How to sell PDF versions of weblog articles?

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xouba
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How to sell PDF versions of weblog articles?

Post by xouba » July 30th, 2011, 6:46 am

Hi,

I was writing computer articles (about Linux, to be precise) for a paper magazine until a few months ago, when it folded and closed shop. But as I still have the writing bug, and I enjoyed writing those articles, I decided to create a weblog and publish there the articles that I'd like to write for the magazine. If you're curious, there's nothing yet there and uses a standard Blogger template, but you can see it here: http://www.linuxtecnico.es. It's in spanish, because the one thing that I learned writing for that magazine is that there is a lack of quality Linux articles in spanish. I'm targetting that niche.

I also wanted to put PDF versions of the articles, because they're going to be a bit big and PDF is better suited for that than a weblog. And I was wondering if there is some way of selling them. You could read the article on the weblog or pay some ridiculous price (0.5€, for example) and download a well-layout PDF with some additional content. Ideally, there would be some service that took a tiny fraction of the price (or none :-)) where I would host the PDF files, and it would offer some "Buy" button that I could place in my weblog. The user would click there, be offered to pay with PayPal, and I would be a bit richer.

Is there anything like this? Do you have experience doing this kind of self-publishing?

Thanks in advance.

Doug Pardee
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Joined: February 18th, 2011, 6:56 pm
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Re: How to sell PDF versions of weblog articles?

Post by Doug Pardee » July 30th, 2011, 9:41 am

It sounds like you're looking for Scribd.

xouba
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Joined: May 11th, 2010, 3:27 am
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Re: How to sell PDF versions of weblog articles?

Post by xouba » July 30th, 2011, 2:33 pm

Doug Pardee wrote:It sounds like you're looking for Scribd.
Almost: after reading about it, seems the Scribd store is only available in the USA. So no cookie for me, because I'd like my potential buyers to be able to buy from Spain, whence I'm from.

Anyway, if it wasn't for that, it'd be perfect. Thanks for the suggestion.

Rachel Ventura
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Joined: September 30th, 2011, 12:29 am

Re: How to sell PDF versions of weblog articles?

Post by Rachel Ventura » November 4th, 2011, 2:19 pm

Hi xouba,

Not sure if you're still reading this thread, but maybe have a look at Lulu. I only know that American actor (and computer aficionado himself) Wil Wheaton self-published collections of his best/favorite blog posts through the site, which sold out and I think had to be "restocked" (however they do that online). You might want to check if there's a Lulu international. Since Spanish is one of the most commonly spoken languages worldwide, right up there with English and Chinese, I'm sure you'd have no problem selling your articles to a Spanish-speaking audience. :)

Wheaton is best known for his starring role as a child actor in the 1986 coming-of-age movie Stand By Me, which was based on Stephen King's short story, "The Body." He is arguably more "infamous" as Star Trek crew member Wesley Crusher, reportedly a "Gary Stu" or laughably caricatured creator surrogate for series originator Gene Wesley Roddenberry. Not sure if you're familiar with U.S. animated sitcom Family Guy, but the character Stewie Griffin mentions Wheaton in one episode, speaking in his (Stewie's) famous overly exaggerated "hw" sound ("People should be a lot nicer to Hwil Hweaton.") The actor/tech enthusiast still keeps up his regular blog and is one of the most popular users on Twitter.

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