Actually, let me rephrase that. I do think that there's room for a backlist converting service (though uh, don't expect it to have a long lifespan), but it shouldn't be focused around creating a new online bookstore. You have no built in audience, you probably don't have the capital to do it properly, and frankly, they'll still be selling more on Amazon/Barnes and Noble/Smashwords/etc. Have you thought through what you'll do with the authors wanting to upload their finished files onto those sites?
If you wanted to do a backlist converting service, I'd suggest selling it as that, with a flat fee per book and an overall per job fee + phone support + complete and very, very completely written instructions on how the authors can upload the books themselves on the major sites. I don't think any of them have a good, basic way that a company can upload for an author and still direct the royalties to them, or I'd suggest that. If I were you, I'd investigate that though.
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Actually, let me rephrase that. I do think that there's room for a backlist converting service (though uh, don't expect it to have a long lifespan), but it shouldn't be focused around creating a new online bookstore. You have no built in audience, you probably don't have the capital to do it properly, and frankly, they'll still be selling more on Amazon/Barnes and Noble/Smashwords/etc. Have you thought through what you'll do with the authors wanting to upload their finished files onto those sites?
If you wanted to do a backlist converting service, I'd suggest selling it as that, with a flat fee per book and an overall per job fee + phone support + complete and very, very completely written instructions on how the authors can upload the books themselves on the major sites. I don't think any of them have a good, basic way that a company can upload for an author and still direct the royalties to them, or I'd suggest that. If I were you, I'd investigate that though.