Why Successful Authors Sell Books Directly to Readers & How to Do It
Samantha Pearce
Author & Self-Publishing Consultant – Helping Business Owners, Thought-Leaders and Coaches to revolutionise their business through publishing.
What if you could connect directly with your readers, make more money per sale, and grow a loyal audience at the same time?
Successful authors have discovered that selling books directly to readers isn’t just a smart strategy—it’s a game-changer. By cutting out the middleman, they’re taking control of their publishing journey, maximizing profits, and building lasting relationships with their audience. Whether you’re a self-published author or planning your first release, learning how to sell books directly to readers could revolutionize your author career. In this article, we’ll explore why this approach is so powerful and show you exactly how to make it work for you. This approach aligns well with the strategy to Sell Books Directly to Readers.
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Why Successful Authors Sell Books Direct to Readers
Selling books directly to readers is a fundamental part of any successful publishing strategy, especially for business book authors. Here’s a brief overview as to why it is so impactful.
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1. Ownership and Control:
Selling books directly to your audience allows you to maintain complete control over pricing, discounts, and promotions. This gives you the freedom to dictate pricing strategy in conjunction with any other pricing and promotion strategies you have running in other areas of your business.
It also allows for full ownership of customer data, which enables you to personalize marketing campaigns to your readers and engage in more targeted relationship-building with your readers.
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2. Maximised Profit Margins:
By selling books directly to your readers, you eliminate wholesale discounts that are charged by retailers, increasing your revenue per sale.
It also allows you the opportunity to bundle products, such as signed copies, merchandise, or even other services within your business, giving your reader added value.
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3. Building a Brand Ecosystem:
By selling books directly from your website, you position yourself as more than just another author. You position yourself as a reputable business that wants to support its customers and community through the insights and values you share in your book. This can, in turn, reinforce brand loyalty and encourage repeat customers.
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4. Direct Relationship with Readers:
Retail sales channels will never share with you who has bought your book, only that someone has. By selling your book directly to readers, you know exactly who your readers are, allowing you to initiate a two-way conversation with them that helps build your mailing list for future book launches or other business promotions that they might be interested in.?
This access to information also allows you to personalise the buyer’s experience. You can sign the book and leave a personalised note to the reader and take the time and care to send the book in branding packaging.
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5. Diversification of Sales Channels:
Lastly, selling books directly to readers reduces dependency on third-party platforms like Amazon. Any business advisor advocates diversifying your income streams. Though it is highly unlikely, you don’t want to be in a situation where you have no alternative options for selling your book if Amazon suddenly disappeared overnight.
The COVID pandemic also highlighted the benefits of diversified sales channels; which can allow you to maintain sales even when distribution channels experience disruptions.
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How to Sell Books Directly to Readers
Now that we’ve explored why it is so beneficial for you to include direct sales in your publishing strategy, how should you best go about it? Here are a few steps you should take to incorporate direct sales for your books.
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1. Create a Professional Author Website:
If you are going to sell books directly to readers, you need a platform from which to sell them. This can either be a dedicated page for your book(s) on your already existing business website or creating a new website dedicated specifically to your book. Either way, your website should be equipped with an e-commerce platform to handle financial transactions (e.g., WooCommerce, Shopify). This approach aligns well with the strategy to Sell Books Directly to Readers.
You also want to make sure that your page or site includes engaging elements like an author bio, blog, or newsletter signup, to encourage readers to learn more about you and your business.
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2. Choose a Fulfilment Strategy:
Once you have your website created, you need to decide how you are going to manage the fulfilment of any book orders you receive. This can either be outsourced, or you can manage it yourself. There is no right or wrong way to manage fulfilment, but you do need to consider whether it is manageable long-term and whether it is scalable should your book start to sell in higher volumes.
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3. Offer Incentives for Buying Direct:
It is a good idea to consider offering additional incentives to readers willing to buy from you directly. You must remember that you are asking readers to share financial information with you without the benefit of Amazon’s credibility behind you. Offering an incentive can help reluctant buyers overcome that concern because you are offering something that Amazon cannot provide.
These incentives can be exclusive perks such as signed copies, limited editions, or bonus content. You can also offer discounts or free shipping to make direct purchases more appealing.
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4. Integrate Seamless Payment Options:
When you are choosing the payment gateway that you plan to integrate into your website, you need to make sure that it is user-friendly and reputable, such as Stripe or PayPal. You also want to make the checkout process simple, mobile-friendly and secure.
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5. Promote Your Store:
As with anything else you sell, whether it’s a product or service, people need to know that it exists before they can buy it. So once everything has been setup and tested on your website, you should utilize your email list, social media, and ads to start driving traffic to your site. Be sure to highlight the benefits of buying directly from you in all promotional materials.
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6. Leverage Print-on-Demand (POD):
Regardless of whether you plan to manage fulfilment yourself or through an outsourced partner, you want to work with platforms like IngramSpark, Amazon KDP, and BookVault which offer POD options. This will significantly reduce your upfront costs and lower the risk of publishing by removing the burden of holding large amounts of stock.
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7. Bundle Products:
If you have published multiple books, consider combining books into box sets to add more value to your reader with a single purchase. You can also bundle books with related merchandise, digital downloads, or workshops to increase the average order value.
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8. Engage in Pre-Sales:
Lastly, if you are not sure whether there is enough demand for your book before you invest your time and resources into implementing a direct sales strategy, consider using pre-sale tactics to secure early sales and gauge demand before the official release. This can be as simple as a Google Form or an opt-in list on your existing website.
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Addressing Common Concerns with Selling Books Directly to Readers
As with anything, hiccups can crop up along the way. Here are a few things you need to be conscious of before embarking on a direct sales strategy.
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Next Steps: Taking Control of Your Author Journey
Selling books directly to readers is more than just a sales strategy—it’s an opportunity to take control of your publishing journey, build stronger connections with your audience, and maximize the impact of your work. Whether you’re looking to establish yourself as a thought leader, enhance your business, or simply create a meaningful relationship with your readers, direct sales can unlock incredible possibilities.
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If you’re ready to take the next step and already have a finished manuscript, let’s discuss how we can bring your book to life with a publishing strategy tailored to your needs. I specialize in helping authors like you create professional, market-ready books while maintaining full control and ownership. Book Your Free Consultation Now to explore how we can work together to maximize the potential of your book.
Book Your FREE Consultation: https://swattbooks.youcanbook.me
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Still planning or writing your book? Start your journey with confidence by downloading my free Write Strategy Checklist. This essential tool will guide you through the planning, writing, and publishing process, ensuring you stay focused and on track to achieve your goals. Download the Checklist and take the first step toward becoming a successful author.
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