posted on December 17, 2000 03:10:45 PM new
Newbie question here. How well do self-published "How To" information manuals sell? Recently, I purchased a CD with literally hundreds of these manuals on it, but to be honest, the information there was a lot of watered-down hype. The concept is intriguing, however. Anybody have any experience with this? Any pros and cons greatly appreciated.
posted on December 17, 2000 03:47:33 PM new
It depends on how you organize and market it. A booklet that says "lists of wholesale sources" may or may not sell, there are hundreds of them around. A booklet that says "get these items free .... get these specific items at these specific prices ..." do sell if the items and prices are good. There has to be a solid guarantee to lift it above hype.
posted on December 17, 2000 03:56:41 PM new
Yes, I have had a lot of experience with how to reports with reprint rights in the early to mid 1990s - before they were in electronic form and their copyright notices deleted.
posted on December 17, 2000 04:18:31 PM new
Thank you both for your input. Irene- Did you ever try to sell any of those manuals on eBay? Do you have any insight on price/packaging/subject?
posted on December 17, 2000 05:07:09 PM new
I never tried to sell the reports on the Internet. I knew the copyright holders and was outraged on their behalf when I first saw many of the reports being sold ILLEGALLY in electronic form for pennies a piece on Compuserve in 1994. I noticed that copyright notices had been reomoved from a number of reports - this is illegal.
posted on December 17, 2000 05:53:15 PM new
Yes, I saw one of my software programs being sold on one of those eBay discs with "full reprint rights." Riiiight.
posted on December 17, 2000 07:24:25 PM new
I would think that a self-published manual actually containing content, authored by the seller about their area of interest or expertise, might have a chance to succeed on eBay.
Before it was illegally pirated by the hack how to manual sellers that abound on the Net.
If you have an area of interest or expertise it might be more profitable to actually publish your material as a book and then sell the book.
More difficult for someone to pirate and there are a number of small "self publication" publishers available.
My brother did just this with a book about his favorite childhood toy, a Big Bang Carbide Cannon. He certainly hasn't gotten rich by the book but it has sold well enough that he has had to reprint it.
