For book/ebook authors, publishers, & self-publishers
If you are not with one of their distribution channels like Ingram or Baker & Tayler then many will not deal with you, and if they are willing to deal they want the option to return the books which do not sell at no cost to them. In that case, then you ARE better off selling your book only and with selected retailers. The major chains have their own programs which they will absolutely not deviate from, so be prepared to lose the fight.
I am actually thinking of going back to Lightning Source for publishing since my current printer has distribution to selected booksellers on their program but do not offer a returns policy except with respect to damaged goods. But the whole reason I stopped dealing with LSI was because it was a drain on my credit card. Now that I am on a firmer base I will look into it. If you really want to sell your books and can afford to gamble I'd advise you to do the same.
I just lowered the prices on all my older books. Sometimes that helps.
Permalink Reply by Antoine Archange Raphael on Being a bilingual writer, I often find it difficult to navigate between French and English. I often have to use some linguistic strategies such as circumlocutions, guesses, intuitions…
A big challenge for me was to figure out how to upload a manuscript to the Kindle publishing platform. I've written a blog on my bookmarketingpage about my 'five problems and five solutions', hoping to keep other authors out of the pitfalls I fell into. Take a look at it if you're thinking of publishing another book, this time as a kindle. Like me, you may be taking some things for granted that you shouldn't.
Thanks to the DOJ and its suit against the five or six major publishers for "price-fixing" to keep ebook prices artificially high, I am now out of business, because the only company which has escaped this scrutiny is Amazon, and since Amazon is now a monopoly I have decided not to sell books through it. I don't care what people say about it. The only books which are being read on Kindles are either free or too cheap and the quality of any author's work has been so devalued that there is no expectation of a fair royalty to be had. If Amazon wants to sell my books it will have to buy them wholesale. Then it can price the books as low as they want but I WILL have my share of the pie regardless. I have set all my ebooks to draft status on KDP and have disabled direct distribution to Amazon for printed books. It will have to deal with Ingram to get them. Call it a "boycott" if you will, because so far I have had more sales through Apple than I ever had with Amazon.
You have to understand that the last four years have been difficult for me. As a self-published author, I have been insulted, spat upon by know-alls and looked down upon by so-called "experts" who are threatened by the independence of authors who choose not to allow someone else to dictate terms of inclusion. The so-called "gatekeepers" are now in trouble. So they expected me to follow them off the bridge, did they? Forget it.
Yes, I am supremely angry. Some other authors are beginning to follow me away from these high-minded jerks and started their own web sites. Yet, I can't get anyone to buy books from me because they all want to buy from Amazon. Well, they won't find my books on Amazon unless Amazon forks over money to pay for them. I am not planning to publish my next title and then turn it over to Amazon to be buried under a pile of crap as a "loss leader" for their Kindles. I want people to read my books, not add them to a list they will store on their Kindles and then forget about them. I want to make money from my work, and yet Amazon takes it away from me at every turn. In fact, there are hundreds of authors who have been similarly inconvenienced, and yet Amazon comes away scot free from prosecution for undercutting prices below cost and in other ways making life difficult for everyone who comes in contact with it. The so-called lending program only works for Prime members and demands exclusivity for 90 days, about the shelf life of an average book in a bookstore. After that, many authors have reported no sales, nor even cursory interest in their books. That is about where I was already, since the lending program effectively killed sales for me. It was like turning a spigot, it was that fast.
I am voting with my pocketbook, too. To date I have not bought more than a single item from Amazon. In fact, all my latest purchases have been from Barnes & Noble because I will not give Amazon anymore money, since it has taken money away from me. It has underpaid me by setting royalties earned in its foreign markets on a separate tier; in such a way that I never get paid for them at the same time or in the same check. Every time I did get paid, I was always shorted as much as a dollar. Pittance, it is true, but taken from pittance. So, no more Amazon, and no Kindle will get my titles.
Oh, and forget about trying to get me to knuckle under and capitulate. Just because "everybody" does it doesn't make it right.
Permalink Reply by Paul Allih on Excuse me, why would the DOJ go after Amazon when their evidence concluded that Amazon had nothing to do with ebook price fixing? Unlike Apple, who was busted conspiring with publishers to screw over Amazon.
Everyone on here is well aware of your vehement hatred of Amazon, but don't let that rage turn to ignorance and blind you from the truth.
Also, if you hate the way Amazon does business, why don't you just take your books off of the site and be done with it?
I did. Didn't you read my post? The word is UNDERCUTTING, not raising prices so high it's not fair. I'm not ignorant, I'm ahead of the pack. You should read some of the complaints on other sites about the way Amazon has destroyed the bookselling business. Educate yourself before you pass judgment on me. The reason I have said what I have said is that I experience it every day. Amazon gets to price the books as low ar as high as it wants, but the suppliers don't get to set the price? then in that case, the whole economic system will go down because you can't be bothered to pay a fair price. Amazon has set it up in such a way that it has done everyone a disservice. What truth? the only truth here is the facts, my friend, and you haven't seen them.
Permalink Reply by Paul Allih on I'm still waiting to hear what Amazon has done that needs to be investigated by the DOJ.
Undercutting isn't a crime. It's how businesses stay competitive through a free market. The way Amazon supposedly does it, via software, is dirty but it's not illegal.
I would also like to add that publishers, vanity presses, and sleaze ball agents ruined the book publishing industry a long before Amazon jumped on board.
You can accuse me of being blind, uneducated, or whatever have you, but the fact of the matter is Amazon is like any other major corporation who has their positives and their negatives. Plenty of retail outlets set the price, like Wal-Mart and Target, it's just how they do business.
And I choose not to do business with them. I'm a company, too, and if my products are being priced so low the royalties are too low, or so high that nobody will buy them, then like many others I have the option to not play the game. Just think that I put up a sign which says "we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone," and you get the idea. Yes, it's how they do business. It's also what is going to get them in trouble. I have no faith in any company which does not do anything to KEEP business. I'm in the business of making money, so Amazon is underperforming with regards to sales. Like I said, it's a pain but it's my right to sell wherever I want to. What has it done to get the DOJ's attention? How about buying all the rights to the James Bond books and reissuing them under their own imprint. It means that they are buying all the classical titles and keeping them under their control. When that happens, and there is no objection, then the market is cornered. When Amazon becomes the only bookseller on the planet it will be a monopoly. When all the bookstores are gone, it will be a monopoly. When it starts telling states what to do, then it's a monopoly. I do not wish to work with a monopoly.
Permalink Reply by John Kremer on I think we can all live within the bounds of the chains, Internet retailers, etc. if we focus on building traffic to our websites and blogs - where we can sell our books direct to our fans and followers.
Permalink Reply by John Kremer on For some tips on building traffic to your websites or blogs, check out http://blog.bookmarket.com/2012/05/top-10-things-you-can-do-in-2012...
Permalink Reply by Shirley Ford The biggest challenge I find is how much time to spend marketing my existing book versus how much time to spend on the next book. There are only so many hours in the day and daily life has to go on
==================
Brand Facebook posts!
Put your brand name and a link to your website under every Facebook post!
www.postplanner.com
© 2012 Created by John Kremer.
