Family Matters... Helping Out?

**Baby Boy** · 05-28-06, 03:36 AM

Thought since there really is no activity around here like a couple of people stated (and my exams are done and out of the way) I'd ask a question so maybe everybody can help me.

My brother, he is very much into reading books, he's 31 years old and just started getting into reading a few years back. I've noticed in times he'll write in a notebook small and short stories and then proof-read and edit them and all, but earlier tonight, before dinner he asked me something.

He came into the kitchen and asked me "what is it that you do online to make money?" I explained the whole freelance concept and mt $15.00 an hour charge. Shocked and amazed that a 17 year old could make that much (more then he does atleast) he said that he may need me to make him a website when he gets a computer and internet access.

So the night continued on and I asked him the purpose of the website, he says he wants me to make him a website, he writes small stories and then charges people to read them and whatever. This actually shocked me because I never thought my brother would get into something like this. He says he could use the extra money and would pay whatever to develop the site, as long as its profitable.

So anyone in their right mind that is family wouldn't charge, so I told him I'd set him up for free and everything, get him squared away and such. Now remember, the books will only be published online (not print.)

So I need some answers to the following questions below:

1. Which methods/forms of payment should I add/program to the site to accept?

2. Would it seem more "professional" to format the books to PDF's or just have them web-based in frame's?

3. What are some good PDF conversion software programs to help further the format of the books?

4. If converted to PDF's... should the file's be graphical or plain contextual?

5. Would it be safe to encrypt the PDF file (40-bit or 128-bit with a password) to keep from printing or copying and pasting of the text in the PDF or is that to "over-protective"?

6. How much is it to copyright each book if it were to be published online?

7. Where are some good place to find editors and proofreaders? I have a few but need more resources.

8. How could I market this and actually interest/lure people into buying (4 full price, 5th half off, etc.)

9. Where is some good places to find a good design for the site? (I would help out myself, unfortunately I suck at making designs right now.)

10. How else can I develop this site out to help my brother make some money, I mean, if he profits, I profit WITHOUT money (but in good spirit's that he is making some sort of living.)

That's it for right now. I do have intentions for number 1 (to setup a merchant account that also allows eCheck and implementing an Authorize.Net software.) PayPal may come along at a later date.

JustinG · 05-28-06, 04:41 AM

Wow, seems like a really cool idea.

1) Of course Pay pal, or any major credit card.

2) Why not offer both?

3) Google?

4) Add like a bold title and then just have text.

5) Yeah protecting is a good thing.

6) Not sure, I'll look into it.

7) Google again? Not really sure of any. Though you could get some friends or family to read through them.

8) Like offer the pretty cheap when the site launches, and then raise the price. Offer coupons, discounts, and buy one get one free type of deals.

9) Are you willing to pay? Or do you want a free template?

10) Google Ads, Adverts, and things of that nature.

Best of luck!

**Baby Boy** · 05-28-06, 05:15 AM

I am actually thinking JustinG about paying for a template, but I am also stuck on the situation of... which e-commerce system do I want to use for the site (like auto email and all of that.)

But anyway, I am not fully sure... but I know the PDF Conversion software I like is about $30.00 even, not to mention the price for Microsoft Word or Corel WordPerfect, which will be another $100 or whatever to use and convert to a PDF. The software (by DocuDesk) can convert just about anything to PDF that uses Print function (as it is setup as a virtual printer.)

My only issue though is how to make the PDF's graphical, thats is the only thing.

If anybody else would like to input, I'm all ears, and since its helping a family member, throw me criticism and insults (as long as its something beneficial to the site becoming reality.)

iTechSmart · 05-29-06, 01:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baby Boy

So anyone in their right mind that is family wouldn't charge, so I told him I'd set him up for free and everything, get him squared away and such.

Ever heard the advice don't mix business life with personal life? You can do it for free as I have done when I first started my business but you will have to realise that when your doing the website for nothing then there is no boundries and he may expect you to keep doing the site and add new features and improving etc.

When you decide that you had enough and can't do any morehe may complain and you will end up saying "what do you expect for free?" So it goes back to charging him as a normal client and then he will know what your willing to do and what he wil be getting and if he wants any extra features not discussed it will cost more to implement.

I'm not saying to charge your family members but when your doing something for someone for free they expect a lot more than they would if they were being charged. I may come back a bit later and help answer those questions for ya, at the moment I'm rushed so good luck with it.

Shane

iTechSmart · 05-29-06, 08:26 AM

1. Which methods/forms of payment should I add/program to the site to accept?
Paypal, cheques, get a merchant account that can accept credit cards. Possibly make it a membership style site where they can pay for the access unless you want it in ebook format.

2. Would it seem more "professional" to format the books to PDF's or just have them web-based in frame's?
PDF, no doubt about that. Putting it in web site with frames is very noobish style and very cheap looking.

3. What are some good PDF conversion software programs to help further the format of the books?
Adobe writer or whatever it is called. There are a few free open source software that can do it for free.

4. If converted to PDF's... should the file's be graphical or plain contextual?
Not exactly sure what you mean by that. Have graphics in your books to help rest the eyes kind of thing and to fancy it up a bit. You can also do two types and ask your customers which one that they prefer.

5. Would it be safe to encrypt the PDF file (40-bit or 128-bit with a password) to keep from printing or copying and pasting of the text in the PDF or is that to "over-protective"?
You can protect your works by not allowing it to print or doing a copy and pasting but by adding a password to it will scare away your customers as they may not want to rememebr the password each time they want to read it and also they don't like the extra work.

6. How much is it to copyright each book if it were to be published online?
As most people say it is automatically copyrighted when you write it but if you want to have evidence in court then you will have to register it. It can be costly but I'm not too sure about the prices.

7. Where are some good place to find editors and proofreaders? I have a few but need more resources.
You can hire proof readers and editors at numerous places. I found a few people to write me articles and they do a very fine job. I can't remember thier web addresses and I have no record as I reformated my computer but look up DMOZ or the yahoo directory. I would prefer yahoo directory as it costs about $500 to get listed in there and so the people in there must be serious about thier business. Always check out thier work and send them like half a book or something to check out first to see how good they are.

8. How could I market this and actually interest/lure people into buying (4 full price, 5th half off, etc.)
Pricing is up to you but I would suggest first book full price, second book, say 10% off and go from there and give a free book away after a certain amount of books sold. You can also get agents to sell your book but you will only be getting a small commission. Amazon does it, not sure about digital books and they only give you 10% of the profits. You can try www.clickbank.com I wouldn't suggest them as a affliate but I never sold anything from there but you can get some people selling your book for you, you just decide on how much you want to give per each sale.

9. Where is some good places to find a good design for the site? (I would help out myself, unfortunately I suck at making designs right now.)
Template Monster www.templatemonster.com has some very nice templates however their code is VERY messy and may be very difficult to update because of all the tables that they use.

10. How else can I develop this site out to help my brother make some money, I mean, if he profits, I profit WITHOUT money (but in good spirit's that he is making some sort of living.)
Research, research and more research... When thats done get your brother to do some more research and more research, otherwise you'll be stuck promoting his business and while he rakes in the $$$ you will be left with all the work. He has to be motivated and dedicated to the business and have a strong will to keep it going strong and healthy.

**Baby Boy** · 05-30-06, 03:29 AM

I guess you could say that Shane but you can't stop thinking (atleast I know I can't) how that is family and family should be helped. Plus, I doubt he'll want all them features. He just said he wants another way of making money. All I have to do is assist him by:

1. Helping setup an merchant account.
2. Setup an Authorize.Net script to assist in taking order's (using credit card's and eCheck)
3. Make a clean design and get it up and running.
4. Add a couple PHP scripts to make the site look nice.
5. Add an autoresponder or email sending utility to send the product ordered once order is placed. Or even better, to keep him active with his OWN site... add a article management system for him to post news up.
6. Add a small member's section for people to login and request newsletters and such.
7. Get a domain and host him on my server and add an SSL certificate.

After all that (I estimate maybe 14-21 days, 2-3 weeks accurately) --- he'll do the rest. The only thing I'll have to do is covert his stories to PDF and upload them. I'll let the email sending and all of that do the rest, you know what I mean.

But yeah, I am hoping he goes through with it because it'll be good to help him out.

wahpah · 05-30-06, 04:13 PM

I like this idea. There are a lot of hardcore readers on the net. Anything good is worth reading. I'm guessing your brother is pretty good at writing.

1. PayPal would probably be the easiest. Credit cards would be fine, too.
2. Both. Web-based in frames for online. PDF for download.
3. Adobe has some, I think. I can't remember what it's called at the moment.
4. A little illustration couldn't hurt. Not too much, though.
5. Protection is very necessary. Not just in this case. Keep it simple.
6. I think copyright is different, depending on where you do it. But the prices shouldn't be that far apart.
7. There are people all over the net that will do it. But you'll have to pay them, obviously. Perhaps you can set up something on the website for people who are interested in helping.
8. That is completely up to you. I would suggest starting off with something like buy 1 get one free just to kick off the site.
9. I have a friend who is extremely talented at designing. You can check out his site at http://rogue-effect.com/.
10. Sell Ads space, google adword/adsense, host other people's writings (have other writers pay to sell their things on your site), etc.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

**Baby Boy** · 05-30-06, 06:14 PM

^^ Thanks, I very much value your comments and suggestions.

One thing I'd like to address is the one answer you gave about the web-based in frames. I absolutely 1000% agree with you, but how to keep from people "link sharing" as well as copying and pasting the stories and moving them onto the internet.

Now I realize that with a PDF, the PDF can be downloaded and transferred... but it can be prevented in some ways. Can anybody recommend a safer way to let reader's view from web frames without any "re-distribution" issues? If not, that's where I figured copyrights would come in well.

Rogue · 05-31-06, 08:19 AM

This seems like an interesting concept. But why not just publish them as e-books or something? I'm not sure that the idea of having someone "pay to read" is very viable, especially from an unknown author. If you sell an actual product - like an anthology of his short stories, then perhaps he can make more.

Make sure some of the short stories are available and viewable online for free. This will allow people to get hooked, get to know him, and finally, like his style and potentially buy his book. I would recommend like 1 free short story every couple of weeks until the sales start pouring in.

As for your questions:
1. Which methods/forms of payment should I add/program to the site to accept?
Definitely paypal and all major credit cards. I don't think anything else is necessary because moneybookers are usually for those that do not have paypal because it isn't accepted in their country - and these countries usually aren't "english" hardened...they wouldn't be interested.

2. Would it seem more "professional" to format the books to PDF's or just have them web-based in frame's?
Refer to my introduction. I think that having them as a physical product could potentially bring in more money (as well as being able to charge more). If you must do it on the net, you should offer both mediums - .pdf as well as a web based site.

3. What are some good PDF conversion software programs to help further the format of the books?
I'm not positive on this one, but I'm sure the original adobe acrobat program will be a good place to start looking at

4. If converted to PDF's... should the file's be graphical or plain contextual?
I believe in PDFs everything is made from an image. I'm not positive though, and I'm sure someone else out there has the answer to that.

5. Would it be safe to encrypt the PDF file (40-bit or 128-bit with a password) to keep from printing or copying and pasting of the text in the PDF or is that to "over-protective"?
Yes - do it.

6. How much is it to copyright each book if it were to be published online?

7. Where are some good place to find editors and proofreaders? I have a few but need more resources.
I'm sure there are some decent - good freelancers on the internet, or an internet company that will do this for you. I'm sure a simple google search, followed by some research on their quality will lead to some interesting places

8. How could I market this and actually interest/lure people into buying (4 full price, 5th half off, etc.)
Definitely hit forums that are similar. I'd have to recommend doing some advertising in magazines, etc. On top of that, find popular bloggers in the industry/community and see if you can get them to develop buzz through their entries, etc.

9. Where is some good places to find a good design for the site? (I would help out myself, unfortunately I suck at making designs right now.)
Well, if you have to hire someone else, then how are you going to make it free for your brother?

10. How else can I develop this site out to help my brother make some money, I mean, if he profits, I profit WITHOUT money (but in good spirit's that he is making some sort of living.)
Make terms with your brother. It is free, but when he begins to profit, you must earn a share of the company. If he is any decent person though, as a brother and as a family member doing a favor for him, he will bring you on board once he starts making money.

**Baby Boy** · 05-31-06, 05:39 PM

Thanks for your help Rogue.

A couple things to ask though, first is the physical product that you recommended. My only thing is that, do you know how much it would really cost to produce a physical product, aside from doing the cheap method of printing paper and sending to them originally like that.

Also, the thing you said about an design... I am not looking to pay for one, just looking for an example that could inspire me to build one. The thing about me saying that I can't design worth crap is actually true, I can't think up of a design to make so I need a site that has examples to inspire me.

Lastly... a majority of the PDF's are not images, their converted from Word documents or something else, many PDF conversion programs are added as virtual printers and thats how they go about being made.

So yeah, thanks again for your valuable opinion Rogue.