So, you’re going to be hearing a lot about this in the future but, for now, let me drop this link on you: Beyond Amazon, eBay, and Etsy: free and low cost alternative marketplaces, shopping cart solutions and e-commerce storefronts

That’s the link for my newest eBook. It’s the first of many coming both this year and in the future (they’ll all be under the new Books and eBooks link in the header). They are going to be on a variety of topics within the realm of what we talk about on here but here’s what you need to know about all of them:

  • These eBooks will almost all be priced at the very wallet friendly price of under $1.
  • They are all being published with no DRM, lending privileges, and unlimited device sharing for maximum value for your buck.
  • I can edit all of them at any point after publication so they should never become out of date.
  • They will be in the same totally transparent and conversational style as this blog. Think of them as insanely long blog posts. (I know, I know. I already write insanely long blog posts. But doesn’t this tweet make more sense now?)
  • They will either be made up entirely of brand new, never before seen on the blog content (which is the case with Beyond Amazon, eBay, and Etsy) or some new content alongside reworked content that has appeared on the blog in the past.

Now here’s the part that you, as a regular reader, are going to care about. While I would obviously greatly appreciate your purchase of any of these eBooks, Whine Seller subscribers will eventually get 80 to 90% of the content from these eBooks for free on the blog. In the case of reworked content, you’ve already read the original or can find it in the archives. In the case of brand new content, I’ll be hacking the hell out of those eBooks and reworking the pieces into standalone blog posts over the course of the upcoming weeks and months. Obviously you won’t be getting this info organized as neatly and in as much detail as you would in the eBook but you will be reading almost all of that content for free eventually. (Some posts will be marked as part of an eBook, others will not.)

Consider this my little thank you to those of your that subscribe to the site. An extra little perk, if you will.

So if you stumbled over here by accident somehow and aren’t subscribed to The Whine Seller either via RSS or email, get on that!

Other things you may be wondering…

Do you have plans for any more printed books?

Other then the new edition of The Trading Assistant’s Assistant which is coming out later this year, I’m planning to stick with eBooks in the near future. The why is pretty simple: the fact that they are easy to edit after publication lets me keep them up to date at all times with no extra expenses. I got *killed* on the TAA when eBay changed the program right after the first edition came out and look how long it’s taken for me to fix that. I would really rather never be in that situation again.

If I eventually get enough eBooks out, I guess I could eventually compile them into a printed book if there is interest. I don’t know what the future of printed books is but I’m willing to give the people what they want.

Why on the Kindle platform?

Because it’s really easy and one of the most popular since Kindle books work on just about any mobile device including just a normal PC. But, depending on how they do, I may start releasing the books for other eBook platforms as well. But I’m going to start everything out on the Kindle.

Can you give me a list of what eBooks are coming up and when they’ll be out?

In short, no. I’m working on about 6 at once and as soon as one is finished, I’ll make it available. You’ll hear about them as they come out. Sorry I can’t be more specific, I’m trying to fit these in around the rest of my career/life. But this means I do take requests so feel free to email over any topics you’d love to see an eBook on.

Why should I buy the cow when I can get the milk for free?

Uh, what?

I mean, why should I pay for your eBooks when I can just read your content for free on the blog here?

You don’t have to. As I said before, regular readers can sit back and know that they’ll eventually see nearly all of that content anyway. Kindle also has a 7 day return policy so if you buy one of my eBooks and hate it, just return it within 7 days for a full refund and no harm done.

Obviously, I wouldn’t mind if some of you bought the occasional eBook but the main reason I’m doing this post assuring you that you’ll get most of this content eventually for free is because I want you to be able to sit back with the knowledge that any future eBook marketing posts are directed at non-subscribers and not feel like I’m trying to sell you anything. This is all largely an experiment in monetizing this blog but I don’t want to alienate any readers by doing it. My take on it is this: As a regular reader, it’d be nice if you bought a copy but I’m not expecting you to.

That said, I think there are a few good reasons that you may want to support these eBooks even if you are a regular reader.

  • I believe that people who enjoy or find value in the content I provide on this blog will be willing to support it, especially since the books are so cheap with so few digital restrictions. Even if you’ve read the content before, it’s sometimes nice to have it all available neatly in one place for easy reference.
  • While it is technically possible to read most of the info from the eBooks on the blog, the info will be spread out all over the site. Isn’t it worth 99 cents to not have to dig around and find them all?
  • Even if you don’t want to buy a copy yourself, because the eBooks are on Amazon, you can always link to them from your blogs and websites and earn referral credits through Amazon Associates when your readers buy them. You know you love that. 😉

If anyone is interested in this little experiment of mine and how it’s working out, let me know. If there’s interest, I’ll give regular updates on how the process is going and talk numbers, hate mail, whatever.

Whew! Guys, I need a break so bad. I’m going to go pass out somewhere.*

As always, thanks for sticking with me! You are awesome! 🙂

*=I’m writing this very late on the evening of Friday, July 1st. I didn’t want you to think I was passing out on a Monday morning or whenever this eventually posts.