Do you need a publisher to write your own ebook?

I'm very new to the ebook revolution and bought John Thornhills ebook for .99, didn't get suckered into his whole 97.00 package and I'm doing a little research and I'm wondering for the ones who make huge profits if they wrote them themselves or bought copyrights and are making a profit on someone elses book. I figured I didn't lose alot of money only spending .99 and he sends me his newsletter just about every day with tips and such.

You don't need a publisher for ebooks or physical books ... a publisher largely helps with distribution and production, as well as (sometimes) copyright management, but as helpful as one can be it isn't necessary for either.

Some people who sell ebooks are selling books to which they have resale rights. There are a few categories of resale rights, and usually the original seller spells out what can and can't be done.

Note however that on eBay 99.99% of all ebook sellers totally disregard the terms of resale rights agreements.


Frank

If anyone on Ebay is selling your item you can report them and get them suspended as your the intellectual rights owner.

That's true in principle Graham, but the time taken up by that vigilience can be more than it's worth, and if the product is popular it's a swarm issue. There are a few third parties that do that sort of thing full time for publishers, but I've never used one so can't really comment on effectiveness.


Frank

You can embed a password into the ebook, this prevents people reselling it, as they can trace a unique passkey - its a bit technical, so I will not go into too much detail, but if someone buys it from me, then resells it without rights, the software on the server asks the info product to 'check for updates', it then checks the password etc from the original person who purchased it, if they match fine new update, if not prodcut is prevented from opening...resulting in the person who purchased it from the guy who didnt have resale rights being screwed by Paypal and his Ebay feedback destroyed.

This is the future of info products online, with SOOO many people disputing transactions through Paypal, they dont see that what they are doing is theft!

So you can even add people whove disputed transactions added to your database, so when they try to update, the file will not open...ah REVENGE.

For people wholl right your ebook, try elance.com
This is why I am escaping from Ebay...Craigslist is HUGE...Click Link hidden: Login to view

Solutions like that can work well too. The security-minded segment of the market is nixed but of course security-minded people make up about .000000001% of the total web market. Every now and again I get an ebook or software program that tries to 'phone home' like that; my whole system goes into lockdown until the offending app is closed. But if you're advertising the 'phone home' feature as a security feature, it can work for you.


Frank

It certainly does work - Ive had a low amount of people try getting a refund via Paypal and we all know Paypal sides with the buyer...but on intangible goods it stops people ripping you off - now Im selling on Craigslist and its much easier as the users there are computer savvy.