Quote:
Originally Posted by David Derrico
I'm not doubting any of you, and I'd also prefer to sell direct when possible. But the fact remains that retailers are necessary. As an independent author, I have no name recognition, no bookstore presence, no publicity machine and no money for advertising (which would quickly eclipse my royalties and I would be paying money for the right to distribute my work). In my mind, Amazon earns its 65% cut. I've had my own website up for years (where I sell my eBooks in any format with no DRM), and have always charged LESS than Amazon (except for the current 99 cent sale, where it's the same). Since I don't have to give Amazon their cut, I pass the savings to the reader. Yet, my direct sales through my website are but a TINY fraction of my sales through Amazon. The bottom line is that small authors just can't afford the time and money to get people to notice their work, and Amazon at least gives us an outlet.
In my perfect world, everyone would come buy directly through my website, but it just doesn't happen. |
My experience was exactly the opposite: My e-books, once placed on Amazon's site, had dismal sales compared to my website. The problem with putting my books on others' sites is: No advertising budget means no one will ever find them there; they quickly get lost in the morass of big-budget publisher books (heavily advertised and promoted) and the dead weight of teen-vampire-gay-porn-fanfic that quickly fills their e-book coffers.
Though I'm not getting rich off of my sales, I'm making a hell of a lot more of them than I ever made through Amazon or any of the other e-book sites I've distributed my books through.
Whichever way you sell, the bottom line always is: Promotion is everything.