Thursday, June 21, 2012

Comments: 5

I've been wondering something. Why do authors need to go through a publication company like Amazon, or Barnes and Noble, etc. to market their works? If the author is expected to do all, or almost all, the publicity and marketing of his/her work, why can't we cut out the publication companies and sell the work(s) from our own web sites?

I'm sure a digital book can be translated into any format such as Kindle or Nook, or as a pdf file, from a home computer. All that would be needed then is to set up a pay-pal account for interested readers to pay for the book(s) they want. That way the author sets the price and all proceeds are royalties.

As an option, I can see several writers/authors coming together and setting up their own publication company or distribution company using a similar pay-pal type account.

I have a son and daughter-in-law who are setting up an on-line referral agency for teachers and students to find each other and get together either on-line or in person. It's called My Dream Teacher (check it out at http:\\MyDreamTeacher.com), right now it's a free service). I'm thinking of having him set up something similar to market my novels and give him a percentage of the proceeds (assuming my novels ever sell, LOL).
More on:  ,

About Paul West

Paul West is a freelance writer and novelist. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Paul claims to be a "Prune Picker," though he now makes his home in Taylorsville, Utah.

You can follower him on Twitter: @PaulWWest

Published: Thursday, June 21, 2012

Share this PostPin ThisShare on TumblrShare on Google PlusEmail This

5 comments

  1. That's a good point, Paul. I do know some people do this, but it seems (at least to me) more common with non-fiction for some reason. For instance, a tax company selling an ebook about taxes on their site (bad example...)

    One benefit of Amazon, however, is that the ebook sees to reach more people. I stopped actively marketing my ebook a while back, but it still sells copies now and then.

    I guess the same might be true if it were only sold on my website...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Tony.

    I'm not really thinking of doing this, just brainstorming. I seriously don't want to self-pub.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Paul,
    Recently I deleted one of my web browers (which held many of my favorites including the writing site Gary set up after latterday authors went belly up). If you read this could you reply with the link or url or simply send it to my email candt.moore at gmail dot com thanks, Charlie

    ReplyDelete
  4. Paul, there are a lot of self-published authors who do sell their books from their website, but also sell at Amazon and others.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I realize that, but I guess I'm of the old school that says: "If a book isn't good enough for a publisher, then it's probably not good enough."

    ReplyDelete