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If you’re an author doing direct digital sales from a web site you manage/control (meaning in addition to whatever you’re doing through Amazon, B&N, iTunes, Kobo, Smashwords, Direct2Digital—or whatever)…
Questions for Authors Already Selling Directly
- What method are you using? Gumroad? Shopify? Easy Digital Downloads (plus WordPress)? WooCommerce? Sellfy? Some other?
- How’s that working out for you, and why did you make the choice you did?
- If you’re willing to share this information, what percentage of your total sales are direct sales?
- Has it been worth the hassle for you?
Questions for Authors Considering Selling Directly
- What programs have you looked into?
- Do you have any questions about the process?
For those who wonder why one would do such a thing, there are two primary reasons:
- If you have more than one thing to sell, you can offer custom discounts.
- You can offer them subscriptions to your email list; third-party vendors are completely transparent to you.
- Higher pay and faster payment.
For example, selling via EDD on my own site for a $3.99 book, I’d take home $3.52 today. If I sold the same book on Amazon, I’d receive $2.79 sixty days after the end of the sales month. For Nook, I’d receive $2.39 sixty days after the end of the sales month. For iTunes, $3.52 45 days after the end of the month. For Kobo, if the amount owing is > $150, then they pay monthly, otherwise every six months.
Obviously, $3.52 today sounds better, but it does require a savvy enough customer to sideload the book (drag to their reading application).
Originally published at deirdre.net. You can comment here or there.