A couple of years ago, I was keen on the idea of publishing my own ebook. I got as far as opening PayPal and Google Checkout accounts, and setting up a dummy download page to see whether their payment widgets worked.

In the end I didn’t proceed, because I realised that although publishing myself minimised costs (no trees die, no share taken), the chance of my rather arcane volume becoming visible amid the babel of the internet also hovered around zero, even if I devoted much of my time to tweaking, twiddling and AdSensing.

What’s more, the internet is so price-resistant that charging even £2 was likely to deter all-comers. But perhaps the real cause of my retreat was that not having a tangible book felt wrong. It’s possible I’ll try again via the Kindle Store, but I feel no urgency.