Self Publishing Exam Preparation Material

In this blog, I would like to share my observations and understanding of authoring/publishing and retailing exam preparation material.

There are so many exams related to various certifications, licensing and competitions. Most of the well known professions require some or the other type of exams to be taken by the candidates to get certified to be eligible to carry out the duties under those professions. Beauticians, firefighter, crane operators, teachers etc all have to clear some or the other exam. The text books, practice questions, flash cards etc created to help in preparation for these exams is collectively called exam preparation material.

of the jobs require some sort of certification exam cleared by candidates. In many cases it may not be required, but having a certification boosts the chances of selection and also add to the confidence of the candidate.

So, what’s new about that? Exam preparation material has always been around, what is different now? The difference is that people are Internet savvy and like to use material online. People like to participate, discuss, ask and answer. People like to connect with each other and share their experiences and problems. The traditional way of printing and publishing exam preparation material pushes exam takers into isolation. Today, people are highly connected with each other through various types of media. They feel traditional ways to be boring and something that requires higher amount of self motivation. Today’s exam takers like to connect to each other because they like the support generated through the connection.

Also, in today’s context, word spreads at lightening speed through Internet. So, material published on Internet is more likely to be talked about than the book/CD format material. Author can easily use this in their favor. Another new trend is selling on subscription basis. Using Internet, you can sell access to the content on time-bound subscription basis.

For authors who can write good exam preparation material, self publishing on Internet and selling on subscription basis can be highly profitable.

While for preparing for any exam requires text books, practice questions and other tools like flash cards, what is the most important of all? Typically, exam takers refer to the same books that they read during the course. It is easy to go through the book that you have read before. But reading text books is never enough. People find that the most important part for exam preparation is how many practice questions they did and the variety of questions that they faced. This is a major source of frustration for exam takers that they do not get many good quality practice questions.
For authors, this becomes a small niche area where there is a lot of demand.

The biggest challenge is making the content available online in a format that the exam preparation process becomes very efficient for the exam takers. Typically, exam takers do not have time and want to prepare in a very efficient environment. Creating a website and maintaining it for hosting your material is very expensive.

Instead of creating your own site and publishing your content, authors can use online marketplace sites that allow hosting exam preparation material. One such site is . The site is free to use and charges commission on actual sales. .
The authors get many value-adding features instantly, which will surround their content. They can reach global audience and sell their content on subscription basis. They do not have to worry about the software technology and can remain focused on authoring. The process of publishing is completely controlled by the authors. Best of all, the service is free to use and the authors do not have to pay anything as upfront and ongoing cost.

Author:

Kanu Tripathi

President and CEO

CyPatterns LLC

Owner of