Anyone selling PDFs? I have a few queries..
Tuhin Bhuyan
6 replies
TLDR:
I made a Kindle like white-label digital library that doesn't allow users to download files and also makes replication (piracy) of pdfs harder than usual. Would it be useful for you?
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Hello PH 👋
I recently made a digital library for a client. It was a freelance gig. They are a journal that sells research content as PDFs and had two strict requirements:
The pdfs should be view-only. Users should not be able to download them (to prevent sharing)
It should be hard for motivated individuals with the intent of piracy to replicate the pdfs easily
I feel I have sufficiently delivered on the requirements. Hence, I am thinking of launching this digital library as a SaaS. Have you even felt the need of such a digital library? Kindly let me know your thoughts.
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At the beginning of the gig, I felt that this digital library addresses some important issues related to selling PDFs, hence I planned on releasing it as a SaaS after project completion. I negotiated the contract accordingly with my client.
Replies
Declan Xavier Holbrook@declanxavierholbrook
Hey! I've seen some folks selling eBooks and PDF guides on sites like Gumroad. What kind of PDFs are you looking to buy or sell? Maybe I can help point you to some relevant communities or marketplaces to check out. Let me know!
Share
Hey there! I’m not selling PDFs myself, but I can share that many people here often trade or discuss resources. What kind of PDFs are you looking for? Maybe I can point you in the right direction or give some advice on where to find what you need.
If you want to protect the IP of your content that's in the PDF, why not just build a paywall for it and provide incremental updates on that page itself? There are plenty of tools to rip off a PDF and if your content is valuable, you can be assured that folks will be nulling copies of it.
I'd suggest offering different pricing models based on the number of documents or users to attract both small businesses and larger institutions
The emphasis on making piracy more difficult is definitely an important one. Digital content theft can hurt creators and my solution seems like it tackles this issue effectively.
As someone who's always concerned about digital privacy. I appreciate the effort to prevent unauthorized sharing of content