You will notice, if you care to look, that my novels are disappearing from the big sellers. There are several reasons for this. I am purposely and systematically removing them.
My Daniel’s Fork series has already been unpublished from all sellers, including Amazon. Only the print formats remain. Soon, Angel’s Guardian series will follow. The Rose series will remain on Amazon for a few months following the release of book 3, but it too will be pulled off all online sellers.
Only my short stories will remain on Amazon in the form of a compilation residing in KU. Each short is a prequel or intro to each series. My goal is to use those as magnets to attract readers to this website. This website will be the home of my books and my VIP List. (Mailing List)
Why am I doing this? I have spent years dancing to the big seller’s tune, losing more and more control of my work each year and losing money. First, I am invisible on Amazon unless I spend an awful lot of money on promotions, mostly Amazon’s own ads or 3rd party promo sites. Between the 30% that KDP takes, the cost of promos, and the discount needed for sales, there is little profit left.
Promos are the only way to be seen by new readers in Amazon or any other seller. In Amazon (and most major sellers), when you open up your shopping page, you are shown more titles by the authors you’ve bought or similar well-selling authors. This means that the same readers keep seeing me, not new ones.
When I place a eBook on Kindle Unlimited, I cannot sell it anywhere else, and that includes my own store. That’s why my short stories are not available here now. I get (at this moment) .0040 to .0050 cents per page. For a fully read book of 300 pages, the author gets between $1.33 and $1.50, but you still need to advertise to let readers know your books are there. Amazon does not put your KU titles upfront or promotes them in any way.
Amazon cares about its profits and little else. As an author, I am totally vulnerable to their policies. For example, I have no access to information about readers who buy my books there. I have sold thousands of books in the last thirteen years. My mailing list should include every one of those customers. It doesn’t. Only amazon can contact those book buyers, send promos to them, and tell them of a new book release by me, if it feels like it. They will not share the list with me, the author and publisher.
In my store, every customer becomes a VIP in my mailing list. I can thank them personally, give them perks, offer them ARCs, and send them special promos, sell them DRM-free books, and allow them to re-download a book they’ve lost or deleted by accident. I control my list.
Finally, a new problem has risen which tipped the scales for me. My books were published widely and distributed by Draft 2 Digital to Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, Smashwords, libraries, and several overseas markets. I decided to use my own ISBNs and began republishing my books with new ISBNs. Keep in mind, these books have been published and sold by these sellers for years.
When I tried republishing my book Thicker Than Blood, I got the message that the book was being delisted from all markets other than Smashwords. The reason was that the book has content not acceptable to sellers such as Apple, Kobo, and B&N.
In the process of publishing, when I answered “yes” to the question of did my book have sexual and other taboo content, the company red-flagged it. All my books have a strong warning of content. I even go so far as to use bold, red font for the warning.
What good is a trilogy if the second book is delisted? I realized that publishing under these constraints is taking all control from me, the author. The public is in control, the customer is in control, the store is in control, but the author is a puppet.
WARNING: This novel contains material depicting sexual situations and violence not suitable for younger readers or adults who object to such content.
My books are NOT EROTICA. They are paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and Sci Fi. Their content has not changed in thirteen years. They contain some sexual scenes, definitely scenes of violence, and my Angel’s Guardian series has two ancient vampires involved in an incestuous relationship. No one ever delisted Game of Thrones for that!
When I first published, this did not matter. In today’s social and political environment, this has all changed. More and more publishers and stores are caving in to demands from special interest groups for banning books. It’s only a matter of time before Amazon follows suit.
Now, let me tell you about the promos necessary to sell books. First, the promoters want you to discount the book. Preferably, they want you to give the book for free. I promote a free book, pay anywhere from $40 to $100 for one day. You pay hundreds of dollars if you are using BookBub for ONE DAY’s feature on the site. Yours is not the only book they are promoting. It may be one of ten or more.
The promo sites provide the readers free or 0.99 merchandise which the promo service does not pay for (my stock), and I have to pay for this privilege while taking a loss on my work. Amazon then gets a higher percent because on any book priced below $2.99, they pay only 35%. Yes, I will get 35 cents of $0.99!
If the book is $0.99, then the promo may cost more. If the book is priced above $2.99, the promo will often turn you down. Readers want a deep discount. So, I pay for the one-day promo, give away hundreds of books, and make not a penny. But the readers get a free gift, the promoter gets money, and Amazon gets money.
If I sell the book here, at my website, I keep the entire $0.99! If I sell a book at regular price and give the buyer a discount, I get to keep the difference without paying out 30-40% to the online seller. It sounds like a no-brainer, right?
However, selling out of your website is not easy. First, the author still needs to promote the site for potantial customers to visit. But all those promo services only promote titles that sell at Amazon and the other big sellers such as Apple, Kobo, and B&N. BookBub will allow me to include my own store’s URL but only if the book is also linked to at least one of the big sellers.
As you can see, there are big hurdles no matter what I do. But in time, I hope my plan leads to better control of my intellectual property, better profits, and more benefits to my readers. There are growing numbers of self-published authors who are doing likewise, although they are taking a more measured approach.
More self-published authors are turning to their own web stores. They want control of their customers’ information. They want to promote for themselves and not for the big sellers. They want the freedom to sell to market and not be controlled by special interests. They want to keep more than a few pennies on the dollar.
I cannot keep doing the same thing for years and expect a different outcome. I must be in control, and that means selling my own books at my own place. More authors are also doing the same, and in time, this trend may become a flood!
Please, buy my books here. You will help my business grow. You will get a better deal. And while you are here, plase join my VIP list.