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Is the Ebook Honeymoon Over?

© Manuel Viloria

Over the past six months, publishers have become increasingly interested in ebooks. Yet the Stephen King experience (he stopped epublishing The Plant) heralds a slightly disturbing development.

Are readers falling out of love with ebooks? Here's why and what you can do about it.

People don't even want to read ebooks.

You've seen the news -- online surfing is down. People seem to be getting tired of the internet and probably don't relish spending time in front of the computer.

So why should consumers buy ebooks that cannot be printed? Or if the ebook is can be printed, it might contain over 300 pages. And who wants to babysit a slow printer? Do you?

People don't want to pay for ebooks.

It's hard to shake the "information has to be free" feeling, isn't it? Somehow, the concept of paying for electronic content hasn't really caught on. People do pay for books (physical), though.

Then again, perhaps people don't buy "real" books only because of the information they contain. Some booklovers enjoy collecting hardbound copies to fill their bookcases. Others simply love the feel of paper or blissfully sniff at the crisp pages of a brand new novel.

But ebooks? What's the motivation there, right?

People will pass along your ebooks. Or at least try to.

This is an understandable fear felt by most first-time ebook publishers. And so they put in all the possible security methods you can think of:

• No copying/pasting
• No printing
• Passwords that work only on one computer

After all, how can you continue selling your ebook if someone puts it on the web to be freely downloaded? As a result, you have disgruntled readers who sometimes cannot even open your ebook even after they've paid for it.

So, is the end in sight? Is it time to call it quits? Is the honeymoon really over?

How To Keep The Ebook Love Alive...

1.0 Move the person away from the computer.
Don't be afraid to allow your readers to print your (hopefully short) ebook. Remember that reading off a computer monitor is painful. Let others print your ebook so they can read your work in a more comfortable setting.

2.0 Use "enter once only" passwords.
Make it easy for your readers to get straight into your ebook. Try to avoid scenarios where they have to enter the same password every time they open your ebook. If you're worried that they might email the password to others ... let them. There's a way to limit the life of a password without unnecessarily inconveniencing your original customer. ( See http://www.siliconrealms.com )

The copyright of the article Is the Ebook Honeymoon Over? in E-Book Publishing is owned by Manuel Viloria. Permission to republish Is the Ebook Honeymoon Over? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.