Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Jexbo -- A New Retail Outlet for Self-published Books...


There is not much in the way of information on the site aside from a Q&A section, as it seems to be in beta at the moment. The press release states:


"Formed in 2007, jexbo, www.jexbo.com, is a new business that gives self-published authors the ability to reach their customers online for only 99¢ per month (plus jexbo receives 5% of whatever the author sells). Readers can quickly and easily find interesting and unique self-published books in various categories. jexbo gives self-published authors the ability to control the sales process, communicate directly with customers and customize a web page for marketing purposes at no additional cost."
--
Now this is not a Lulu or a publishing company, in fact, they clearly state that they do not print books. This site is but another retail portal for self-published authors to market their wares, and would be geared to authors who invest in small print runs and have stock to sell. They also allow ISBN-less books, and e-books. I can't really speculate on how cost effective this would be for a self-published author, when print on demand eliminates having to pay for a run or carry stock, and most POD publishers offer a distribution package that will get your book broader visability in the online marketplace, meaning Amazon and B&N. But I guess for say a Lulu creator, who does not want distribution or an ISBN, then this would be an affordable marketing portal in addition to the Lulu marketplace. I am not much of an internet shopper and the majority of my book purchases come from tried and true reliable sources like Amazon, B&N, bricks and mortar stores, and on occasion, I have a few niche stores that specialize in obscure and hard to find out of print books. So maybe this could be considered one of those. Time will tell if online marketplaces such as this actually add value for the self-published author.

No comments: