Focusing on direct sales for ebooks and creative freedom for my self-published books.
When preparing for what I wanted to say during my talk at my event at Queen Takes Book (special thanks to everyone who came!), I decided to talk briefly about my whole writing career and came to the realization that I’ve been writing for 10 years now. It’s been an amazing journey full of super highs and gut-wrenching lows.
As I’ve been reevaluating my business and marketing strategies for the next part of my writing career, I’ve decided to make a pretty big pivot, which might surprise a number of indie authors.
I’m breaking up (a little) with Amazon.
Who Amazon Really Works For
I want to tread delicately in this discussion, especially since my books will still be available on their marketplace. I know that many people have mixed feelings toward the mega corporation due to some of their business practices and their effects on the economy and different industries.
The scope for this post will be limited to my experience as an indie author and my business relationship with Amazon.
Any successful company makes decisions and changes with profit in mind. Similarly, that’s why I’ve decided to make a pivot. In order to make the most money, Amazon recommends books in a way that’s the most profitable for the platform.
There are three lists of books which Amazon gives the most visibility on their website:
- Books that are already selling well.
- Advertisements for books.
- Books published by an Amazon-owned publisher.
The first list is really hard to break into, especially for a debut, leaving the second list as the best option for most indie authors. For authors, the cost of pay-per-click ads adds up quickly, frequently making the ads more expensive than the royalties they lead to. In both the second and third lists, Amazon is double-dipping, getting paid for the advertisements on the platform and earning the publisher royalty for itself.
Another shift the company has made affects both readers and authors: readers can no longer download and back up the ebooks they purchased through Amazon. Instead, they can only read their books on a Kindle device or app while the book is on the platform, similar to how streaming movies works. This change has made a lot of avid readers wary about purchasing new ebooks through Amazon.
Building My Own Bookshelf
In the past, readers simply bought all their books on Amazon without a second thought, but modern readers have come to realize that there may be better ways to support their favorite authors. Conscientious readers have asked me, “How can I buy your book so you make the highest royalty?” And then, they purchase the books they want using the method I recommend.
I looked around for quite a while before settling on the perfect solution for directly selling ebooks. Currently, I list my ebooks for direct sale using Payhip. Readers get to download an EPUB file of my book, which can be read on phones, ereaders, and computers.
Most modern readers are tech-savvy enough not to be tied to a specific ereader and the platform it uses, and are happy to purchase from my Payhip store. I’ve seen steady sales on there simply from organic reach on social media, announcements on my newsletter, and plain old word of mouth. Those sales help support future ebooks, from paying writers for their Starship Blunder stories to being able to hire an editor for every novel.
Price Matters
Of course, I haven’t made the decision to focus on direct sales based on vibes and feelings alone. Ultimately, my decision to market my books for direct sale over sending readers to Amazon makes dollars and sense.
The standard royalty rate for most ebook platforms is 65–70% of the purchase price going to the author. Amazon’s royalty claims to be at the higher end at 70%, but they also charge distribution fees, making the royalty functionally closer to 65%.
On top of that, the better royalty rate only applies to books priced between $2.99 and $9.99 (all prices in this post are in USD). For books priced below $2.99 and above $9.99, the author is only paid 35% of the purchase price. This decision to offer terrible royalties outside of a narrow range does nothing except to artificially fix the cost of ebooks. More upsetting is that the $9.99 cap hasn’t gone up in 14 years, not even to keep up with inflation.
To better illustrate my frustration with royalties, let me give some practical examples:
Example 1:
I have a few short stories that I sell individually. Since they’re short, the price point of $1.99 feels right.
- For direct sales, Payhip charges a 5% transaction fee, so $1.89 appears in my bank account the next day.
- On Amazon, they pay only 35% of the purchase price to me, and that $0.70 won’t go to my bank for at least two months. I’d need to sell 3× the number of stories to make the same amount!
Example 2.
Let’s say I want to price the upcoming Starship Blunder 2 anthology ebook at the same cost as a popular sci-fi novel, and find that Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One ebook is available at $14.99.
- Direct sale payment would be $14.24 after transaction fees.
- Amazon would only pay 35%, giving me a royalty of $5.25.
- If I change the price to $9.99, my Amazon royalty would actually go up to about $6.92 (this assumes the ebook is 1Mb and charged a $0.07 delivery fee).
Some authors find this tradeoff worthwhile, but I don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket.
Control
Royalties and pricing are only part of the challenge. Control is another major factor.
The biggest piece of business advice I can give anyone is this: don’t rely on a single platform. We’ve seen social media suddenly change their algorithms, causing content that used to get views to suddenly disappear to the bottom of the pile. Even worse is that some social media platforms demand payment (“Boost this post for only $10!”) to even show your content to your own followers. To insulate themselves from the whims of social media, many creatives have found email newsletters to be a much better way to keep in touch with their fans.
Similar to this, the algorithms can, and do, change suddenly on marketplaces like Amazon, making it harder to get eyes on your book page. But the algorithms do more than just change the visibility of a book.
A common sales tactic for indie books seven years ago was to concentrate on marketing your Kindle book for a short span of time—just enough to get the title high in rankings and on the best-sellers page for the genre. Getting the book high in the store would lead to more sales, and if your book was “sticky” enough, you’d enjoy increased revenue from that title or series for several months.
However, Amazon wanted authors to purchase ads on their platform instead of using other marketing methods and took many tactics to dissuade authors from marketing in a way that would lead to sales spikes. So when I tried to blitz-market my second novel, the new algorithms flagged my book. Amazon decided that my sales that month weren’t legitimate and withheld roughly $1,000 of my royalties for the launch of my book.
You can read more about my experience in this post.
There was no method of recourse. What they’d done was fully allowed by their terms of service—terms I had no choice but to accept. I never fully trusted Amazon after that.
Currently, I have to market hard to sell copies of my ebooks to make decent money from them, and that, in turn, makes lots of money for Amazon as well. Except, they’ve only made marketing my books harder and more expensive, while withholding my royalties for two months. I no longer see the value in a partnership with them. I want to take back control of my own books.
No Hard Feelings
I’m not abandoning Amazon entirely. Printing my novels on demand still makes more sense right now, and I understand that some readers want to stick with the Kindle store and their Kindle device. I’ll be keeping my ebooks on the platform. I’m simply pivoting my marketing tactics to direct sales instead of pointing people to Amazon’s website.
Also, I’m totally aware that the Amazon ecosystem works great for other authors and their work. I’m not rebelling; I’m making my own independent path. This isn’t a recommendation to other writers—I’m simply sharing my experiences and what is and isn’t working on my publishing journey right now. And if you’re an author and want to give the Kindle Unlimited enrollment a shot for your books, go ahead! It’s not a lifelong program. You’re not selling your soul, and I wish you the best of luck.
The Future I’m Excited About
I’ve grown a lot as a writer over the past ten years—hopefully my stories have too! My publishing path has taken plenty of twists and turns, including a wonderful partnership with Parragon Books, which I hope will continue for a long time.
Even though my puzzle books have gotten a lot of the limelight and attention recently, I still love all of my fiction works and am still working on new and exciting projects. For one, Starship Blunder 2: Starship Wonder will release on November 24th, 2025, and I can’t wait to share these hilarious stories of space hijinks with you. I’ll also have a story coming out sometime in the future—a fantasy romcom if you can believe it—in another shared universe anthology.
So, if you want to support me, make sure to check out my ebook store and grab your new favorite book. Thanks so much for your ongoing support, and I can’t wait to share my next story with you!
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