Authority Case Studies: $30k in sales from first-time authors

Re:Authority Case Studies: $30k in sales from first-time aut... by davidw on Wednesday October 23, 2013 @11:24AM (#6599280)

It seems that there are a lot of books being sold directly these days. For some reason, I'm a bit ambivalent about that, although I can't quite explain why. Perhaps it's convenience? No wishlist, no one click from Amazon to my Kindle? Perhaps it's the lack of exposure to reviews on Amazon or other sites?

It's certainly good for the authors, as they get to keep pretty much everything from the sale, whereas with Amazon, at best, they're going to get about 70%.

For whatever reason that I find difficult to spell out, though, it also means I'm more reticent to buy these sorts of books.

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Re:Authority Case Studies: $30k in sales from first-time aut... by graeme on Wednesday October 23, 2013 @11:40AM (#6599376)

I'm one of the authors. I do print books, so I'm not direct only. But I can tell you why a lot of authors avoid kindle: If you price above $9.99, you do not get 70%, you get 35%.

Kindle formatting is also very hard to get right. Very often the top negative review of an excellent print book is "GGGGRRRRR, the kindle format is UUGGGGLY and doesn't work!!!!!!!?!?!?!"

Not the kind of publicity you want. If you're pricing on value, better just to avoid it.

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Re:Authority Case Studies: $30k in sales from first-time aut... by amerkhalid on Wednesday October 23, 2013 @12:33PM (#6599766)

I think paper is the best medium for any book with even slightly complex formatting.

I have bought many technical books on Kindle but now I am realizing that Kindle is not suitable for technical books especially when there are a lot of side bars, code snippets.

I don't like reading on ipad or laptop though. So I have started buy print versions of most technical books.

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Re:Authority Case Studies: $30k in sales from first-time aut... by mathattack on Wednesday October 23, 2013 @01:48PM (#6600375)

Thank you for the comment. I was just wondering... "70% seems high, does anyone have first hand experience?"

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Re:Authority Case Studies: $30k in sales from first-time aut... by davidw on Wednesday October 23, 2013 @04:38PM (#6601509)

Amazon's KDP pricing is like this: between $3 and $10, you get 70%. Otherwise, you get %35.

I'll also add: Nathan seems like a good guy. I met him at MicroConf Europe, and he came across as knowing his stuff. I'd probably buy a book from him.

But what if everyone sells their own books on their own site? Things could get chaotic really quickly.

I guess time will tell...

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Re:Authority Case Studies: $30k in sales from first-time aut... by clarky07 on Wednesday October 23, 2013 @01:04PM (#6600050)

My biggest mistake with my book was putting it on Amazon. As graeme mentioned, they limit your pricing options to basically $9.99. Over that you get 35%. Pretty much all of the successful stories you hear are from people pricing much higher.

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