Tag: selling direct

SFFMP 182: Selling Direct from Your Site and Cultivating a Rabid Fan Base with Bookfunnel’s Damon Courtney

Author Interview, Podcast

If you’ve been wanting to sell direct from your site, figure out how to turn your current readers into rabid fans, and learn about this new GDPR thing everyone is talking about in regard to mailing lists, you’ll want to listen to today’s show. We had return guest Damon Courtney from Bookfunnel on, and he talked about concerns of authors and also what his author customers are doing that’s most effective in building a fan base and selling books.

Here are some of the specifics we covered:

  • New features at Bookfunnel including integration with Patreon and payment processors so authors can sell direct from their sites.
  • Selling advanced reader copies of books before you enroll them in Kindle Unlimited, so non-Amazon readers can buy them.
  • Which payment processors are simplest to work with and which make it so you don’t have to worry about handling sales tax and VAT on your own (Payhip was mentioned as a good option, and then the WooCommerce WordPress plug-in for those who don’t mind DIY.)
  • How some authors are getting readers to buy direct, so they have more control and take a bigger cut of the sales price.
  • Bookfunnel’s gifting option.
  • How they make it so you can restrict ebook downloads to certain reward levels on Patreon.
  • Some mistakes authors make with their mailing lists and give aways.
  • How often do you need to give away things to keep fans happy?
  • What kind of bonus content excites readers and makes them want to sign up for and stay on your mailing list.
  • Putting out regular chapters or serial episodes.
  • What GDPR is and how to know if your mailing list practices may get you in trouble.

Make sure to check out Bookfunnel and the Bookfunnel blog, and if you missed Damon’s earlier episode you can listen to that here: Using Free Ebooks to Grow Your Mailing List and Increase Readership.

 

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SFFMP 153: What to Do When Your Book Isn’t Selling + Selling Direct from Your Site

Group Discussion, Podcast

Today, Jo and Lindsay talked about their experiences selling ebooks and paperbacks directly from their sites, along with some of the pros and cons of doing so and tax considerations. They also ran through a checklist of things to look at if your book isn’t getting the sales you were hoping for.

Here are some of the highlights of the show:

  • Jo talked about why he took one of his recent titles out of Kindle Unlimited after a quarter.
  • Lindsay talked about buckling down and knocking out ten thousand words a day to meet some goals.
  • Selling signed paperbacks direct from your site and also doing special editions or early releases of ebooks from your site when you have a fanbase eagerly waiting for new material in a series they love.
  • Some of the pros of selling direct (keeping a higher percentage on each sale, getting the email addresses of known buyers, and not relying completely on any one store).
  • Some of the cons of selling direct (few people make it work for fiction ebooks, it’s not as easy of a process for the readers, dealing with customer service, and the extra work of installing and maintaining an e-store).
  • Tax considerations (keeping receipts and when Paypal will send you a 1099 if you use them for your direct sales).
  • Checking your cover and blurb if your book sales are anemic. Links to Libbie Hawker’s ebook on blurbs (Gotta Read It) and her two-part video instructions on the same topic (Write an Awesome Blurb or Query Pt. 1 and Write an Awesome Blurb or Query Pt. 2).
  • Avoiding slow pacing, editing errors, and infodumps in the sample pages (and ideally everywhere!).
  • Creating stories and characters that people fall in love with.
  • Not having too high of expectations!

 

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