A PDF store without a publisher fee or royalty cost?

[Morrus]

I've been looking into a new idea for a PDF store. Rather than charging a royalty fee to publishers or a sign-up fee, I'm looking into the possibility of making it completely free to publishers (less CC and PayPal charges, of course) and making the profit solely through advertising. So far, it looks doable with a suitably coded backend.

I'm envisaging no lengthy sign-up process; simply upload your stuff and you're away.

The question is: would PDF publishers be interested in such a store? It likely wouldn't have many of the snazzy features of some established stores (other than some EN World integration), but on the flip side it woudn't cost you a penny to sell your products there. That's a profit increase of 25-40%, depending where you currently sell.

 

[Vascant]

I currently only sell on my site which does work out quite well but since this does seem like a new approach I would give it a try.

 

[Thayan]

As a new publisher I could get behind this as an alternative. If it got going I would be hard pressed Not to consider supporting it.

 

[lmpjr007]

I've been looking into a new idea for a PDF store. Rather than charging a royalty fee to publishers or a sign-up fee, I'm looking into the possibility of making it completely free to publishers (less CC and PayPal charges, of course) and making the profit solely through advertising. So far, it looks doable with a suitably coded backend.

I'm envisaging no lengthy sign-up process; simply upload your stuff and you're away.

The question is: would PDF publishers be interested in such a store? It likely wouldn't have many of the snazzy features of some established stores (other than some EN World integration), but on the flip side it woudn't cost you a penny to sell your products there. That's a profit increase of 25-40%, depending where you currently sell.

Well if you can get the traffic it would be very interesting idea. Wowio.com did something like this and then imploded over the summer leaving A LOT of publishers holding the bag and not getting paid for thier products. How will you pervent something like that from happening?

 

[Mark]

Count me in, both as a publisher and advertiser.

 

[Angellis_ater]

I would say that Dreamscarred Press would be in with something like this, especially if it was tied closely/integrated with ENWorld.

 

[Morrus]

Well if you can get the traffic it would be very interesting idea. Wowio.com did something like this and then imploded over the summer leaving A LOT of publishers holding the bag and not getting paid for thier products. How will you prevent something like that from happening?

Imploded how? I can't envisage a method of preventing something when I don't understand how it could happen. The model I'm looking into holds no additional costs for the store; the very worst it can possibly do is sell no advertising, in which case it breaks even.

The store wouldn't hold any money. It can't go into a negative situation by definition. When someone buys a product, they pay you directly, not the store (think eBay, but a little less complex, and no seller fees).

 

[EP]

Imploded how? I can't envisage a method of preventing something when I don't understand how it could happen. The model I'm looking into holds no additional costs for the store; the very worst it can possibly do is sell no advertising, in which case it breaks even.

The store wouldn't hold any money. It can't go into a negative situation by definition. When someone buys a product, they pay you directly, not the store (think eBay, but a little less complex, and no seller fees).

Perhaps if we saw some more information - even the same stuff you're looking at - we could all make better decisions. I know that any time I've tried to set up anywhere else other than RPGNow, it's all been for nothing. But that no charge thing sounds good, but almost too good to be true.

If it does work on an eBay basis, I can think of TWO operations I'd like to set up. But I'd need to see some documentation on anything before giving a go-ahead on it, so all I can say right now is that it SOUNDS like a good idea.

 

[Bardsandsages]

I've been looking into a new idea for a PDF store. Rather than charging a royalty fee to publishers or a sign-up fee, I'm looking into the possibility of making it completely free to publishers (less CC and PayPal charges, of course) and making the profit solely through advertising. So far, it looks doable with a suitably coded backend.

I'm envisaging no lengthy sign-up process; simply upload your stuff and you're away.

The question is: would PDF publishers be interested in such a store? It likely wouldn't have many of the snazzy features of some established stores (other than some EN World integration), but on the flip side it woudn't cost you a penny to sell your products there. That's a profit increase of 25-40%, depending where you currently sell.

OK, I'm confused. In this post you say that publishers would pay CC and paypal fees, which is obviously reasonable, but also implies that monies would be handled directly by the store. But in another post you say customers would pay publishers directly, which implies something completely different.

 

[lmpjr007]

Perhaps if we saw some more information - even the same stuff you're looking at - we could all make better decisions. I know that any time I've tried to set up anywhere else other than RPGNow, it's all been for nothing. But that no charge thing sounds good, but almost too good to be true.

If it does work on an eBay basis, I can think of TWO operations I'd like to set up. But I'd need to see some documentation on anything before giving a go-ahead on it, so all I can say right now is that it SOUNDS like a good idea.

Sure here you go:

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