KR20210000150A - How to distribute e-books to be published - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and device for distributing an e-book to be published. The present invention provides the method and device for performing pre-sale of a book while providing an e-book of the book temporarily available to a buyer of the book prior to publication of the book, and delivering the book to the buyer of the book when the book is published. According to the present invention, a publisher can predict the sales volume of the book through the pre-sale of the book, so that the burden of returns and inventory can be reduced as much as possible. In addition, the method and device has the advantage of using the profits from the pre-sale for publication costs. Also, from the perspective of the buyer of the book, it is convenient to use the e-book to check and read contents of a required book before the book is delivered, and purchase the book at a discounted price through the pre-sale.

Description

How to distribute e-books to be published}

The present invention relates to a distribution method and apparatus for an e-book to be published.

An e-book refers to a book (electronic file) published in digital form without using a paper medium for the contents of knowledge and information. Such an e-book is a program (viewer program) that has the function to read the above e-book. It can be viewed through an onboard computer or a dedicated portable terminal.

Conventionally, in the case of publishing books (paper books) by publishers, it was not possible to know how much they would sell, so the number of copies sold was arbitrarily determined and published based on the experience so far. Therefore, from the perspective of the publisher, there was a problem that there was a lot of burden of return or inventory, and trial (2nd and 3rd edition).

In addition, conventionally, publishing an e-book may negatively affect the sale of books with the same content, and there is a problem in diversifying the content of the e-book because publishers are reluctant to publish e-books.

In addition, in the case of selling books through the Internet in the related art, since the delivery period takes several days, there is a problem that a user who wants to immediately check the contents of the purchased book cannot achieve its purpose.

The technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is to perform pre-sale of the above book while providing a temporary available e-book to the purchaser of the book before publication, and to deliver the book to the purchaser of the above book when the book is published. It is to provide a distribution method and apparatus for e-books scheduled to be published.

In addition, the technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is to provide a distribution method and apparatus for e-books scheduled to be published that predicts the number of available copies based on pre-purchase information of users who have purchased a book to be published, and prepares a publishing cost based on the pre-purchase cost. There is.

According to the present invention, even if a user purchases a book through the Internet, it is possible to download an e-book before delivery of the book (paper book) and check the contents of the book. Therefore, in order to check the contents of the book, There is no need to wait for the book to be delivered as in the case of the case,

From the standpoint of a publisher, it is possible to receive an order (pre-order) for a book (paper book) while providing an e-book before publishing, and it is possible to predict the total number of copies that can be sold based on the information. When publishing a book, it is possible to solve the problem that it is difficult to predict the number of copies sold, and there is an advantage of securing the publication cost of the book in advance by receiving payment from the purchaser in advance while receiving the above order. In addition, even after all the paper books are sold, there is also an advantage of earning long-term profits through the sale of e-books.

From the standpoint of e-book publishers, there is no need to compete with paper books and contents, so it is possible to secure various contents of e-books, and to create new revenue sources by expanding the use of e-books compared to the conventional case. It works.

In addition, in the national economy as a whole, books (paper books) can be prevented from being over-published and discarded beyond the amount sold, which helps in terms of resource conservation, and on the other hand, promotes the use and publication of e-books. It can be expected to develop the industry related to the Internet.

1 is a block diagram of an overall system to which the present invention is applied.
2 and 3 are reference diagrams for explaining the concept of the present invention.
4 to 7 are flow charts of a preferred embodiment of a method of distributing a book to be published through the Internet according to the present invention.
8 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of a server for distributing books to be published through the Internet according to the present invention.

The distribution method of a book to be published through the Internet according to the present invention for solving the above problem is a distribution method of a predetermined book and an e-book corresponding to the book through a communication network including the Internet, (a) the book and The e-book server that sells the e-book is determined by using the book's basic information including the author, publication date, and price, the publication manuscript of the book, and the publication manuscript from a publisher computer, which is a computer of the publisher publishing the book. Receiving information requesting to produce an e-book and to sell a printed book of the published manuscript, (b) the e-book server generates the e-book based on the published manuscript, and Generating a temporary authentication key that can be viewed only for a predetermined period of time and storing the e-book in association with the basic information of the book, (c) the e-book server is a computer of a person who wants to purchase a predetermined book. When connected to the book purchaser computer through the communication network, the step of reading the book basic information and providing it to the book purchaser computer, (d) the e-book server of the book purchaser received by the book purchaser computer from the book purchaser. When a purchase request for a book corresponding to the book basic information including an address and a name and payment method information corresponding to the purchase request are provided from the purchaser computer, the e-book corresponding to the book basic information and the temporary authentication key (E) the e-book server checks whether the pre-sale period of the book has elapsed, and if the pre-sale period has elapsed, the e-book server And generating book sales statistical information including information on the total number of copies sold of the book with respect to the book sales information and providing it to the publishing company computer.

In the step (c) of the method for distributing a book to be published through the Internet according to the present invention, when the e-book server receives a preview request for the book from the book purchaser computer, the contents of part or all of the e-book It may be characterized in that it further comprises the step of providing to the book purchaser computer so that the book purchaser can preview.

In addition, in the step (d) of the method for distributing books to be published through the Internet according to the present invention, when the e-book server receives a request for a viewer program for viewing the e-book from the book purchaser computer, the e-book is viewed. It may be characterized in that it further comprises the step of providing a capable viewer program to the book purchaser computer.

In the step (e) of the method for distributing a book to be published through the Internet according to the present invention, the e-book server includes information on errors including typos in the e-book corresponding to the book from the book purchaser computer and the pre-purchaser It may be characterized in that it further comprises the step of receiving the content improvement suggestion information provided by, and providing the book sales statistics information to the publishing company computer.

The e-book server for distributing books to be published through the Internet according to the present invention for solving the above problems is a server for distributing predetermined books and e-books corresponding to the books through a communication network including the Internet. From the publishing company's computer, which is the publishing company's computer, the book's basic information including the author, publication date, and price of the book, the publication manuscript of the book, and the publication manuscript are used to create a predetermined e-book and the publication manuscript. Receives information requesting to sell printed books, and generates an authentication key that allows viewing of the e-book and the e-book only for a predetermined period based on the published manuscript, and provides the basic information of the book and When connected through the communication network with the e-book management unit that stores the associated e-book and a book purchaser computer that is a computer of a person who wants to purchase a predetermined book, the basic information of the book is read and provided to the book purchaser computer, and the book purchaser When the purchase request for the book corresponding to the book basic information including the address, name, and e-mail address of the book purchaser received by the purchaser computer and payment method information corresponding to the purchase request are provided from the purchaser computer, the The e-book sales department that reads the e-book corresponding to the basic book information and the authentication key to provide it to the book purchaser computer, and checks whether the pre-sale period of the book has passed, and the pre-sale period has elapsed. And a book sales statistics unit for generating book sales statistics information including information on the total number of copies sold by the e-book sales unit and providing them to the publishing company computer.

In addition, the book sales statistics unit of the e-book server that distributes the book to be published through the Internet receives information about errors including typos in the e-book corresponding to the book from the book purchaser computer, and receives the book sales statistics information. In addition, it may be characterized in that it further performs a function provided to the publishing company computer.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1 is a block diagram of an overall system to which the present invention is applied. First, the e-book purchaser's computer 101 refers to a computer of a user who wishes to purchase only an e-book, and the book purchaser computer 102 refers to a computer of a user who purchases a book but receives an e-book in advance and uses it for a certain period. Reference numeral 104 denotes a computer of a publisher who wants to publish a predetermined book, and the e-book server 103 receives the manuscript of the published book from the publisher computer 104 and converts it into an e-book. ) Provides an e-book that can be viewed temporarily, and an e-book that can be viewed permanently is provided to the e-book purchaser computer 101, and a statistically processed book that receives the order information of the book from the book purchaser computer 102 above. By generating sales statistics information and providing it to the above publishing company computer 104, it performs a function of allowing the publishing company to predict the number of books sold. Hereinafter, the concept and each function of the present invention will be described in detail.

The present invention improves the difficulty in predicting the number of copies sold when a publisher publishes a book, and in order to promote the activation of the e-book business, the publisher first attempts to produce a paper book as an e-book. After production, by inducing readers to pre-purchase future books for a certain period of time through Internet online bookstores, readers can reduce the price of e-books and paper books at low prices (e.g. 15% off the regular price). By purchasing at the same price), buyers (readers) can preview the contents of the book through e-books in advance, and at the same time, they have the opportunity to use e-books and paper books.

At the end of the pre-purchase period, e-book makers provide information on which e-books have been sold to publishers, and based on that information, predict the quantity to be published as a paper book and publish an appropriate quantity of books. Of course, it is possible to reduce the financial burden of publishers by being able to cover the cost of making paper books with the proceeds obtained through pre-purchase.

At the point when paper books are normally published and sold, publishers or e-book companies send paper books to readers who have previously purchased them, stop supplying pre-purchase e-books, and maintain the method of purchasing paper books at general bookstores. In order to actively promote the sale of paper books, a preview function of a part of the e-book (about the contents of the table of contents and chapter 1) can be provided to the book purchaser.

At the point when almost all of the books published as paper books are sold out, the production of paper books is stopped and the purchaser can immediately purchase it as an e-book, so that the publisher can minimize the risk of inventory burden or returns due to trial, as well as pre-production. It maximizes content sales revenue by focusing only on the e-book sales. As a result, e-book companies will be able to cover e-book service operating costs by providing e-book services through pre-purchase to publishers for only a certain fee, and secure the contents of new books produced by publishers.

2 and 3 are reference diagrams for explaining the concept of the present invention. First, the publisher prepares the manuscript for publication (1), sends the published manuscript to an e-book server (e-book company), and requests the production of an e-book for the published manuscript and online sales of the book (2). The e-book server produces an e-book (encryption work, etc.) based on the published manuscript provided above, and also produces a temporary authentication key that allows access to the e-book for a certain period of time. And it starts selling the above books through internet communication network (Internet site).

The buyer connects to the above e-book server (internet site), searches for book information (author, price of the book, outline content of the book, etc.), orders the book to purchase, and makes payment (4). The e-book server stores the purchase information (name, address, e-mail address, phone number, purchased book, etc.) of the above buyer, and provides the e-book created above to the above buyer and provides a temporary authentication key together (5). The purchaser of the above book can immediately check the contents of the e-book by using the temporary authentication key above before receiving the paper book. After that, the book buyer provides the book error information such as typos in the e-book to the above e-book server (Internet site) (7), and the e-book server collects (8) the book error information and sells the book in advance. At the end of the period, book sales statistics (total sales volume, regional distribution of buyers, purchase information of buyers, etc.) are provided to the publisher along with information.

At this time, if necessary, some of the contents of the book (e-book) can be provided to the book buyer through a preview function, and incentives such as mileage can be provided to the book buyer who provides the error information of the book.

After that, the publisher sends (delivers) the book published in paper to the book purchaser based on the book purchase information provided above.

Meanwhile, the publisher corrects the published manuscript based on the error information of the book provided above, and sends the revised manuscript back to the e-book server (e-book company), requesting reproduction of e-books and sales of e-books (12 )do. The e-book server (e-book company) re-produces the e-book based on the revised published manuscript and generates a permanent authentication key to permanently browse the e-book. Thereafter, when an e-book buyer who wants to purchase only the e-book accesses the e-book server and purchases the e-book, the e-book server provides the e-book and a permanent authentication key to the e-book buyer to sell the e-book.

In this case, for the purchase decision of the e-book buyer, the contents of part or all of the above e-book may be provided through a preview function.

4 to 7 are flow charts of a preferred embodiment of a method for distributing a book to be published through the Internet according to the present invention. First, the publishing company computer receives an input (401) a manuscript to be published. At this time, book basic information including information such as the author, content, pre-sale price of the book, and publication date are input together with the manuscript above. Then, the basic information of the book and the manuscript to be published are transmitted to the e-book server.

The e-book server stores the manuscript to be published above and basic book information (403), and produces an e-book based on the manuscript to be published above, and creates a temporary authentication key that allows access to the above e-book only for a preset period. (404) and store it in association with the basic information of the book.

Thereafter, when the e-book server receives access from the book purchaser's computer, it establishes a member DB by checking whether the book purchaser is a member, and if the access is permitted through member authentication (405), the basic information of the book is read (406). And transfer it to the computer of the purchaser of the above book.

The book purchaser may request 407 to preview the contents of the book (e-book) corresponding to the above basic information of the book, and the e-book server receives the above request, some of the contents of the e-book corresponding to the basic information of the book or All are read out as preview information (408) and provided to the book purchaser computer. The book purchaser computer outputs 409 the provided preview information and provides it to the book purchaser.

In this case, the preview information may be encrypted so that it is impossible to print and store it through a printer on the book purchaser computer.

Thereafter, the book buyer's computer receives the purchase request (name, address, phone number, etc.) of the book from the book buyer and payment method information (credit card, etc.) for the cost of the book (501) and receives it in the e-book server. Upon transmission, the e-book server reads 502 the e-book and temporary authentication key corresponding to the book, provides it to the book purchaser computer, and provides statistics 504 information on book sales information including the purchase request information and payment information. And save it.

Meanwhile, the book purchaser computer provides the contents of the above book during the period before the paper book (book) is delivered to the book purchaser based on the e-book and temporary authentication key provided above (503). And from the book purchaser who has read the contents of the book, the book purchaser computer receives (505) errors such as typos that may exist in the book and provides them to the e-book server, and the e-book server stores the error information of the book ( 506) while providing a predetermined incentive, such as providing mileage, to book buyers who provided the above error information.

Thereafter, the e-book server determines (507) whether the pre-sale period of the above previously set book has elapsed, and if it has elapsed, the e-book server reads 508 statistical information and error information on which the above book has been sold and provides it to the publishing company's computer.

The publisher's computer determines the number of copies of the book to be published using the statistical information provided above, and outputs the error information (601) to correct the manuscript of the book. After that, the publisher publishes the above book and delivers it to the purchaser.

Thereafter, the publishing company's computer inputs 602 the revised manuscript and provides it to the e-book server to request reproduction and sale of the e-book.

The e-book server stores the revised published manuscript, and creates a permanent authentication key that allows permanent access to the e-book while reproducing the e-book based on the revised published manuscript (604) and stores it together.

Thereafter, when the e-book server receives access from the computer of the e-book buyer who wants to purchase only the e-book, it determines whether or not to sign up for membership, establishes a member registration, authentication, and member DB (605), and reads basic book information (606). This is provided to the e-book buyer's computer.

Upon receiving the e-book preview request (607), the e-book purchaser computer provides it to the e-book server, and the e-book server reads 608 the preview information (part or all of the e-book) to the above e-book purchaser computer. And the e-book purchaser computer outputs it to the electronic book purchaser (609).

After that, the e-book buyer's computer requests the e-book purchase from the e-book buyer (name, address, e-mail address, contact information, age, etc.) and payment method information (credit card information, etc.) for the cost of the e-book. ) Is input 701 and provided to the e-book server, the e-book server reads 702 the e-book and the permanent authentication key and provides the e-book purchaser computer. At this time, if necessary, a viewer program that can read the above e-book can be provided together.

The e-book purchaser computer outputs (703) the above e-book and provides it to the e-book purchaser.

8 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of a server for distributing books to be published through the Internet according to the present invention. The e-book server according to the present invention includes a member management unit 801, an e-book management unit 802, an e-book sales unit 803, and a book sales statistics unit 804.

The member management unit 801 establishes a member DB by registering book buyers or e-book buyers as members, and performs a function of member authentication when the above member accesses the e-book server (internet site).

The e-book management unit 802 uses the book's basic information including the author, the publication date and price, the published manuscript of the book, and the published manuscript from the publishing company computer, which is a computer of the publisher that publishes the book. When receiving information requesting to produce and sell the published manuscript, the e-book is generated based on the published manuscript, and the e-book can be viewed only for a predetermined period of time. It generates a temporary authentication key that can be used and stores it in association with the book basic information.

In addition, if information requesting to produce and sell the modified e-book and to produce the corrected published manuscript and the modified e-book corresponding to the modified published manuscript are provided from the publishing company's computer, the modified publication The revised e-book may be generated based on the manuscript, and a permanent authentication key for permanently browsing the revised e-book may be generated and stored.

When the e-book sales unit 803 is connected to a book purchaser computer, which is a computer of a person who wants to purchase a predetermined book, through the communication network, it reads the book basic information and provides the book to the book purchaser computer, and the book from the book purchaser When the purchase request for the book corresponding to the book basic information including the address and name of the book purchaser received by the purchaser computer and payment method information corresponding to the purchase request are provided from the purchaser computer, the book basic information The corresponding e-book and the temporary authentication key are read and provided to the book purchaser computer.

In addition, when a request for previewing the book is received from the book purchaser computer, a function of providing a part or all of the contents of the e-book to the book purchaser computer so that the book purchaser can preview it may be further performed.

In addition, when a viewer program for viewing the e-book is requested from the book purchaser computer, a function of providing a viewer program for viewing the e-book to the book purchaser computer may be further performed.

Meanwhile, when the e-book sales unit 803 is connected to an e-book purchaser computer, which is a computer of a person who wishes to purchase a predetermined e-book, through the communication network, the book basic information is read and provided to the e-book purchaser computer, and the The purchase request for the e-book corresponding to the book basic information including the address and name of the book purchaser received by the e-book purchaser computer from the e-book purchaser and payment method information corresponding to the purchase request from the purchaser computer When provided, the electronic book corresponding to the basic book information and the permanent authentication key are read and provided to the electronic book purchaser computer.

The book sales statistics unit 804 checks whether the pre-sale period of the book has elapsed, and if the pre-sale period has elapsed, the book sales statistics unit 804 generates book sales statistics information including information on the total number of sales of the book. Performs the function provided to the publisher computer.

In addition, it is possible to further perform a function of receiving information on an error including a typo in an e-book corresponding to the book from the book purchaser computer and providing the book sales statistics information to the publisher computer.

So far, the preferred embodiment of the present invention was looked at in detail. The scope of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and will extend to all cases to which the spirit of the present invention is applied.

Meanwhile, the methods of the present invention can be produced as computer programs that can be executed by a computer, and the above programs can be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium (hard disk, floppy disk, CD, various memories, etc.). .

Claims (7)

As a distribution method of a predetermined book and an e-book corresponding to the book through a communication network including the Internet,
(a) The e-book server that sells the books and e-books includes basic book information including the author, publication date, and price of the book, the publication manuscript of the book, and the book from a publishing company computer that is a computer of the publisher publishing the book. Receiving information requesting to produce a predetermined e-book using the published manuscript and to sell the book on which the published manuscript is printed;
(b) The e-book server generates the e-book based on the published manuscript, generates a temporary authentication key that allows the e-book to be viewed only for a predetermined period of time, and stores it in association with the book basic information. Step to do;
(c) when the e-book server is connected to a book purchaser computer, which is a computer of a person who wants to purchase a predetermined book, through the communication network, reading the basic information of the book and providing it to the book purchaser computer;
(d) The e-book server responds to the purchase request and the purchase request for the book corresponding to the book basic information including the address, e-mail address, and name of the book purchaser received by the book purchaser computer from the book purchaser. Upon receiving corresponding payment method information from the purchaser computer, reading the e-book corresponding to the basic book information and the temporary authentication key and providing the book to the book purchaser computer;
(e) The e-book server checks whether the pre-sale period of the book has elapsed, and if the pre-sale period has elapsed, information on the total number of sales of the book with respect to the book sales information in step (d). A method of distributing books scheduled for publication through the Internet, comprising the step of generating book sales statistical information comprising a and providing it to the publishing company computer. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c)
The e-book server further comprises, upon receiving a preview request for the book from the book purchaser computer, providing the book purchaser computer with a part or all of the contents of the electronic book to the book purchaser to preview A method of distributing books scheduled for publication through the Internet, characterized in that. The method of claim 1, wherein step (d)
The e-book server further comprises, upon receiving a request for a viewer program for viewing the e-book from the book purchaser computer, providing a viewer program for viewing the e-book to the book purchaser computer How to distribute books scheduled for publication through The method of claim 1, wherein step (e)
The e-book server further comprises the step of receiving information on an error including a typo in an e-book corresponding to the book from the book purchaser computer and providing the book sales statistics information to the publishing company computer. How to distribute books scheduled for publication through the Internet. A computer-readable recording medium in which a computer program capable of executing any one of the methods of claim 1, 2, 3, and 4 is recorded with a computer. As a server that distributes a predetermined book and an e-book corresponding to the book through a communication network including the Internet,
From a publishing company computer, which is a computer of a publisher that publishes the book, basic book information including the author, publication date, and price of the book, the published manuscript of the book, and a predetermined e-book using the published manuscript. Receives information requesting to sell a book printed with a published manuscript, and generates an authentication key that allows viewing of the e-book and the e-book only for a predetermined period based on the published manuscript. E-book management unit for storing in association with basic information;
When connected to a book purchaser computer, which is a computer of a person who wants to purchase a predetermined book, through the communication network, the book basic information is read and provided to the book purchaser computer, and the book purchaser received by the purchaser computer from the book purchaser When the purchase request for the book corresponding to the book basic information including the address, e-mail address, and name of and payment method information corresponding to the purchase request is provided from the purchaser computer, the e-book corresponding to the book basic information And an e-book sales unit reading the authentication key and providing it to the book purchaser computer.
Book sales statistical information including information on the total number of sales of the book with respect to the book sales information sold by the e-book sales unit when the pre-sale period has elapsed by checking whether the pre-set period for the book has elapsed E-book server for distributing books to be published through the Internet, characterized in that it comprises a book sales statistics unit to generate and provide to the publishing company computer. The method of claim 6, wherein the book sales statistics unit
Publishing through the Internet, characterized in that further performing a function of receiving information on errors including typos in the e-book corresponding to the book from the book purchaser computer and providing the book sales statistics information to the publisher computer E-book server that distributes scheduled books.

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