There are so many reasons choosing Amazon is such a great option for self-publishing. There are also so many reasons why you may not want to exclusively distribute through Amazon. This topic can get a little overwhelming. So much, in fact, that I’ve had to navigate into these waters cautiously because I have a tendency to get paralyzed into inaction when inundated. So let me throw out a few disclaimers right off the bat.
- There are a million and one ways (not literally, though maybe?) to go about selling your books. These are just a few ways I’ve explored and/or have experience with.
- There is no one right or wrong way, just like when it comes to how you write a book.
How to sell your self-published book outside of Amazon?
As many of you know, the first several years as a published author, I didn’t really embody the role. In fact, Yeah, maybe only existed as an e-book, available on Kindle until 2018. I don’t know what prompted me to finally release the book in paperback, but I did (and it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought it would be). This was my first expedition into the world of selling my own books. How? Well, let’s get into that.
Sell your books on your website
While Amazon is a print-on-demand publisher, they do offer the option to purchase author copies. This, my friends, is your inventory. I opted to do autographed “pre-orders” when I released the paperback. I use quotations because pre-orders for print with Amazon doesn’t actually exist. I basically circumvented the system by “publishing” the book in Amazon, ordering the author copies I needed, reverted the book back to a draft then re-releasing it after all of my pre-orders had been sent out.
How do you sell them on your website? Great question. I have a self-hosted site with a woo-commerce integration (which is free). You may opt to host your site on Squarespace and integrate their payment processor. Shopify is a good option, too. Wix and Weebly also have payment processors. Essentially, no matter which platform you opt for, there’s a way for you to integrate a “shop” within your site.
Pre-orders are an excellent way, too, to generate some income before the book is released to help front the cost associated with launching.
Selling, in general, on your site has its pros and cons. With Amazon, they manage the “inventory” and deal with the shipping but your royalty is considerably less. When you sell from your own site, while you may set your price differently (since it’s an autographed copy), you also have to account for your cost of the production: wholesale, shipping to you and shipping to the buyer.
Sell your books at in-person vendor events and book conventions
This is something I’ve only just recently started doing. And it’s definitely, in my opinion, the most fun way to sell books. Don’t get me wrong, it’s always exciting to see a sale come through. But to be face-to-face with the person choosing to take a chance on you is pretty magical. As authors, we write. That doesn’t necessarily mean we’re business minded. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t thank my lucky stars for my time in the creative entrepreneur world to prepare me for this season of my life.
So, how do you sell books in person? It’s not as complicated as we like to make things. There are several options you can employ with little tech knowledge, like printing your Venmo or PayPal QR codes. That’s what I did at my last vendor event. Moving forward, though, I’d like to take things up a notch and be able to take credit card payments straight from my phone. There are a number of ways to do this and plenty of services that make it easy. The one you’re all probably most familiar with is Square, but there are lots out there, so do your research to find the one that you like the most. You may need to have a little tech knowledge (like understanding api for payment processing), but most providers have simple to understand instructions.
Sell books at indie bookstores or other independent retailers
While it’s not necessarily impossible to get stocked at one of the larger retailers as an Amazon self-published author, it is a little tricky. Understandably, a big retailer isn’t going to be super keen on buying inventory from a competitor, even at wholesale pricing. If you’re looking to get stocked at your Barnes & Nobles and Book-A-Millions of the world, you may want to consider “going wide” through IngramSpark (that’s next on my list).
However, many indie bookstores are happy to work with indie authors. In my experience, this typically operates as consignment. What that means is you offer the agreed number of books, some retailers may charge a shelving fee, but you will be paid for any copies they sell. Not on indie retailers work this way, but that’s been my experience so far.
Don’t limit yourself by thinking as an Amazon self-published author you can only sell on Amazon. That’s simply just not true. While there are plenty of benefits of going wide with IngramSpark, Amazon offers such a great way to start as an author. If you decide to navigate into the world of selling your own books and find you have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out. I love helping others get their start! What else is all this random knowledge and experience good for, after all? 🙃
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