled and/or cheap the illustrators are. It could also be that the current illustrators get some sort of percentage from the book sales rather than set money for the job meaning if the book goes big it could cost the publisher more but it also lessens the risk of spending out too much on a book that ends up in bargain buckets.
Good luck though whatever way you go with it!
Both could work, the latter I don't think would have as much competition but would be much more open to people then doing deals outside of the site to cut out your commission.
I know nothing of the publishing world so I would think your first port of call before spending any money on it would be to pitch the idea to the publishers and see if you get interest. If the Publishers are not interested then it doesn't matter how skilled and/or cheap the illustrators are. It could also be that the current illustrators get some sort of percentage from the book sales rather than set money for the job meaning if the book goes big it could cost the publisher more but it also lessens the risk of spending out too much on a book that ends up in bargain buckets.
Good luck though whatever way you go with it!
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