Online Pay to View

[Guest]

I made a mistake by taking my book on magic theory off of my web site and selling it as a paper back book.

The biggest problem is that the book was the cornerstone of my web site. Another problem is that the book is being updated. I feel like I am cheating those I sold the book to. I cant conveniently send them new stuff about the subject. And I no longer have copies of the book to sell.

I plan on putting the book back on the site.

But there is a problem.

I get thousands and thousands of hits per month on the site. There are at 50 to 100 sites out there that are linked to mine. They generate 70% of the visits to my site. All of them, incidentally, are without my permission.

While I like the attention, the return on this work is not commensurate with the effort invested or the attention it is getting.

Here is a plan.

I will put up the book. However, to view it, the viewer must pay a dollar via paypal.

So, I have two questions.

What do you think of this and might you be, if you are a book seller, interested in the software I use to implement this action?

I wrote a program to build the book that will be displayed on line. The book is written using word. When the program runs it converts the word document to a web document. It inserts pictures into the text, makes a table of contents and organizes the hyper-links automatically. Then there is the CGI code that manages the page delivery. When the viewer pays their dollar, a key is set up for them in my server. They can view the book as long as that key is active. They can even go away for awhile and come back. This key is used to prevent hackers from getting at the material. I will not say it is foolproof but to break it will require some very technical effort. The protection is invisible to the legitimate user. Those not qualified are asked to pay a dollar.

Right now the offer is free. It would be nice if several people implemented this plan so it seemed to be a normal way of doing business.

If you are interested in seeing what my internet books look like, go to www.ovidplce.com


Well, thats it.

Al Schneider

[Guest]

Al,

I clicked the link to see what your internet books will look like but I'm getting a "Server not found."

Maybe the server is just temporarily down, but just in case the link is misspelled or something I thought you'd like to know.

JMD

[Guest]

I read the book before you took it down and think a dollar is quite a deal. I think this might be a good way to do things. You say that a person who buys it can go away for awhile and come back to it. Does that mean it would have to be read the same day? Or could you come back a couple of days later?

[Guest]

Originally posted by John M. Dale:
Maybe the server is just temporarily down, but just in case the link is misspelled or something I thought you'd like to know.

I guessed that perhaps it should be www.ovidplace.com, not www.ovidplce.com

And that works.

Dave

[Guest]

Originally posted by Al Schneider:
There are at 50 to 100 sites out there that are linked to mine. They generate 70% of the visits to my site. All of them, incidentally, are without my permission.

If you choose to block incoming traffic via various means, that's your right. But if any major search engine spiders your site and offers up cached versions, that would be of limited use.

Are you under some impression that linking to your site implies that you somehow endorse the linker? If I link to a major corporations website, does that imply they endorse my site in some way? I doubt it. I'd be interested in hearing why seem to take the position that folks should get permission to link to the publicly available portions of your site. Perhaps I misunderstood you?

That being said, I was one of the lucky ones who downloaded your book on theory when you had it up and I enjoyed it very much. It's a very thought provoking piece of work and I'm really happy that you'll make it available again in some affordable format.

Your system sounds interesting and I'm sure would be of use to those wanting to sell books online.

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www.conjurenation.com - 'Cards Only' Forums

[Guest]

Sorry about the spelling; www.ovidplace.com
The is a site I have been experiemnting with for some time so it looks rough.

I guess I am excited about this.

As far as right to access material or link to whatever.
I have no opinion.
I am glad the net is open and it should be that way.

However, things must change as the old must get out of the way. The kids have a grand time looking at all of this stuff. In the past they have cracked my site and downloaded whatever they want. And I know they send my stuff to other people. However, they do not have bussiness sense and therefore do not understand that if something is not flowed in the other direction, the incoming flow will stop. I know they don't care. This is just an observation.

Some of the viewers watch my stuff 60 times in a very short period of time. I know a layman that watched Matrix 40 times. He did not buy anything. My guess is that most don't buy anything. I know that is the cost of doing business. I really try very, very hard to give my customers a good deal.

I am not sure I am blocking my site from anyone.

Also, I am not sure how the crawlers will feel about any of this.

They won't find the pages of the book.
I guess that is really the intention.
Also, I never planed on crawlwers finding my site.
I believe the path to success is advertising as in the old days. Could talk about this for hours.
So it goes.

But the crawlers will find my main page.

At this point your few comments are encouraging.

Al Schneider