Writer Sanctum
Writer's Haven => Marketing Loft [Public] => Topic started by: Marti Talbott on May 02, 2020, 02:55:39 AM
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I would be the first to admit I don't understand everything I know about all this. I was surprised to learn I sold 4 paperbacks through D2D in February. (12 total since I did the print thing on D2D)
Amazon says:
Seattle Quake 9.2 by Marti Talbott (2011-04-08) Mass Market Paperback – January 1, 1894
price $35.40
This is a new/used seller, right? I get that part, but what does Mass Market Paperback mean? I thought it meant a standard, in the bookstore, size paperback.
https://www.amazon.com/Seattle-Quake-Marti-Talbott-2011-04-08/dp/B01FJ1ARH0/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Also, my print books are available through D2D, which also sells through Amazon. Anyone know how to tell what is selling where. The only way I can come up with to be able to tell the difference is to make the price different.
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I've seen resellers listing my books as mass market paperbacks for sale on Amazon. That's impossible, since I don't publish in mass market format (and CreateSpace and Amazon print didn't/don't offer it as an option, last I heard).
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So it's the resellers who call it mass market paperbacks, not Amazon. That makes sense. They're pretty sleazy in my opinion. I can't imagine who would buy from any of them.
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The best I can guess is that they're typically smaller paperbacks sold cheaper (like around $6-8). I think the idea was to have a small travel size book. Many are romance books. But I'm not sure if there's any more to it because I never researched it much further--like, can you just sell a smaller version of your paperback copy?
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The best I can guess is that they're typically smaller paperbacks sold cheaper (like around $6-8). I think the idea was to have a small travel size book. Many are romance books. But I'm not sure if there's any more to it because I never researched it much further--like, can you just sell a smaller version of your paperback copy?
Of course you could do a mass market edition and label it as such. You could do a special limited edition hardcover with gold embossing, too, the way some tiny presses in the sf/fantasy world do. But which company offers mass market size economically? Or gold embossing?
What we indies are mostly selling are trade paperbacks, which do not have a standard size because they don't have to fit into wire or other racks wherever they are sold. For most of us, their size is irrelevant because readers are buying them online anyway and have no idea what size the print version is. We choose a size we like, trying to avoid the look of a pamphlet if the text is short, and trying to avoid the look of a brick if the text is long. Grin
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The best I can guess is that they're typically smaller paperbacks sold cheaper (like around $6-8). I think the idea was to have a small travel size book. Many are romance books. But I'm not sure if there's any more to it because I never researched it much further--like, can you just sell a smaller version of your paperback copy?
Of course you could do a mass market edition and label it as such. You could do a special limited edition hardcover with gold embossing, too, the way some tiny presses in the sf/fantasy world do. But which company offers mass market size economically? Or gold embossing?
What we indies are mostly selling are trade paperbacks, which do not have a standard size because they don't have to fit into wire or other racks wherever they are sold. For most of us, their size is irrelevant because readers are buying them online anyway and have no idea what size the print version is. We choose a size we like, trying to avoid the look of a pamphlet if the text is short, and trying to avoid the look of a brick if the text is long. Grin
Thanks, I hadn't thought of the bookstore rack problem. That makes sense. The resellers don't have to worry about that either.
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What annoys me is Amazon and D2D don't offer the standard mass paperback size.
For me, they are all too big. Even the smallest size sticks out on the shelf by half an inch when next to normal paperbacks.
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Also, my print books are available through D2D, which also sells through Amazon. Anyone know how to tell what is selling where. The only way I can come up with to be able to tell the difference is to make the price different.
This has really confused me. I tried to put up a paperback on D2D and at the end it said D2D will distribute it to "Amazon & Extended Distribution." What do they mean? They're going to put a paperback version up on Amazon? I already have one there. D2D's info says "Do I have to distribute to all of Draft2Digital's partner stores? --Not at all! When you publish a book through us, you choose which stores you want us to distribute to. And making these selections is as easy as clicking a checkbox." Where is this checkbox? I want to opt out of Amazon.
I've emailed them asking them to explain.