I find this fascinating. Print books will never die, and I think we must continue to use them as part of our marketing strategy, but e-books just keep gaining traction and power. I think more and more we need to consider the e-world and consider following in J.K. Rowling's footsteps, same as others.
She owns the digital rights to her books and stands to make a killing. Consider this: she doesn't have to pay Amazon.com a penny. So while most of us rush to Amazon to sell our books on the Kindle and earn 35% to 70% royalties, she's going to earn 100% royalties minus fees to pay for the site, which, of course, will be hugely interactive and popular.
The rise of e-books means greater control of product and marketing. That means we all stand to gain from sending people to our own websites and imprints. Of course, most of us will want to continue to use Amazon.com, Smashwords, and the other web portals that have marketing power and clout.
But at the same time, sell them from your own website. Find ways to attract readers there. For example, sell them from your website at a slight discount. If you sell a book for a dollar at Amazon, but only 50 cents at your website, you still earn more from your own site based on Amazon's pricing structure, and you will likely garner more sales from your site that way than you would otherwise. The same concepts, with different numbers, work with books at $2.99 at Amazon versus, say, $2.50 at your site.
You have to keep in mind the power of high sales at Amazon and consider what sending sales to your site means. Perhaps your site is interactive, engaging, and interesting, and the sales there are mostly part of your offering to fans--ease of purchase and pricing, etc., while you still promote Amazon.
No one has the clout of J.K. Rowling, the kind of clout where you can sell exclusively through your own site. But that should be a central part of your arsenal.
6 comments:
Wow. What an intriguing idea. I never, ever thought about offering my books myself from my own site.
But how do we make our sites interactive and fun?
I think you start slowly. Look at websites like Fablehaven by Brandon Mull. You start slowly and build up, doing as much as your own savvy allows, and working up from there. You know, I have some ideas, and I think I'll do a post on this soon.
Well said! :) Definitely something to consider.
First time reading your blog.This is a thought provoking post. Thanks for sharing your expertise.
Thanks, Lacie!
Wow. I'm hearing so much about e-books and I appreciate your take on it.
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