Self-Publishers: Sell Your Book on Amazon and Save $$
I just got off the phone with a self-published author who has sold over 1000 copies of her book. She has used a variety of methods to sell her book, including book signings, live presentations and selling oniine through a variety of vendors.
She called me because she was felt like it was costing her too much to sell the book via Amazon. Amazon takes a 55% commission. She also has to send Amazon copies of the book to sell and and has to pay the shipping costs, so her per-book profit ends up being very low. Could I help her sell the book and keep more of the money?
The answer is "yes." I am setting-up an E-Junkie account for her so that she can sell the book on her own website. She will do the fullfillment on her end. Paypal and Google checkout will take care of collecting the money and customer information and she will take care of the fullfillment, sending the book to her customers.
But Don't Give Up Amazon
However, I am asking her to keep selling her book on Amazon.
Why?
There are two reasons. First, many people prefer to purchase through Amazon and will not buy directly through her website. I don't want her to lose those sales. Secondly, and most importantly, she can sell on Amazon and avoid some of the fees. Here's what she should do:
She can create an listing on Amazon Marketplace to sell her book as an independent bookseller. Her book will be displayed right alongside Amazon's listing. Amazon takes a much smaller fee on Amazon Marketplace orders. She will pay 14% to sell through Amazon Amazon as opposed to the usual 55% through the main listing service.
Her marketplace listing will appear below the normal Amazon book listing. They will collect the money and send it to her and she will ship the book. In addition, she will have some ways to increase sales by adding some bonuses. For example, she could offer to autograph each book or send an audio CD. Like many self-published authors she probably has slightly damaged, returned or othewise less-than-perfect books. She can sell those through Amazon Marketplace at a slightly reduced price.
Great insight. Leave the book on Amazon, but make sure that in all of the marketing materials you send people to your site (or to your publisher’s site). In most cases, such as when you publish your book with Wheatmark, you make the most money when people order from the publisher or from you.