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An Introduction to Self-Publishing Material
Any article, report or book which is bought or sold with reproduction rights is generally referred to as self-publishing material. Most commonly, this material consists of reports or articles varying in length from 1 to 20 or more pages. This material usually has a self-cover. In a self-cover, the same
weight of paper is used as in the text. Most books, on the other hand, have covers which are of a heavier weight than the text of the book.
The seller offers self-publishing material including the reproduction right, at a price considerably higher than he would offer the material when sold without reproduction rights. Reproduction rights are granted when the holder of a copyright grants reproduction rights to the buyer. These rights can be
unlimited, giving the buyer the option to re-sell reproduction rights for the material also. Or, they may be limited. In this case, the seller will generally allow the buyer to reproduce the
material as he wishes, but restricts right of resale. Since the strongest demand is for material which grants full and unlimited reproduction and resale rights, it would always be advantageous
to obtain the right to resell reproduction material.
There is a vast demand for this type of material, especially from newcomers in the mail order field. Since the stream of newcomers to this business is almost unlimited, it can be extremely profitable to market self-publishing material. The attractiveness of this material is due both to the high mark-up
potential and the ease of handling. Once you own the resale rights to a given article, you can reproduce it for pennies and sell it both individually for a few dollars. or including the reproduction rights, for substantially higher.
Here's a typical example of purchasing and selling price. A five or six page article may have a purchase price of anywhere from $8.00 to $15.00. The same article, without reproduction rights, would have a price range of $3.00 to $5.00. Once you
own the reproduction rights, you can have it reproduced for 20 to 50 cents a set, depending on how many copies you have made. But let's use the high price of 50 cents and a selling price of
$4.00 without reproduction rights: profit $3.50 = 700%, or with the reproduction rights of $9.00: profit $8.50 = 1700%. Not shabby at all! It is especially impressive when you compare
that margin to buying a book from a supplier for $3.00 and selling it for $9.00: profit $6.00 = 200%.
The other major advantage is the ease of handling of this material. You are the prime source. You carry no inventory. You reproduce in small quantities as you are selling the material. The material is inexpensively shipped, generally via
First Class due to its light weight.
Supply and Demand
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