Why I'm not selling my own ebooks anymore (mostly)
It's been almost a year since I started this site, since when it's been through several stages of evolution. Perhaps the biggest was when it stopped being "just" a blog and I started selling guides to how to format your book for the Kindle; how to get your ebook on Amazon in the first place; and how to promote your Kindle ebook. (That was on 22 April, to save you looking back in your diaries.)
Those guides were sold through the site using PayPal and a plugin called Wishlist Member, which allows one to put content on WordPress behind a firewall so only paid-up members can get to it. People who bought the how-tos created an account and logged in to download books or watch the videos. When they bought more guides, their account was updated to give them access.
But now I've decided (for the most part) to stop selling my guides through the Taleist site and instead sell them (almost exclusively) through Amazon. Why?
Pros
1. Direct sales leave no trace
If you buy a book from my site no one knows that you've bought it or indeed that anyone else has bought it at all. On Amazon a sale is still anonymous (you don't know who bought a particular book) but it leaves a trail. Your book starts showing up in features like "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" and "What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?". If I can attract a sliver of John Locke's buyers because they see my cover and title when they're buying his book, that's great for me.
Customers who bought How to Format Perfect Kindle Books also bought...
You also move up the rankings in your category, which helps to reach customers who shop by category rather than search.
Obviously direct sales through your site don't improve your position in Amazon or affect where else you might be displayed on the site.
For the same reason, I'm not selling the paperback (CreateSpace) version of How to Format Perfect Kindle Books direct from my site or through a CreateSpace store. I would make more money per book that way but those sales don't raise the visibility of my book in Amazon.
Of course I'm also exposing my books to competition, which is a negative but worth it for the trade off, I think, especially as I think mine are better 
2. You get more reviews (or at least the chance of them)
I've written before about my (highly scientific) estimate that only 0.02 percent of readers will review a book. The more you're selling through Amazon, the more readers you will get reviewing books there. Everyone agrees that reviews are important to potential buyers.
3. 1-Click ordering
The simplest way to setup my site to take credit card information is PayPal. That's quite easy if you have a PayPal account but, if you don't, there are fields to fill in — most of which I don't require but PayPal insists on (like your phone number). The more hassle buying is, the fewer the people who will be willing to do it.
With 1-Click ordering Amazon customers can buy your book with a single click. Most of my books are ebooks-only and it's compulsory for Kindle owners to enable 1-Click ordering.
4. Samples to purchases
Closely allied to the benefits of 1-Click ordering is that samples downloaded from Amazon come with an easy way for readers to buy the rest. You could download a free chapter of my book from Taleist but you'd have to come back to my site to buy it. If you download a sample from Amazon, you're just one click away from buying it on the device in your hand.
5. Less administration
From time to time someone has a problem getting the book they've bought from the Taleist site. This is usually because they weren't returned to my site by PayPal after paying. It's frustrating to them and if it happens when I'm asleep it could be a while before I can fix it for them. When I'm selling through Amazon, my readers are buying by going through steps they've probably gone through before; and it's Amazon's job to make it easy and deal with any problems.
Cons
Not everything about this tactic is better. There are a number of drawbacks on top of the one mentioned above — exposing readers to other choices.
1. Lower prices
It's a con for me but a pro for you that acceptable prices on Amazon are lower than they often are from a website. An ebook one might be able to sell for $19.99, $39.99 or even more from a website won't be touched on Amazon unless it's $9.99 or less. Readers buying on Amazon are in a different frame of mind.
[image error]In-Book Promotion - Using the Kindle's Built-In Features to Increase Sales sold for $9.99 through this site and I had only positive feedback. As an experiment I put it on Amazon for the same and almost instantly attracted reviews that were as much about the (perceived high) price as the quality of the information.
On Amazon, you're also making only 35 per cent on a price over $9.99 so your share of a $19.99 book on Amazon is only $7 compared to keeping all of it minus fees when you sell direct from your site. Your $79 ebook is suddenly only making you $28.
As a result, In-Book Promotion is now a steal on Amazon for only $4.99.
2. No affiliates
Affiliate programs get a bad rap because some people will "recommend" any old tat if there's a commission in it for them. Passionate affiliates with an audience of people interested in your books are, however, gold. What's the difference between giving an affiliate a percentage of the price and Waterstones (or Amazon) making a profit on your book? None.
It's one thing for someone to recommend your book because they love it, it's another thing for them to write a whole web page about it or put it in the sidebar of their blog just for love, especially if they're trying to make a living.
3. Limited promotions
I can lower my price on Amazon but I can't give out coupons or run buy-this-get-this promotions.
4. Less contact with readers
When you buy direct from me I know who you are and can contact you to see how you are going or to let you know about my next book. I don't know who bought my book from Amazon.
5. Harder to add value (and charge for it)
The videos that went with Kindle Formatting (now How to Format Perfect Kindle Books) are valuable supplements to the book. I can't sell an ebook or CreateSpace paperback through Amazon that includes videos. I could give readers a code to access the videos but I would only be keeping 35 per cent of any premium I made from including videos.
That's why I now have a hybrid model. How to Format Perfect Kindle Books is available from Amazon as an ebook ($8.99) and a paperback ($15.99) or you can buy the ebook and access to the videos from the Taleist site for $19.99.
Kindle Formatting used to be $39.95 with the videos so $19.99 for How to Format Perfect Books (with the same videos) is a substantial discount.
Conclusion
It's too early to tell whether this will increase my sales on Amazon and, if it does, the increased sales will make up for the lower revenue from the slashed prices — if you didn't want the videos, How to Format Kindle Books is only $8.99 now instead of $39.95 so I've got to sell 4.5 times as many.
What I can say is that I'm happy to be trying this as it's a tactic that stands to reason; and I'm also happy to be spending less time administering the site and more time doing what I love doing: writing!
What do you think? Is this a more sensible way to go or will you continue to sell your books from your site?
