Selling on Amazon versus your own website

[Laina Molaski]

I need your opinion. I have been working hard to promote my book (self published) on my own site instead of Amazon or some of the other online stores I am distributed to. However, I am wondering if people are less inclined to buy from someone they don;t know and if my time would be beter spent using Amazon etc.

Thoughts?
Laina

[Maria Hesh]

I have to echo the comments of others, which is to do both! I'm not sure why anyone would poo-poo amazon, given how big it is. And definitely offer incentives to have someone click on your own site and buy your book that way. Is there a reason why you DON'T want to do amazon? Just wondering, as I'd think you'd want the broadest exposure possible.

[Valda De Dieu]

Go to this site: http://www.scribd.com. You can upload your title in the store there, set your own price. You can do the same at Barnes and Noble.com.

Here are my titles: http://www.scribd.com/ValdaDeDieu

And, http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?WRD=Val...

YOU ARE IN CHARGE. You have immediate feedback when people read/rate your books. I had over 2000 reads in 15 days!

Imagine that kind of foot traffic at a "Brick and Mortar" store...

You want to write? It's not for the faint-hearted. GO FIND YOUR AUDIENCE. Niche marketing is the way to go in this e-world...

[Dream Books LLC]

We just joined Scribd, and thus far we are very impressed. It is the ultimate social network for books! We published one book and with-in 20 min. we have 10 reads and 2 purchases. Will keep you guys updated on how it goes.

[Barb D.]

The one site that people are missing is AbeBooks.com. I sell tons of books through this site - alot going overseas. I once talked to a high end used bookseller and he said that book lovers consider Abebooks to be a higher quality site and more reliable in terms of service. Don't know if they have something like Amazon's A-store, but worth a look!

[Tracy Falbe]

Isn't Abe Books just for used and rare books?

[Barb D.]

Nope. I think it got started that way and they host well publicized Antiquarian book fairs. I operate a small on-line bookstore and have both new and used books listed with both Abebooks and Amazon. I find the prices that can be charged are higher (generally) and the fees are lower at Abebooks than Amazon. An interesting fact is that Amazon bought Abebooks just a short while ago, and I just received an e-mail letting me know that I will soon be able to list my books on both sites for one charge. As I said, I don't believe they have something like Amazon's A-store, but it is another reputable place to sell books!

[Tracy Falbe]

Great to know. I had no idea that Abe was more than collector books now.

[Felicity Heaton]

I sell at both my site and amazon, etc, but always make sure that while readers can purchase books direct from my website, they also have links to the major distributors, such as amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, fictionwise.com, etc as they offer different formats. If your readers come to your site wanting a specific format, it makes sense to direct them to somewhere that they can buy it.

You also have to think about how each sale on these distributors boost your rank there. You might make a few cents or dollars more for books sold direct through your site, but if those sales were done through amazon, it might boost your book up the charts enough that it gets noticed by more people, and that means more sales. make sense?

I have a fairly established site, and the sales on it versus sales on amazon can't really be compared. People are more comfortable purchasing through a bit trusted site rather than through paypal on your personal site. I'm fortunate enough to have an audience who have been with me a while and who know that I've built a solid reliable site as it's the same set up used for the self-publishing cooperative site that I also co-run - http://www.alinarpublishing.com

I think it's wise to sell wherever you can, but do give readers the option (i.e. links) to purchase on sites that offer more formats or trust more.

Felicity Heaton
blog: http://felicityheaton.blogspot.com
author website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk

[Karen Boutilier Kendall]

Laina

I published my book, Berkeley to Beijing through iUniverse (on demand publisher). I am, for all practical purposes doing my own marketing. I have a website http://www.kbkendall.com, but also sell through Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I have had a pretty even split between the three sales avenues. The publisher also sells via their website, but those sales have been minimal.

I am finding that word of mouth verbal and via the web is helping the most. One reality, for me, is I make more money on the books people buy direct through my website, but many are more comfortable on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Karen Boutilier Kendall