Ourboox: You Ask – Mel Answers

How are you going to make any money?

​I don’t know and it isn’t the main thrust of Ourboox right now. We want a gigantic community of writers and readers. We want quality content. If the website is awesome, there will be a way to make money. I’m confident of it. But if we concentrate now on how to charge for services, we will be like all the others. We need to wait and concentrate on delivering an amazing experience for free. ​

Can people make money from the books?

​Hopefully in the future there will be a donate button, so authors can get money for their writing, or their cause. We won’t take a penny of that money. ​

Is there a limit to the number of pages? 

​No, in the old days you needed at least 16 pages, and not more than perhaps a thousand. There are no limits to our digital books.

Can I upload PDFs ?

​No, not yet, and maybe never​

Can I download books from the website?

​No we are delighted when you read them on the site. We are not a lending library. Maybe someday we will be, and will charge a few cents for people who want to download. But not now. ​

Can I embed the book somewhere?

​Yes, using embed.ly​

How do you create your cool covers?

​We use canva. I even wrote a book about it. ​

Can a book be in any language? 

​Any language supported by HTML5. I understand there are hundreds. ​

How come some books are seen thousands of times and others barely seen at all?

​The title, the content, the subject matter, the writing style, the ability of the author to get the word out. ​

Can you fix a book even after it’s published? 

​Yup, you can fix, add, delete, even remove it altogether. ​

Can you have a book in several languages?

​Yes, even several languages on the same line​.

Can Ourboox go bankrupt?

​Theoretically yes, but since it’s owned by us and the running costs now are minimal, it’s very highly unlikely. ​

​We don’t have investors on our backs demanding a payout or ROI. ​

Can I print copies of the book I published?

​Yes, contact Ester ([email protected] )

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How do you embed videos?

​Copy paste the embed code into the <> of the text editor. ​

Why are some books featured and others not?

​Shuli and I pick some of the best books to feature. If you feel that we missed a book, let us know​.

What is the most viewed book?

​The most viewed book is by Ifat Shuster (if you add the Hebrew, English and Russian versions). ​

What is the least viewed book?

​I don’t know. I guess there are many that have been viewed just by the author. Ourboox is like youtube in that respect. ​

How long does it take to upload a book?

​I can do one in two or three minutes​!

Why should I choose Ourboox rather than say, Amazon?

​90% of the books on Amazon sell less than 40 copies and are not really promoted nor searched thoroughly by search engines. We don’t sell books, so Google can read every single word and rank the books based on that. Over half our visitors come from Google and search engines. ​

How did it start?

​See my blog​

What are your favorite books on the site?

​My wife Shuli has many books and she is also the CEO. So naturally hers are beautiful. ​

What was the first book you published on the site?

​I don’t know, it was over two years ago and I have to look. ​

Which books do you prefer writing?

​Funny and pithy ones. ​

Which topics do you like?

​Of course I prefer writing children’s books. But they are difficult and often I have writer’s cramp, so during the dry spells I write ‘how to’ books and satire. ​

Who is your audience? Who do you write for?

​I write for me and hope that it will strike a chord with others. ​

When did you start writing books?

​In my early twenties​

Do memories come back when you’re writing?

​Absolutely!​

Does writing help you cope with emotional situations?

​It sure does. My Dad died last month and I am pouring out book after book about his life. The music he loved. His idiosyncratic sayings. Love you Dad!!!

Most authors prefer books made out of paper? Don’t you?

​Yes, but unfortunately they are expensive and disappearing. So we are doing the next best thing. Also, you can’t embed a video in a paper book​

Has your writing changed over time?

​Yes, a lot. I hope it has. I feel it has. Keren ​Dobkovsky was a great mentor when we started out.

So what are you in the end?

​I’m very much me. If other people have trouble branding me, that is more their problem than mine. I believe that people can be a lot of things. ​

When you’re writing, how do the characters develop?

​I have a basic idea at the outset, but they often behave or misbehave in totally unanticipated ways as the story unfolds. ​

Would you like to make movies out of the books?

​I have, once. I think that’s everyone’s dream. ​

What else do you do? 

​I am a lousy artist. ​

Do you cook?

​I am a terrible cook. Ask my kids. Now they’re grown up, they tell me that they used to throughout most of what I cooked them behind my back. A notable exception was French toast. ​

Who did you root for in the Euroleague?

​I watched a few games when I had time, always rooted for the underdog. ​So far I’ve been doing rather well.

Is it better to write with a pen?

​Not for me. I learned to type when I was 14 (thanks Mom!)  and my fingers work faster than my brain. ​

What are the future directions for Ourboox?

​They are secret. ​

​But we won’t be building rocket ships. ​

Your books have videos and moving maps – are they still books?

​Yes, the new interactive variety. And so much fun to make and consume!​

What’s the difference between Ourboox and a blog?

​Anticipating what’s going to be on the next page. Having a beginning and an end. Having a sense of pride and responsibility for your writing. ​

Who is your biggest competitor?

​Amazon, probably. ​

​I think they have between ten and twenty million e-books, so we have a challenging race ahead. ​

How can teachers use ourboox?

​To stimulate their students, to urge them to be original, creative, inspired, and good writers. And to write their own study material, work plans, etc. ​

What makes Ourboox so easy to use?

​I am a computer idiot. Ran built it so that people as daft as me could figure it out. ​

What is your best advice for choosing the book title? Somehow we find it very challenging.

That is such a good question that i sat down and wrote an e-book about it!

http://www.ourboox.com/books/mels-ten-tips-on-creating-a-title-for-your-e-book/

Do you have many jenres of books

about 70 genres!

I am totally new at this experience. Would you tell me how you got started with Ourboox? How does it work? I apologize if this question has already been asked

Thanks for your lovely questions. Ourboox was originally envisioned as a simple platform for e-publishing primarily children’s books and books of poetry. I write stories for children and my wife Shuli Sapir-Nevo (Ourboox CEO) is a poet. My wife and I had previously spent a lot of money self-publishing books that were very difficult to distribute. We hoped that a simple platform would bring together writers, illustrators, photographers.

I found a genius web developer, Ran Shternin and the rest is e-history. With time, educators began to use the site in Israel and abroad and taught us to embed Google forms, Google maps, puzzles, quizzes, padlets and much more. Today we are extremely popular with young writers in the education system. Several books written by children have been seen thousands and thousands of times. Here is an interview with Dr. Gadi Bossin soon after Ourboox was launched.

http://www.ourboox.com/books/dr-gadi-interviews-dr-mel/

Why is Ourboox free?

​It wasn’t my idea. I learned that from Jimmy Wales. We’ll have to find another way to make money.

Is it true that you sang with Mark Zuckerberg?

No, his sister Randi.

Where will you be in five years?

Alive, I hope.