Tag: selling paperbacks direct

Experimenting with Paperbacks, Round Two

Since removing my paperbacks from Amazon, I’ve had excellent sales at the local bookstore, but only one paperback sale through my web site. This makes sense. Buyers of physical books do much of their discovery by browsing shelves.

So, I’ve been thinking about the tourists who picked up book one, The Calling, at Black Cat Books and Coffee. If they want book two, Shaman’s Blues, will they look at the end matter, find my web site, notice the “buy paperbacks direct” link, and order from me? Will they remember the name of the bookstore and look up its contact information and order from them? More likely, they’ll look on Amazon and not find a paperback. Maybe they’ll buy the eBook, but probably not, if they’re the type of reader who likes to hold what they call “ a real book.”

My plan was to eventually republish the paperbacks with Ingram, Lulu, or Draft2Digital, but the prices on any of them would have put my books out of range for the average book buyer. Paper is expensive stuff. My books are longer than average, which obviously means more paper, and with the books going through a distributor, the prices increase. Will readers spend twenty-four dollars for a paperback? The same book published through KDP print can be priced six dollars lower. Despite my reluctance to drive business to this company, my ultimate goal is to make books available and affordable to those who want them.

I risk Amazon once again discounting the paperbacks to the point that I lose money on eBooks with their “price match” game. But I also risk losing readers who want the rest of the series in paperback after they passed through Truth or Consequences on vacation. The readers win.

I’m republishing on Amazon. I’ve also made the books available for expanded distribution, meaning other online stores may carry them if they chose. If you want to support small business, you can buy paperbacks for a slightly lower price from me or from Black Cat.

Books Make Good Gifts—Yes, Already

I don’t normally think about the holidays this early. I’m stunned to see that the neighbors two doors down have strings of red lights in their front window, and that the city has wrapped fake spruce branches around the light poles in the plaza as well as tiny white lights around the trunks of the palm trees. I hope this doesn’t herald the return of the inflatable snowmen. I confess I don’t understand the custom of pretending to be northern for winter holidays, when we have perfect winters here. Perfect meaning no snow.

I will be happy to head off to the post office on one of those sixty-degree sunny days with orders of books. I have to mention it this early because book rate is a tad slower than other options, and I include shipping in the price because book rate is inexpensive. Order one book at full price and get a dollar off other books in the same shipment. If you’re buying the whole Mae Martin Series, that would add up.

This offer goes through Dec. 8th.

Why I now sell paperbacks direct—and not on Amazon

I am now selling my paperbacks on my web site, where they’re priced the same as they were on Amazon, but my price includes tax and shipping. You don’t have to buy extra stuff to get free shipping (or pay to be in Prime). For $16.99 or $10.99, you get the book. Signed, if you like. The books are also available in some in small, independent shops.

Here’s why I took them off Amazon:

Amazon has been manipulating paperback prices in order to lower eBook royalties.

After I ran a hugely successful first-in-series free promotion of the eBook of The Calling, Amazon discounted the paperback of book two, Shamans’ Blues, so steeply that they could discount the eBook. They pay full royalties on the paperback no matter how low the price, but if they “price match” the eBook to the paperback, they reduce the royalties on the eBook. That’s their rule. I did everything I could to fight it, but with no success. The eBook should have been $4.99 and the paperback $16.99, the same prices as the rest of the series, but Amazon dropped both to $3.49—below printing costs—and kept it that way for over a year. Like most indie authors, I sell primarily eBooks. Therefore, I lost significant royalties on sales of book two. I didn’t sell tons of cheap paperbacks. Readers saw both at the same price and still bought the eBook. Amazon’s price also made me feel obligated to keep the eBook at a lower price on other online stores, so customers there wouldn’t be unhappy about paying more. Book eight, Chloride Canyon came down to $4.88, and I had no ability to stop Amazon from lowering it even more and discounting the eBook as long as my paperbacks were on their site. Taking the paperbacks off Amazon was the only way I could get back control of eBook pricing. My one-woman strike for fair pay.

Amazon has been lowering paperback prices to make you buy more stuff in order to get free shipping while undercutting independent stores that can’t afford to discount a book below what they paid for it. I believe in supporting small businesses. They keep local downtowns and communities alive.

I expect I will publish paperbacks again through another print-on-demand printer in a year or so when the next book comes out or when my stock of books is depleted. However, because most of my books are long, the price of all that paper makes them more expensive to sell on any site that isn’t also the printer (like KDP print on Amazon). So, books from D2D Print or Ingram will cost more.

Or I may do a brief republication on KDP to make them less expensive, restock to sell direct, hope to dodge the price-match hassle, and unpublish again.

Of course, you can look for used copies of my work wherever you buy used books.

And a few new paperbacks may remain on Amazon, though not for long. After I thought I’d wrapped everything up and ended the chance of another $3.49  problem, they sent this message:

“Upon investigation, I see that your Paperback Book “The Calling”, currently has 1 copy still in Amazon’s inventory. I also see your Paperback Book “Shaman’s Blues” has 3 copies, the Paperback Book “Gifts and Thefts” has 1 copy and the Paperback Book “Small Awakenings” also has 1 copy left in Amazon’s inventory. If you’d like to clear out Amazon’s inventory, you could order those copies.”

Is that a good ending for this chapter?