Selling e-books direct to your readers has just got a little easier, thanks to a new company called Gumroad.
I heard about them through indie author Sarah Billington on Friday, had my store up and running on Saturday, and fully pimped out by Sunday. (Cost = Zero!)
But before we get to that, should you open your own e-bookstore?
Is this a great time to be a writer, or what?
The title to this repost from David Gaughran's blog tells exactly what the post is about, and the body of the post gives all the details about direct selling. No need for further comment from me. But I do have a question.
QUESTION: WordPress.com from the beginning has been almost fanatically opposed to advertising by bloggers. (Sorry WordPress, that's my ONLY criticism of WordPress.com, which is by far the best blogging platform for me.) I believe Wordpress.com has probably always made an exception for selling one's own handmade goods (I might be wrong about that), and I guess handmade goods might include one's own handwritten books. My question, David, is how is WordPress.com responding to this sudden surge in blogging by Ebook authors? Was WordPress.com OK with your recent sale of 99-cent books? I gather that you and many others are Amazon affiliates, and possibly affiliates of other booksellers as well. Do you think Wordpress.com might crack down on this?
BTW, I tried switching my blog over to WordPress.org a few years ago, to gain more freedom, but found the technical hassle not worth the benefit. These days, WordPress will handle all the technical details of the switch for a fee, so it's much easier now if you want to pay the fee.
-- John Hayden
