Support for Indie Authors discussion

I'm thinking of adding a direct sales option for readers who like signed copies of physical books. Any crowd wisdom on this? Suggestions for third-party services? Transaction advice? Thanks in advance.

Paypal is probably your best bet :)

Yeah PayPal is great or you could create your own store on your site and still use PayPal. A store is good if you have other products that have your book on them or are associated with them.

With my Bookbaby agreement, I was offered an excellent, free author store that I could incorporate into my website. However, I chose not to utilize it in that first year, as I really wanted my sales to come through Amazon or the other distributors so I could get the ranking from it, verified sales, reader reviews, and help me work my way onto the Amazon algorithm. That's where I felt things were most needed. But the page was cool though and I think they offered like a 90% royalty rate on ebooks. I would have eventually tinkered with it.

Now I am switching over to try KDP select at the end of this month. So with them, I won't be doing it at all via my website, only linking to Amazon.

yes.
grand total for 2 yrs = 3 books

My site offers books for sale. However, the key is if they want to buy a "regular" unsigned and non-personalized version, my site links them through a redirect back to Amazon. The only books that I sell through the site are at a premium rate with a personalized autographed version.

How it's done? No clue. I leave that up to my website design/manager. I stay out of that area. I tell him what I want and he makes it happen. I find that during the holidays and for special occasions, people will order the signed copies. I've incorporated a way for them to customize the message. I like these requests because I sell them from my local supply. Even after the shipping cost (media rate of about $4) because I charge a premium for my time and effort, it has the biggest profit margin.

As I continue to grow, I hope that this option becomes a more frequent occurrence.

I had a website link with a discount code for paperback purchases through my CreateSpace e-Store. No website visitors ever took me up on it. Since CreateSpace closed down authors' e-Stores, and took away our ability to offer discounts on direct sales through CreateSpace, I have been offering unsigned copies of my book at a discount through PayPal. When someone orders a book this way -- if anyone ever does -- PayPal will notify me and I will drop-ship the book to them from CreateSpace/Amazon. As for signed copies, I would have to ship them myself and sell them at a premium to make up for the shipping costs and costs I'd have already incurred buying the books from CreateSpace. I don't kid myself that my autograph would be much of a value-add to my novel.

My website is basically just my book catalog which redirects to amazon, a blog, and an email list subscription.

I think the book catalog gives a more aesthetically pleasing way of presenting my books while the blog improves my SEO, both of which helped me improve sales.

We've always used Paypal through our website, and it's done pretty well. A few things are sold on Amazon, and for our new book we intend to push that a lot harder. The advantage of the website sales, other than making more money, is that we have the buyer's email and address and can nurture a closer relationship. In general, having more ways to do it seems to be the best.

Hi There
I have my books on Amazon for general sale. However, I also have my books printed for my use buy a different printed who is, I must say, much better at printing and their customer service is excellent.

By having my own copies, I sell on my website simply using a PayPal button. It is the safest way. People can buy from me if they'd like a signed copy (no extra cost). I already have the envelopes and postage stock ready and download the post. With my novels I squeeze JUST into "large letter" and it is just under 500g which means I can get 1st class for £1.74. My poetry collection is a teeny one by comparison, and posts easily for a little less.

I don't get many orders that way, but it does allow me the flexibility of, if chatting to someone online and they want a couple of copies, one as a gift or something, I might suggest they come through me, I'll post them, and knock the price down a bit lower for the multibuy. I can do that because my profit margin from books made by my printer is well over 5x that which I get from crappy royalties.

Interesting thread. I'm considering self-published, but was wondering about doing the Kindle paperback option too--except that the price feels way too high.

How many people actually like to buy autographed copies? Is that a big enough market to care? Colin seems have a figured a good way out with his printer (as in a printing agency rather than his own printer as I gather)

Hi there,

On my site, I just have a link to my book on amazon along with the cover image.

I just have a listing of what's available and instructions to email me with inquiries. Payment is through PayPal. It's just far simpler than keeping up with a form or adding a POS on the site.