Buy Direct to Support Indie Authors
When you buy direct from indie authors, you’re putting money straight back into their writing. Unlike traditionally published authors, everything we indies do, we pay for up front.
Editing, packaging, marketing… we self-fund the entire cost of publishing before the books are even available for sale.
Why Buy Direct?
It all comes down to the 3 C’s: cost, control, and cash flow.
Cost
Retail platforms take a bite off of each sale, based on the list price of the book. On the standard ebook retailers, an indie author can expect to receive a royalty of between 25% to 75% of the list price.
There are costs associated with selling direct, too. These include website hosting fees, file delivery services, and payment service fees. But, depending on how an author sets up their direct sales, it is possible to keep upwards of 90% of the sale price for each unit sold.
Control
One reason authors choose to publish independently is to maintain control over our intellectual property. But when we sell through the standard ebook retailers, we lose a measure of that control.
For example, did you know if an author enrolls their book in Kindle Unlimited (KU), Amazon does not allow them to sell the ebook anywhere else, including on their own author website? Amazon doesn’t even allow KU Authors to give their books away for free!
Worse, retailers have banned authors from selling on their site.
This has happened to a number of authors, even authors with high sales volumes. And it has happened with little notice and virtually no recourse for the author, crippling their businesses and slashing their income!
Direct sales are one way indie authors can protect ourselves from losing business when the major retailers change the rules or shake things up.
Control over Price
Some platforms, like Amazon, reserve the right to set your book’s prices higher or lower than your list price. For example, my ebooks are all currently set to $4.99 on every ebook retailer, but Amazon currently has Oil and Dust listed at $4.65.
Because my royalty depends on the sale price, I receive a smaller royalty when a reader purchases at $4.65.
Control over Sales and Promotions
All ebook retailers allow indie authors to put their books on sale. But not all of them allow us to set the dates of the promotional price. Instead, we’re given a window of 24 to 72 hours for the new pricing to take effect. This makes scheduling promotions difficult.
Some ebook retailers allow us to create promotions, coupons, and discounts. Others allow us to bundle products. Some restrict when or how often we can adjust pricing.
By offering books directly to our customers, we’re able to bundle, promote, and discount our books any way we like. For example, I’m able to offer a bundle of my first two books, Oil and Dust and Graphite and Turbulence, on my site!
By buying directly from me, you save some cash. This is the best part of all; when you buy direct, we can afford to pass savings onto our readers, because we’ve cut out the middlemen!
Control over Product Displays
Books aren’t the only things your favorite indie authors are selling! And when you buy direct from authors, you can see all the merchandise together.
Cash Flow
None of the ebook retail sites pay authors quickly. Some pay at the end of the month, while others pay at the end of two or three months.
Yep. 30 to 90 days.
Can you imagine trying to budget your groceries when you only get paid every 90 days… and you don’t even know how big that check will be?
One retailer pays nothing until your overall compensation exceeds a certain amount. I won’t name who, but let’s just say it took more than a year to receive payment from them for books sold in September 2021.
Unlike the big retail sites, when you buy direct, the author receives the cash within two business days.
Two days!
This is the time it takes for the payment services to receive and transfer the funds.
How To Buy From Authors Directly
Website
The easiest place to start when you want to buy direct from an author is to check out their website.
Some authors sell from their websites directly, while others link to their stores on platforms like Shopify, Gumroads, Payhip, or Etsy.
Patronage Sites
Another way to buy direct is to support an author on patronage sites like Patreon and Ko-Fi.
Some indie authors offer direct sales via these platforms prior to enrolling their books in an exclusive program like KU.
Others provide a onetime sales opportunity only to their supporters before uploading the files to the digital retailers.
Crowdfunding Sites
Crowdfunding platforms, such as Kickstarter, are another great way to buy direct and support indie authors. These platforms are used to raise the up-front funds needed to produce books or audiobooks.
In-Person Events
Events are another way to buy direct from your favorite indie authors! Not only will you brighten their day when you stop by, you’ll have time to chat with them about the stories you love, and pick up signed books or merchandise. You can often buy ebooks from authors at in-person events too!
No matter how you buy direct, know that doing so will help your favorite indie authors write and publish more stories for you to love. Your purchase will be secure, and your digital products will be available on any eReader or device.
Have you bought directly from an author?
Header Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash