Direct sales

What it means

When you sell through a retailer, the retailer sells the book and pays you a royalty. When you sell direct, you are the store. The reader pays you, you deliver the book, and you keep what is left after payment fees and print costs.

A romance author might sell ebooks and signed paperbacks from their own store and link to it from their newsletter. A nonfiction author might sell a workbook as a PDF with a paperback, straight to the people who read their blog. A poet might sell a small print run of a collection at readings and online from the same store.

Why it matters

Direct sales usually mean a bigger share of each sale, faster payment, and the buyer’s email on your list. They also mean you can sell things retailers do not: bundles, special editions, signed copies.

Be honest about the limits. A store of your own does not find readers on its own. Readers come from your newsletter, your back matter, your ads and word of mouth. Most authors who sell direct keep selling on Amazon, Apple, Kobo and the rest. Direct sits next to retailers, not instead of them.

How Lanternbee handles it

Lanternbee is a store for selling your books direct. You connect your own Stripe account, so you are the seller and Stripe pays you. You can sell ebooks, audiobooks and print, with series, bundles and discount codes, and every buyer lands on your reader list. Lanternbee is not open yet: join the waitlist.