Now, I've dabbled in ebooks since the 1990s. In fact, Coachwhip started out as Arment Biological Press, selling reprint and reproduction PDFs with a biological focus. When print-on-demand publishing came along, I saw the potential there and jumped to print. Of course, I recognize that not everyone wants print titles, or can afford a huge library in print.
There are issues with selling ebooks through third-party sales channels, though. For example, Amazon takes a huge chunk of profits from reprint ebooks, making that venue unprofitable. Copyright issues make it impossible to sell through other channels that aren't willing to set up distribution territories.
I am setting up this site so that those readers who prefer ebooks will have opportunity to pick up some Coachwhip selections. A few things to note:
- Ebooks are tagged, with geographic locks. So, US readers and UK readers will see different titles available for purchase. (There are different copyright lengths in countries all around the world; the main difference is between the US and everyone else. Canada may eventually have a few others, also, as they have a shorter copyright length than most.)
- Ebooks are in epub format, no DRM. They are licensed for personal use only; please do not share them. There are many ebook readers out there; I like the free Kotobee reader.
- Ebooks do not have bibliographic introductions that are found in some print editions.
- If you sign up for the Coachwhip mailing list, you will receive updates as well as the occasional discount code.
- I'm in Ohio, and Ohio has a source-tax for ebooks . . . sorry about that, nothing I can do about it.
If you encounter any problems, let me know. Just keep in mind that this is a brand new project for me and setting up Shopify is like learning WordPress. I'm getting the hang of it, but slowly . . .