Brian - Allow me to further clarify my ebook idea. First of all, it can be sold over the net very easily. Thousands of ebooks are sold every month.
The older consumer is an important issue. (And I didn't feel much like surfing while I was sick either!) The basic book - the overview (defined as you like it) can be hard printed and distributed in many ways by hand and mail. The details - the mass of data we would want people to have access to - the potentially scores of pages with lots of good info - could be internet distributed or web site disbursed - either free or for a fee.
The average cancer patient, of any age is not cruising the book stores any more than they are surfing the net - no matter their age - they are busy being sick. How did you intend to sell the whole printed book? How would you market? I assume you will be counting on caregivers both professional and family to recommend the book. Whomever gets the nod to go get the thing - order it from you, find it in a store, or whatever can still do that. It just won't be 300 pages and cost $28.50. The potential consumer who could order it from you, but not access it electronically - can still order it from you.
Publishing hard copies of books is pretty competitive business, and frankly, pretty old fashioned. Plus, our topic needs updating pretty regularly. As soon as we send this book to the print shop, it begins getting stale. If the book is very big (40 or more pages) you risk being unable to sell them all - leaving you with a dated and expensive inventory - and no market. Being a publisher is very, very risky financially.
An electronic book can be printed when its ordered. Printed by you and mailed to the consumer for $23.50, or the consumer can have their local copy store print it out for them after buying the download code from you for $8. Or they can print it at home. No OCF inventory. No up front printing expense. No gambling on the potential market for it.
The book can be continuously updated. The book can be constantly modernized to offer the newest info, even other brand new books, news articles etc. It never wears out, it never gets dusty, it never gets dated. Oh, did I mention, IT NEVER GETS DATED or OBSOlETE.
Sell the overview for $5, or give it away. Sell the download code for the next level of detail (or print it and mail it to them) for $19.95. Sell the entire compendium - potentially hundreds of pages - for $69.95.
Think of all the good details that are stashed on the OCF site right now. What if all that data was organized to a datafile, cross referenced and menu driven and then downloadable??!!
The book could go out as pieces - weekly "episodes" of information - sold as a subscription to the OCF Ezine. Each piece is sequential and offers more overview, details on a topic and news about recent happenings. The Ezine is sent out automatically by an autoresponder. It sends out new sections each week or at whatever frequency you choose. The caregivers can read it, decide if they need it and print it, or request a hard copy, or just store it. Again, it is data base driven and not hard printed in advance. The OCF Ezine - just $9.50 per month - billed automatically to your card - cancel anytime you like. There are many paid-subscription ezines published every week.
My push for this is based on two things: money and being in the 21st century. Why gamble on publishing? Why not underwrite some of your future, on-demand printing costs with some of that publishing money, and use the rest to market the book. And why expend all this energy to write a book that will quickly become dated? That is all so.. yesterday. Ok, I'll drop it now. Thanks. Tom
