Introducing cBook readers here on permies!

Permies now has an online PDF reader, and we have dubbed it "cBook"! CBook is short for "Cloud Book." CBooks allow people to sell books and other PDFs in a viewable--but not downloadable--format here on permies. Anyone who purchases or is given a cBook will be able to come and read it here on permies any time they want to, for as many times as they want to! And the seller of the book will no longer need to fear the pirating of their work.

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CBooks are viewable on all devices: desktop computers, iPads, mobile phones, etc. If you can access permies on your device, you can view and read a cBook! CBooks are a safe way to sell digital content here on permies without fear that they will be downloaded and distributed without your permission.

These cBooks can also be a way to buy a book a more affordable price, or for an author or publisher to offer more options to the buyer. Take the Building a Better World in Your Backyard book, for example. There are now three separate options for people to buy the book:

$3.99 to to buy a cBook of Building a Better World

$7.99 to buy an eBook of Building a Better World

$19.50 to buy a physical copy of Building a Better World

CBooks could also be used on non-digital market threads. Perhaps there's something you've written or made that you'd like to give away, but not have downloaded or edited. You just want people to read it. Now you can! When you attach your PDF, you can click a button that says, "embed PDF"--now your PDF is embedded and no longer downloadable! You can reverse this any time you like. (Note: right now this option is available only to staff and those with affiliate codes (you can get an affiliate code HERE). If you do not have an affiliate code and want it embedded a PDF as as a cBook, just click report on the post, and ask a staff to embed your PDF as a cBook!)

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To read a cBook, go to the thread you purchased it. Scroll down to this section, and click "Click here to read this on cBook"



This will take you to another page, where you can read and view the PDF! Each page will load as you read it. You can read on whatever device you'd like to!



You can leave the thread at any time, and return at any time to keep reading! You can read it as much as you like, for as long as you like!

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To sell a cBook on permies you need two things: an affiliate code, and a thread in the digital market!

Affiliate Code

Affliate codes allow you to not just earn money by sharing links to permies sale pages, but also to sell things on permies. You can get set up for one in through this link, or through your My Stuff, found in the header on the top of the screen, or through this link


Create a Sales Thread

To create a sales thread, you first need to go to the Digital Market and set up a new digital market thread!

You can find more information about setting up digital market threads HERE. Here's a quick primer for making a cBook digital market thread.
You will want to click the Attachment tab.



This is where you will attach your file:



You will want to click the Paid Content tab.



Once you've clicked that, you'll see a LOT of options. These are the most important ones:



(1) Type [premium][/premium] tags inside your main text box. This is where the sales information will pop up for the viewer. You can put things between those tags, like "Scroll down to the bottom of this thread to view the PDF!"

(2) Mark your thread as a "premium thread"

(3) Mark that your thread is selling digital content

(4) Name your price!

(5) Set the affiliate percentage. This can be anything from 0% to 100%. If someone gets an affiliate link for your thread and shares it around, and people use that link to buy your digital content, then the affilate will gain the percentage of the sale that you set.

Once you have added your attachment and filled out the paid content section, you can click submit!

Now that you have clicked submit, go to your thread and click "embed PDF." Our servers will instantly start to work on converting it to a cBook. This may take a few minutes, depending on the size of your PDF. You will get an email notification when the PDF is fully converted!



Once it's converted, you and the purchasers of your thread will see this!



Congratulations, you have made a cBook thread!