For book/ebook authors, publishers, & self-publishers

Amazon: why or why not?

I self published my book ( Clear Your Focus Grow Your Business) and it came out last month. It is a non-fiction self-help business development book for solo business owners. It's purpose is to offer help, tools and support to solo-service based businesses - people who are my clients and potential clients. It is like a seminar in a book. It is only for sale on my website and I am charging $37. I add a lot of bonus value. I know if I put it on Amazon I would have to lower the price and I would end up with about $1 per book. I have thought about getting it on other websites who do affiliates.

The question is: When does it make sense to use Amazon and when not? I have my ideas about this and I think it has to do with one's business plan and purpose for writing the book. I would love to hear anyone's comments.

http://www.awakeningbusiness.com/ClearYourFocusBook.html

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Permalink Reply by Stacy-Deanne on May 25, 2010 at 8:50am

It's hard enough when you self-publish a book, but if you are not even on Amazon, you can just about guarantee you won't sell maybe not even a single copy. Most people who order books order from Amazon, that's just how it is. Sure you can sell the book from your site, but you won't sell many copies only selling from your site. You should have your book on as many online bookstores as possible. Not being on Amazon can hurt any author, self-published or not.

Also, I think it would be in your best interest to lower your price. A low price will get more people to buy your book. Thirty-seven dollars is VERY high. That price would turn a lot of people away. I don't know how many pages your book is or whatever, but you're hurting yourself if you only wanna sell at such a high price. You need to place your book at a competitive price so people will wanna buy it. I mean no offense when I say this, but most people don't buy self-published books to begin with and they certainly don't buy self-published books that are too expensive.

Your best bet is to lower your price and yes, definitely get it on Amazon. Just selling it from your site won't cut it. What if someone hears about your book but doesn't know about your site? Most folks look on Amazon automatically when they are interested in a book and if Amazon doesn't have it, a lot of people are turned off with trying to get the book.

So yes you need Amazon and I'd definitely suggest a lower price just to give yourself a chance. It's hard for any type of book to sell for that much these days (especially now that alot of people are into ebooks), so having a high priced self-published book would be very difficult to move.

Good luck!

Best Wishes!

http://www.stacy-deanne.net

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Permalink Reply by Stacy-Deanne on May 25, 2010 at 8:51am

Another good reason your book needs to be on Amazon is for reviews. You need to have some customer reviews to drum up some interest in your book. On top of that, you need to get some industry reviews too if you haven't already. You gotta get word of mouth going and reviews is a great way to do that. But yes, you need to be on Amazon to give your book at least a half of a chance.

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Permalink Reply by Jubilee Jones on June 30, 2010 at 11:06pm

I think it is a good idea if you want more exposure to your book and for you as an authoress as well. The more people that recognize your name and book, the better. So I would definately say go for it! The more gateways you have the better!