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@TroyI did this once -for a print title back in 2008. If I remember correctly, the $2.13 came back to me through my lulu.com royalty distribution. (You know me too well LOL) Btw, I also purchased a digital copy of my book through the fetchapp to see how it would work. (the cost of doing business LOL) and fetchapp works perfectly. After the buyer makes a purchase - the app sends a link to download the pdf. The difference between fetchapp and gumroad (which also allows for direct digital sales) is fetchapp is free based on volume. Gumroad charges $15 per month whether you sell or not. But gumroad provides an imprint/watermark for each pdf it distributes. This cuts down on book bootlegging.

@Troy Selling more books and making money are two different things. Now that publishers have to compete for the Amazon buy box - I don't believe these authors are actually making money. I didn't get most of my sales from amazon but that's because I promoted the sites where I would make more money such as lulu.com, my own website or link and of course direct sales or through personal booksellers. When I sold through amazon - I only made $2.13 per book - lulu was $8. 68 and of course when I sold from my website or direct - it depended on how many books I ordered in advance...My royalty could go as high $10 per book. Direct was best because even if I didn't sell in person, I could offer free shipping - Priority mail and still have a decent royalty per book. I first published in 2006 - so no stores would buy my books. Since I had an isbn # folks could still order it through their local stores - but I didn't see any of those royalties. Aside: My daughter purchased 10 Kindle copies of one of my short stories to send to her friends - and I got none of those royalties... It made me suspect that wasn't the first time - I got cheated out of my KDP royalties. I removed my short story from kindle and I sell it directly from my site using fetchapp ( FetchApp allows you to sell and digitally deliver downloadable goods) I will be the sole distributor for my next release. I'll keep good notes so I can report how it goes. Oh by the way, when I get a large order - I will definitely use AALBC printing services.

Oh I forgot one more important thing; The Role of the BooksellerThe publishers sales staff sells to the distributors, the distributors sell books to the stores, and the bookseller sells books to the reader. Publicity departments, and the authors themselves, will pitch books to booksellers and send them advance copies (galleys) to review prior to publication. Booksellers sort through all these books sell the titles they think their readers will enjoy most. As a result you can go into Esowon's book store in Los Angeles randomly pick a novel off the shelf and you can be confident that the product is well written and there is a good change you will enjoy the book. Even here on AALBC.com my list of critically acclaimed titles goes back almost 50 years goes back almost 50 years and I defy you to find a less than excellent book in the list. Try picking a random book from the Amazon store. There is a very big difference selling books to please a reader versus selling a book to drive revenue. Today more books are published than ever before. The vast majority of these book were published outside traditional publishing. Many of these books were produced without distribution and without a marketing plan or budget. Many, if not most, of these book were not professionally edited and are just poorly written. They hit the market place with zero vetting and readers are left to sort through the morass. As a result, the vast majority of books come and go without ever finding an audience or selling very many copies--deservedly so. Since the Black Book Ecosystem has lost hundreds of booksellers both brick and mortar and web based. We have fewer resources to identify the diamonds in the rough. Fewer Black books are being reviewed and those that are reviewed are being reviewed by unpaid amateurs on platforms without an audience. Today we have very few platforms for authors to market their books. As a result, Black people do not determine which books are important. Still, many self published authors, remain angry with Indie brick and mortar bookstores for refusing to stock some of their books. But booksellers know their market and are not in the business of wasting valuable shelf space stocking poorly written books that they can;t sell. Many of these authors now sing Amazons' praises for "stocking"their books, and they are quite proud to say their book is available on Amazon. But Amazon is a website and can stock any book, because virtual shelf space is effectively free and they will make money on any book they sell. In fact, many authors will pay Amazon for the privilege of selling on Amazon, give them a percentage of sales, and promote Amazon at every turn. These same authors would never give an indie bookseller the same terms and be so happy about it. @Faith U, you don't need money to secure an agent. They work on commission. Sure there are agents that will charge you but they are unscrupulous; avoid them like the plague. Finding an agent to work with you will require effort, but that is part of the process. Printing does not have to be costly. I just started a service, working with a Black owned printer, to offer printer services for short runs. This is not as expensive as POD (where individual books are printed when ordered), or as cheap as offset where you are printing thousands of copies, but if you need 200 copies I'm your guy: https://aalbcprintsbooks.com/ I'm not familiar with Ganxy. The "how it works" link on their site was broken. How did you discover them? In fact Faith how did you discover AALBC.com

I dunno about the Amazon reviews Mel. I have published a few reviews on Amazon myself, but these are excerpts from the full reviews here on AALBC.com. I do it if the author request but not as a matter of course, because Amazon does not allow hyperlinks to external websites. So I can vouch for my reviews--but as far as the rest of ones on Amazon I take them with a grain of salt. Unless it is a trusted entity I do not trust random reviews written by unknown people on any site--not just Amazon. We know people pay for favorable reviews. We know people get fiends to write them. We also know that people even write negative reviews just to hurt another authors. Even the verified purchase reviews are gamed by slick marketers. The notion that we can get valuable information provided for free, like a professional written review of a book, is something that corporations take advantage of. But whenever there is a free, or low cost way, to influence public option on a large platform, that platform is prime territory to be exploited this includes Amazon, Wikipedia, Facebook, and even Google's search results. Amazon and Facebook do very little to clean this up because reviews even bogus ones drive traffic. I completely ignore reviews on Amazon for this reason. I read reviews written by professionals, unfortunately for Black books this means I'm not reading too many reviews of our books. But I completely understand than many people do read the review--which again is why they are gamed. There is a mechanism on this site informal reader reviews of every book on the website site. Here is the one of you books @Mel Hopkins: https://aalbc.com/books/home.php?isbn13=9781411673144#comment The is a link prompting reader to leave commesnt, but I get less than a handful of these a day. When I see on I like I sometimes shre them on social media. I have decided to focus on more formal process for identifying good books professional reviews, word of mouth from industry pros, and information I find on these discussion forums. You probably noticed the book review requests that are posted here. I look at each one but the benefit is that it is now a permanent part of the website, and other people will see it. @Faith U, yeah book clubs can certainly help word of mouth I have over 700 book clubs in my database: https://aalbc.com/bookclubs/ I could simply publish a list but I'm trying to reduce the number of authors that just blast the email addresses with unsolicited pitches to read their book. Most book clubs do not select their books in this fashion anyway--unless that author has a track record.

@Faith U Here's something I noticed. I did a general search on Amazon for your eBook "Trigger is an easy name to remember) and it didn't come up on the first page...so I did a search for the book title and your first name. This time, your title came up #1 ... I went to read the reviews and I was sold! @Troy I forgot about the amazon reviews.... Amazon reviews are huge and can be a deal closer.. In fact, I almost bought the kindle version and then I remembered to buy directly from the author . I didn't realize how enticing reviews can be - and I don't remember seeing customer reviews on our author's pages. I remember I did notice on my page - that I have two reviews for other books here on aalbc - please link me to customer reviews here on aalbc. I know now that I have to get a customer review page for my website (I forgot how important it is) @Faith U I went right to your website. Nice site and your sales page is ALL OF THAT! You have, reviews, a trailer and soundcloud playlist for your book! Awesome ... Plus the upsell is an excellent tool! I bought the signed book but I was tempted to by the magnet and bookmark too! Great sales eSheet! I look forward to reading "Trigger" . Also before you sell digital copies from your site - I have to put in that disclaimer to beware of bootleggers.

@Troy I came across Ganxy two years ago while writing my book. They may be a little outdated now. I discovered AALBC.com through book club research. I have been looking for African American literature platforms to learn more about the business and find more ways to market my book. I am very new to the book/publishing world. I published TRIGGER in June. I'd also like to start my own Publishing LLC for my projects. As far as direct selling, Amazon, and book stores are concerned, I have a few copies of TRIGGER in Nubian Books in Georgia. Also, I stated earlier that I sale my soft cover from my site. I have had the most success from selling on my site. With my two-month Amazon experience along with the information I have read from you and @Mel Hopkins, I will be selling my eBook directly from my site as well. Thank you for the links. I checked out the printing site, and I will contact you when I need reprints.

Exactly! That is another important point Mel. Amazon authors always gloss over the fact that they are making less money per book that they would if the sold via virtually any other platform--including their own. Booksellers who sell through Amazon make less money too. I get paid based upon the sale price of the book I sold a lot of sub-$2 books this period. Commissions of a $0.99 book are negligible--even if I sell a lot of them. Also 1/3 of my sales for the last two months were reduced priced books sold by third parties on Amazon--I'm sure the authors don't see royalties on any these sales since many of the books second hand and of course my commission are much less. Since my per book sales are much less, I actually make less money selling books despite record traffic. My only recourse would be to sell directly or through other channels, but that brings us back to the same problem--people are conditioned to only buy from Amazon. Now if all authors sold their own books or made their books available someplace other than Amazon I could direct readers to those alternative places. Sorry to read that Amazon may have stiffed you on those commissions. @Mel Hopkins If you buy your own on Amazon do you earn a commission and royalty for that sale?

You are so right about "acceptance." This explains why some authors are so pro-Amazon. They say things like, "Amazon published my book when mainstream publishers rejected me." Amazon publishes ANYBODY. They think being on Amazon is a big deal. Now when Amazon first started I could see thinking that way, but in 2017...gimme a break. I too was keen on Amazon initially. I was also keen on Google and Facebook too, but once these guys started abusing their power and have grown into damn near become monopolies I have to push back. Fortunately, there are enough folks who are interested in helping to organize a boycott of the bookstore--indeed many are already engaged in a personal boycott. I'm not sure what a boycott will look like at this point, but I plan to reach out to folks today. I'm going to shut down the questionnaire today.

Here's an article from EDC, publisher who pulled 2000 titles from amazon.com, Ingram and baker & taylor (because they're distributors to Amazon) and big box stores in 2012. He said it meant $2 million in annual sales but after a few tense months, they started making money again... http://www.businessinsider.com/edc-beat-amazon-2014-8 One more thing; EDC also has home sales consultants who sell their books - I mentioned that's how I sold my first book. There are other ways to sell books besides Amazon.

Great Rising Troy, My website is DiaryofFaith.com. I concur with everything that you stated. I researched traditional publishers vs. self-publishing before I finished my first book, TRIGGER. I didn't have an agent nor could I afford one to get my manuscript to a mainstream publisher. So, I eventually decided on a publishing company that offered self-publishing services. I also based my decision on location. I wanted to be able to go and meet with the team. I learned a lot from the company, but I think I will be publishing on my own for my second book. I have been to writing workshops that praise CreateSpace for publishing, as well as Amazon's POD capabilities. I purchase my books upfront, and it can be costly. I have also been very indecisive on if I will continue to list my eBook on Amazon. Before my eBook was release I had made up my mind on listing my book on Ganxy, but after discussions with those close to me and readers I decided to try out Amazon because of their platform. I have not seen the sales that I need. This may be on my part. I am my own marketing team and I don't do any advertising on Amazon. So, back to the drawing boards.

Hi @Faith U, first please share your website's URL. Here are a few things to consider (this is not directed solely to you Faith): Website Traffic It is very hard for anyone to get traffic to a website--especially today. For many people their internet experience is limited to a handful of corporate websites, and those websites do everything in their power to keep it that way. I spend as much time working on getting traffic as I do creating content. The Biggest Myth of Self-publishing While it is true that anyone can produce a book (with or without Amazon), one of the greatest myths that indie authors have been sold, is every manuscript is worth publishing and that any book will sell easily as long as it gets into the market place. Company's like Amazon, and vanity presses before them, take advantage of this myth. Amazon v.s. Traditional Publishing One of the most common arguments I've read in favor of Amazon is that Amazon has made it possible for people to get published who could not get published otherwise. This reasoning makes no sense for a number of reasons but I'll list two Mainstream publishers PAY YOU to publish a book. They are investing in your manuscript because they believe they can profit from your book. They lose more times than they win but publishers can take chances if they score a few big wins. More mission driven publishers, typically the independents, will also consider how important you work is and will publish you because you work "needs" be to read. In any case you are not paying to be published. In the Amazon dominated world publisher have to be more risk averse. This, of courser, usually means less chances are taken on Black authors. In the Amazon scenario, as long as you have money they will publish your book. Amazon gets paid no matter what happens and the author assumes all of the risk. Even though there are more published books than ever before readers actually have less choice because they are not selecting from the universe of all self published books--just the ones they discover. Amazon is the only place to buy rare, used, or hard to find books. This books were always available--even online directly from the bookseller's website. Today the customer has been trained to only look for books on Amazon. As a result booksellers feel compelled to sell through Amazon to reach a consumer. Obviously Amazon does not serve as a middle man for free. The net result is that the book costs more than it would if purchased directly from the bookseller or the bookseller eats the Amazon transaction cost--or both. In any event, the price of these book are increased. eBooks Amazon is a monopoly.they control the price and discoverability of this product. Increasingly with the KDP Select program Amazon obtains exclusivity. Here is an interesting website that answer the question, Why Boycott Amazon?

My eBook is on Amazon. My paperback is available only through my website, but as a new indie author I find it very hard to get steady traffic to my website. So, I can see why so many people flock to amazon for publishing. They have the world as their platform. However, it seems like unless you are well known and/or already have an audience you are still subject to getting washed into their immaculate eBook/Book ocean. And you are right, Amazon is not advertising their books. Advertisement is at the cost of the author.