How to Sell Your Self-Published Book Online

Now that you’ve written, self-published, and promoted your book, you need to know how to sell your self-published book. Otherwise, all of that hard work will be wasted.

At first, selling a self-published book may seem difficult to do. How are you supposed to sell your book without publisher at your back? How will you get the book into stores? Where do you even begin?

You’ve got this. You’ve written a book. You’ve promoted that book. Selling your book is the best part.

When deciding how to sell your self-published book, you have a few options, some of them online and some of them in stores.

• Selling online via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Bookblues.
• Selling in stores at independent stores or chain retailers.

Today, we’re going to discuss selling your book online.

How to Sell Your Self-Published Book Online: Selling on Amazon

A lot of self-published authors are under the impression that they must self-publish with Amazon in order to sell their book on the site. This isn’t true! If you self-publish your book with DiggyPOD, you can absolutely sell your book through Amazon. In fact, it’s a great option to have! A lot of people go to Amazon for their book-buying needs. In fact, book sales account for 7% of the company’s yearly revenue (don’t let a small number like 7 fool you—that’s about $5.25 billion dollars a year).   

As an author, you have a few different options when selling through Amazon. There’s Selling on Amazon, Selling on Amazon + Fulfillment by Amazon, or Amazon Advantage.

Let’s start with Selling on Amazon. The site offers two types of “Seller” accounts: an Individual account and a Professional account. Let’s break down the difference:

• Individual Account: This type of account is recommended for sellers who don’t think they’ll sell more than 40 items a month. This is because when you choose an Individual account, you won’t be paying a monthly subscription fee, however you will be paying a $0.99 fee per item you sell.
• Professional Account: When you choose the professional account option, you’ll pay $39.95/month subscription fee. You won’t pay a fee per item you sell. This kind of account is perfect for those who anticipate that they’ll sell over 40 items a month. (If you do the math, as long as you’re selling over 40 items a month, it makes the monthly subscription fee worth it.)

If you’re a first-time seller, you may not be able to accurately gauge how many books you’ll sell per month. Thankfully, Amazon understands this and makes it easy to switch plans. Start with an Individual Seller plan to get an estimate of your projected sales. If it seems like you’ll be selling more than 40 books a month, you can always switch to a Professional plan.

Another option you have is the Selling on Amazon + Fulfillment by Amazon. This is similar to the option above, however Amazon handles the packaging and shipping. For a separate fee, you can store your books in an Amazon warehouse, where Amazon workers will package and ship orders for you. You will still be listed as the seller, not Amazon. The storage, packing, and shipment fees depend on the size, weight, and price of the book.

A third selling option is Amazon Advantage. Amazon Advantage works like a consignment store: your book will appear as sold by Amazon, not you; Amazon will handle all of the storage, packaging, and shipping (at no extra cost to you); you don’t need a selling account; order can be combined with other Amazon orders, Prime eligible, etc. Amazon places orders with you, based on demand, and you get paid monthly based on sales. Learn more about the requirements and fees of Amazon Advantage.

Selling Your Self-Published Book at Barnes & Noble

You don’t have to limit yourself to selling through one website. Why not sell through several different websites to attract as many readers as possible?

Another site to consider when deciding how to sell your self-published book is Barnes & Noble.

First, you must complete and submit the Publisher/Author Application for Book Placement Consideration. This form will require you fill in information such as the ISBN, Title, other wholesalers or distributors you have deals with, and vendor information. Once submitted, the decision process takes about three months.

Barnes and Noble is definitely more selective than Amazon. Part of the application process will include pitching your book to the store. Questions to consider when writing your pitch: why should B&N put it on their shelves (virtual or not)? What benefits does your book boast? How is it different than other books in their stores?

Unlike Amazon, the decision to sell your books, whether online or in stores, rests with the company, not the author.

How to Sell Your Self-Published Book on Bookblues

You can sell on Amazon, or BarnesandNoble.com, or both. You can also sell on DiggyPOD’s book distribution site, Bookblues.

Bookblues was created out of the notion that self-publishers should be able to easily figure out how to sell a self-published book. It’s important to DiggyPOD that self-publishers are given every opportunity to reach potential readers, because that’s what writing a book is all about: readers.

The most important aspect of selling on Bookblues is exactly what sets it apart from the other options in the blog: you keep all of the profits. We don’t take a cut of your sales. Those belong with the writer and publisher alone. You’ll pay a monthly listing fee, but that’s it! When compared to Amazon, you’ll see that the cost comparison is a no-brainer.

Selling your self-published book on Bookblues isn’t just profitable – it’s easy, too! All you need to do to set up your Bookblues is create a seller account and a PayPal account (because you want to get paid!).

Watch the video below to see how easy it is to create an account with Bookblues.

These are just a few options you have when deciding how to sell your self-published book online. The Internet is a great place for readers to discover new authors, so take full advantage by promoting and selling online.

In the next blog, you will learn how to set up a book signing and how to sell your self-published book in stores.