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Quill and Feather Pub [Public] / Re: Article: No one buys books
« Last post by Bill Hiatt on Today at 12:19:02 AM »
Quote from: The Bass Bagwhan on May 01, 2024, 04:39:34 PM
Quote from: Lorri Moulton on May 01, 2024, 10:54:41 AM
I send everyone to my website and store, but I also have retailer links at both places.  I make it clear I don't mind if they buy from retailers. I want them to do what's best for them. 

I'll get paid (eventually) either way, but having a site and/or store gives us a chance to showcase the books a bit before they go to retailers.  I hope they've decided to get the ebook by the time they click that retailer  button.

Totally agree, I've always liked how you can completely control the presentation of the books on your own website. No doubt, I'll be trying this approach again sometime (Einstein's definition of insanity...)
It isn't necessarily insane. We deal with a lot of variables in self-publishing, most of which we don't have accurate stats on. Einstein was assuming someone was doing the same thing over and over with no difference in circumstances. But our circumstances are fluid.
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Quill and Feather Pub [Public] / Re: Article: No one buys books
« Last post by The Bass Bagwhan on May 01, 2024, 04:39:34 PM »
Quote from: Lorri Moulton on May 01, 2024, 10:54:41 AM
I send everyone to my website and store, but I also have retailer links at both places.  I make it clear I don't mind if they buy from retailers. I want them to do what's best for them. 

I'll get paid (eventually) either way, but having a site and/or store gives us a chance to showcase the books a bit before they go to retailers.  I hope they've decided to get the ebook by the time they click that retailer  button.

Totally agree, I've always liked how you can completely control the presentation of the books on your own website. No doubt, I'll be trying this approach again sometime (Einstein's definition of insanity...)
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Quill and Feather Pub [Public] / Re: Article: No one buys books
« Last post by Lorri Moulton on May 01, 2024, 10:54:41 AM »
I send everyone to my website and store, but I also have retailer links at both places.  I make it clear I don't mind if they buy from retailers. I want them to do what's best for them. 

I'll get paid (eventually) either way, but having a site and/or store gives us a chance to showcase the books a bit before they go to retailers.  I hope they've decided to get the ebook by the time they click that retailer  button.
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Quill and Feather Pub [Public] / Re: Article: No one buys books
« Last post by The Bass Bagwhan on May 01, 2024, 10:36:57 AM »
When you say, "Amazon is a bottomless pit", I thought about it and decided it must be true. It's not just all the books — it's the zillion other products it lists. But sticking with the subject of books, the concept of trying to stay within that top 500K is an intriguing, different approach — a different mindset really. And trust that Amazon, dare I say ("trust" and "Amazon" not usually synonymous) does indeed dump all the rubbish to the bottom of the pit.

As for direct selling from a website, I've tried this several times and just can't get it to work well. I suspect that many readers do actually rely on the ratings and reviews that Amazon provides to trigger a decision to buy.
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Quill and Feather Pub [Public] / Re: Article: No one buys books
« Last post by Bill Hiatt on May 01, 2024, 06:14:31 AM »
Quote from: Post-Crisis D on April 30, 2024, 07:15:41 AM
If you search by my name (first and last, not just last), you can find my books.  If you search by my last name only, I only have one book on page 1.  If you search by title, they'll come up.  If you search by like anything else, you will probably never see any of my books.

That is why the idea of selling direct is more and more appealing.  If the only way that someone can find my books is via my website or any social media pages I might have, why should Amazon get a cut?
I wonder how many other people have this experience? It's been a long time since I did a general genre search and found myself--but then again, I'm not looking for myself so I might not even have noticed.

This month, over 61% of my sales are from AMS ads, if the records are to be believed. But the other ones must be coming from somewhere. I'm not seeing much effect from Substack yet, and it's been ages since I saw much from FB. My own website furnished only a few clicks to Amazon. Even if they all became sales, that doesn't sound like all of the sales are accounted for. Organic visibility of some kind is all I can think.
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Quill and Feather Pub [Public] / Re: Article: No one buys books
« Last post by Post-Crisis D on April 30, 2024, 07:15:41 AM »
If you search by my name (first and last, not just last), you can find my books.  If you search by my last name only, I only have one book on page 1.  If you search by title, they'll come up.  If you search by like anything else, you will probably never see any of my books.

That is why the idea of selling direct is more and more appealing.  If the only way that someone can find my books is via my website or any social media pages I might have, why should Amazon get a cut?
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Quill and Feather Pub [Public] / Re: Article: No one buys books
« Last post by Hopscotch on April 30, 2024, 07:09:46 AM »
Well, we the vanished can take some comfort in Herman Melville's comment to his worried father-in-law:  "...independent of my pocket, it is my earnest desire to write those sort of books which are said to ‘fail’...”
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Quill and Feather Pub [Public] / Re: Article: No one buys books
« Last post by Lorri Moulton on April 30, 2024, 07:07:35 AM »
When you say disappear...do they no longer show up in searches or just not in a top 100 category?

IMHO, another reason to have our own stores and sites, where we can link the books (including Amazon) to make it easy for readers to find them.
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Quill and Feather Pub [Public] / Re: Article: No one buys books
« Last post by Bill Hiatt on April 30, 2024, 07:06:10 AM »
Quote from: Post-Crisis D on April 30, 2024, 03:58:17 AM
I guess my books are garbage because they are very well-hidden in the depths of the pit.
I'm sure your books aren't garbage, but we were just talking specifically about how must a book disappears if it doesn't immediately get sales. Are you saying yours do disappear right away? That might be worth investigating if so.

I've had some that were pretty invisible. They reappear whenever they get a sale.
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Quill and Feather Pub [Public] / Re: Article: No one buys books
« Last post by Post-Crisis D on April 30, 2024, 03:58:17 AM »
I guess my books are garbage because they are very well-hidden in the depths of the pit.
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