Amazon Publishing division

Are You Still Selling Books Only Via Amazon?

Find-Readers

Amazon’s new priorities: books don’t belong to daily necessities. Therefore, suppliers of products that are a lower priority should expect both: reduced purchase orders and extended delivery windows for existing purchase orders.

Amazon once started with books. According to Amazon, books are neither everyday commodities nor are they in particularly high demand. During the Corona crisis, the shipper doesn’t even carry some bestsellers in stock anymore.

Successful titles whose sale could strengthen the balance sheet of a publishing house – which are important for the so-called mixed calculation.  The profit made with bestsellers finances less promising book projects – is now lying around in piles, even though there are buyers and readers. And the situation is even more difficult for self-publishing authors.

And, of course, not only the publishers but also the authors are losing a lot of money.  They are usually paid according to the number of copies sold.  Every single author suffers from this, every single writer, who also has to forego the income from their canceled reading trips this spring.

If the slogan of these weeks “stay at home” brings something good with it besides protecting health, it is the extra reading time it gives readers.  But how does a reader get a newly published novel in these times?  All bookstores had to close, that’s painful enough.

So it would be convenient and obvious to switch to Amazon because the digital world department store can still deliver its goods.  But at Amazon, where everything once began with the shipping of books, a decision was made in mid-March: “We are temporarily prioritizing the receipt of goods for daily use, medical consumables and other products with high demand in our logistics centers.

 

How Can You Avoid This Trap?  As Reader and as Writer:

Readers should order their books (print and digital) from these online retailer websites: Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Scribd, etc.  In Europe, one can order books online from Thalia, Hugendubel, Buecher.de, and Buecher.ch, 24Symbols, Waterstones or Baker&Taylor, just to name a few.
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And Authors or Publishers?

Why sell books only to one company?   For almost ten years now I am encouraging in my blogs to “Put Your Eggs in More Than One Basket!”.  With “eggs” I mean books.   What would you think if a business sells its products only through one retailer?  Economic suicide!  Isn’t it? And it is not even selling, it is a kind of consignment…  Because they don’t pay author-publishers upfront, only when the book is sold, will you get money!

Here is a list of online book stores:
http://www.infoagepub.com/iap-ebook-retailers.html

Get even more online book retailers worldwide:
http://www.the-ebook-reader.com/ebooks.html
https://ebookautoren.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/compass/

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Aggregators/Distributors
The largest online retailers Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Scribd, or in Europe, Thalia, Hugendubel, Buecher.de and Buecher.ch, 24Symbols, or Baker&Taylor all work with aggregators.  If you don’t want to upload your book yourself, get help from an aggregator.

Aggregators handle distribution, sales, accepting payments, and are managing the account for you.  Not everyone has a Kindle, many folks are die-hard Apple iBook fans or still use a Nook, or order from Kobo.  Why forego these sales?

One of the most recommendable aggregators is Draft2Digital.  They distribute to all the major retailers online, libraries, wholesale, and hundreds of storefronts worldwide.  With the check of a box, you can choose which digital storefronts you want to submit your books.  On top of that, Draft2Digital offers automated ebook conversion and layout templates to give your book a professional layout that fits your style.  All easy to use, and all for free!
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e-Commerce
Last but not least: add an e-commerce template to your author or publisher website and sell all your books from there. It works best for audio- and ebooks as there is no work or additional costs involved. Print books can be distributed via a fulfillment warehouse or you can ship them DIY.

For many retail shops, it was the only way to survive the lock-downs during the Corona crisis.  They frantically opened new online stores to sell their wares during the time they had to close their brick&mortar shops.  Some of them already had an online presence and they were glad they started selling online long before.
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The Benefits of Selling From Your Own Website: 

  • You Are Going to Have Higher Revenues
    Directly selling means you earn around 85% to 95% from your retail price
  • You Get Paid Faster
    You get paid before your customers download your audiobooks. 
  • You Get to Know Your Listeners/Readers
    Selling your audiobook solely at online retailers, you will never know who orders, listens or reads your books – no matter how many are sold.

E-commerce is a trillion-dollar industry. In the United States alone, online sales are expected to reach $523 billion by 2020. Read here how to set up your online store:
https://www.savvybookwriters.com/selling-audiobooks-ebooks-from-your-own-website/

 

Now, after realizing all these possibilities:
Why would anyone sell their books only via Amazon?

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Books by Doris-Maria Heilmann:

Audiobooks for Success

Valuable guide book for authors, audiobook publishers, narrators, voice-over artists, and audiobook listeners. Learn how to create, produce, publish, and market your audiobooks.

https://books2read.com/u/bPRRyJ

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W81MN2Z

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111 Tips to Create Impressive Videos:
How to Plan, Create, Upload and Market Videos
https://www.books2read.com/u/3GYnpa

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BYDH41S/

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111 Tips To Make (More) Money With Writing
The Art of Making a Living Full-time Writing –
An Essential Guide for More Income as Freelancer
https://books2read.com/u/bWZMjz

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1988664187

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111 Tips on How to Market Your Book for Free:
Detailed Plans and Smart Strategies for Your Book’s Success
https://books2read.com/u/bMre1a

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018RA72LY

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111 Tips to Get Free Book Reviews:
Best Strategies for Getting Lots of Great Reviews
plus 1,200+ reviewer contact links
https://books2read.com/u/mZ5nx5

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018RA72LY/

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111 Tips to Create Your Book Trailer
How to Create, Where to Upload and How to Market Your Videos
https://books2read.com/u/mVZkjr

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CHWX6X2/

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Book Marketing on a Shoestring:
How Authors Can Promote their Books Without Spending a Lot of Money
https://books2read.com/u/mZ5gdp

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1988664225

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Hello Friends, visit my Author Page here:

https://books2read.com/ap/n4EYY8/Doris-Maria-Heilmann

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CreateSpace Now Replaced by KDP Print

Mini-Library

Last fall we published – for the first time print books in the German language via the printing arm of KDP.  We were very lucky as the books were in German, and intended for readers in Europe.  The language and the country for which the books were mostly intended for are supported by KDP.  That’s not the case in some other countries:

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Languages
Authors and publishers can upload and sell books with content and metadata written in the languages listed here: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200673300
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Distribution – Orders
Amazon’s KDP Print doesn’t currently support several paperback distributions, for example to Amazon.com.au, Amazon.com.br, or Amazon.nl. Australian users can place orders from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. Portuguese language users can place orders from Amazon.com. Dutch language users can place orders from Amazon.de.
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Other Requirements:
Let your lay-outer, e-book formatter, and cover designer know about the Amazon specifics, such as trim sizes.  They are varying slightly from those of CreateSpace for example.
The most common trim size for paperbacks in the U.S. is 6″ x 9″ (15.24 x 22.86 cm), this will be displayed as the default option when you access the “Print Options” from the Paperback Content section of your book.  If you want a different trim size, click “Select a different size” from the “Print Options” section and choose from Standard and Non-standard Trim sizes.  Here’s a list of industry-standard options:
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See also the cover sizes
https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201953020

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Metadata
Books are linked automatically if the author name and book title of both editions match exactly. During the publishing process, KDP tries to match book details like title and author name to other editions available in the Amazon catalog. Linking these formats provides the ideal browsing experience for customers, so you’ll want to make sure the title and author name you entered for your eBook and paperback match exactly.
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Amazon’s Recent Updates to Paperback Features

– Publishers and authors can now order printed proofs from KDP.
Author copies from KDP are a greatly appreciated step too.  Books can be stocked in local bookstores and libraries or used as advance review copies, press release packages, paperback giveaways, and for book signings or to sell at readings and workshops.
KDP introduced their author copies and proofs – printed and shipped from Europe which will please British and European authors.
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Author Chris Mullen wrote: “It looks increasingly as if KDP will eventually become CreateSpace’s equal sister company.  Perhaps the two companies will be soon consolidated, or perhaps all the CreateSpace titles will migrate to KDP.”  He wrote a quite detailed comparison between the POD offers of CreateSpace and Kindle Direct Publishing.
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How to “Move” from CreateSpace to KDP Print
Nicholas Rossis explains in a recent article:
“Set up a new paperback title on your KDP Bookshelf.  On the Paperback Details page, enter the same metadata used for your CreateSpace book.

  • Select “Yes” when asked whether this book was previously published on CreateSpace.
  • Click “Save and Continue” to move on to the Paperback Content page.
  • Under the ISBN header, enter the same 13-digit ISBN used to publish your book on CreateSpace.  Do you have a 10-digit ISBN issued by CreateSpace?  If so, use the ISBN converter to find your 13-digit ISBN equivalent.
  • Click “Continue” to sign in to your CreateSpace account and validate your ownership of the title.
  • Once you’re redirected back to KDP, your book’s files and details should update automatically. Scroll through to see that your files and information have properly transferred over. You can launch the Previewer to review your book before publishing.
  • Scroll to the bottom of the Paperback Content page and click “Save and Continue.”
    In the Paperback Rights & Pricing tab, you can enter the same price you used on CreateSpace.
  • Now scroll to the bottom to submit your book for publishing.”

“After you publish your CreateSpace book on KDP, Amazon will automatically remove your CreateSpace paperback from the sale.  Your KDP sales will be tracked in your KDP sales and royalty reports.”

Read more details in this Amazon article – for example, what to do if your book cover or interior book layout has previously been created by CreateSpace.  If you plan on using multiple POD platforms at the same time, then using KDP Print and Ingram Spark at the same time will work just fine.

Amazon finally sent Createspace users last week an email – informing them that Createspace is merging into KDP Print. 

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Books by Doris-Maria Heilmann:

111 Tips to Create Impressive Videos:
How to Plan, Create, Upload and Market Video
https://books2read.com/u/bP5wrd

111 Tips To Make Money With Writing
The Art of Making a Living Full-time Writing
An Essential Guide for More Income as Freelancer
https://books2read.com/u/bWZMjz

111 Tips on How to Market Your Book for Free:
Detailed Plans and Smart Strategies for Your Book’s Success
https://books2read.com/u/bMre1a

111 Tips to Get Free Book Reviews:
Best Strategies for Getting Lots of Great Reviews
plus 1,200+ reviewer contact links
https://books2read.com/u/mZ5nx5

111 Tips to Create Your Book Trailer
How to Create, Where to Upload and How to Market Your Videos
https://books2read.com/u/mVZkjr

Book Marketing on a Shoestring:
How Authors Can Promote their Books Without Spending a Lot of Money 
https://books2read.com/u/mZ5gdp

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Disappointing Results and a Scandal: Amazon’s Withdrawal

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Road-Closed

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Promoting local public libraries since fifteen years, and running a great website, PublicLibraries http://www.publiclibraries.com/  reported about Amazon’s withdrawal from becoming a big trade publisher:  ”Amazon is toning down its plans to become a full scale publisher. The retreat from publishing appears to be a result of black listing of author’s signed with Amazon by brick and mortar book retailers.”

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Opposition from Bookstores
“Amazon has struggled to gain traction for its publishing division. It appears that Amazon underestimated the amount of opposition that it would experience from the traditional publishing and book retailing world. Major book retailer Barnes & Noble refused to carry any of the titles published by Amazon. Amazon has also had trouble attracting major authors to its division.”
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Disappointing Results and a Scandal
“Authors that have signed with Amazon have experienced disappointing results. Amazon’s first big title, Penny Marshall’s My Mother Was Nuts, performed poorly in print sales. This was largely due to the fact that brick and mortar books refused to carry the Amazon title. Even the eBook edition was effectively blocked outside of the Amazon marketplace as Google, Barnes & Noble Nook Store and Apple iBookstore all refused to distribute the digital version.”

Industry Newsletter Shelf Awareness also said that “In connection with [Kirshbaum's] departure, the most ambitious part of Amazon’s publishing operations will be scaled back. Already several editorial people have left or been let go, and Amazon has not been a factor in bidding on major books the way it had been just two years ago.”

Wallstreet Journal Online wrote: “In quick succession, Mr. Kirshbaum signed up a number of well-known writers and personalities, among them actress and director Penny Marshall and best-selling writer Timothy Ferriss. The signings worried rival publishers who were concerned that Amazon’s deep coffers would enable it to pluck many of the book industry’s biggest stars.  In January 2012, Mr. Kirshbaum’s efforts were effectively checkmated when rival bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc. said it wouldn’t put titles published by Amazon on its shelves. A number of other retailers followed suit, making Amazon a less attractive alternative for many writers and their agents. The big-name signings stopped…”

Read the whole story how bookstores and trade publishers fought back here on PublicLibraries, NY Times, Gigaom.com and PublishersWeekly.

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer all this and more for only $159 for three months! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/ to advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or the new Kindle Countdown Deals.

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Tagged: "brick and mortar bookstores", Amazon, Amazon Publishing division, Larry Kirshbaum, Public Libraries, PublicLibraries.com