Intro to Direct Selling

Every author should offer the ability for the readers to buy directly from them (unless your publisher strictly forbids it). If not self published make sure this is fine with your publisher but I've yet to hear of one that does not allow and all encourage this practice. Most publishers sell books to the authors at a discount with the expectation that they will sell them direct.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

• A good supply of your books (100 - 300)
• A way to accept credit cards (PayPal or Google Payments)
• A "buy now button"
• A promotional offer
• Shipping material (see post)
• Sales Tax

BOOKS
If you are published through someone else. The "author discount" varies greatly from publisher to publisher. I think iUniverse has a 35% discount, Michael's publisher offers 50% discount and pays for the shipping. When signing a contract you should consider carefully what "your cost" to purchase one of your own books should be. Instance, Publish America is well known for high list prices and low author's discounts making it nearly impossible for an author to sell their own books directly (Publish America is a whole topic on itself that I will blog on at some point.

NOTE: if you are published by someone like iUniverse you might still be able to print yourself from what I can see their contract is "non exclusive" so if you can get a print ready .pdf from them no reason you can't have 100 - 300 books printed independent from them - or at least that what it looks like to me - I don't know I would never use one of these firms (we'll discuss that more in the future too).

If you are self-published and using CreateSpace and/or LightningSource to get your books into the distribution chain POD (print on demand) DO NOT buy your "direct sales copies from them. They are setup to do books one at a time and this model by its vary nature leads to a higher cost per book. You already have a digital file - all you need is a bunch of books printed. I highly recommend Apex Book Printing. Let's do a comparison. Let's say you have a 320 page book and you want 100 to sell directly (trust me you can sell this much EASILY). The choices are:

• LightningSource = .90 + .013(320) = $5.06
• CreateSpace = .85 + .012(320) = $4.69
• Apex (from a recent quote) $411.36/100 = $4.11

You will save $0.95 - 0.58 on each book - enough to pay for credit card processing. If you increase the order to 300 (my recommendation) it gets even better:

• LightningSource = .90 + .013(320) = $5.06
• CreateSpace = .85 + .012(320) = $4.69
• Apex (from a recent quote) $1,000.97/300 = $3.33
• McNaughton & Gunn (from a recent quote ($4,356.33/2,000) = $2.18

A savings of $2.23 to $1.36 per book - that is much more than most royalty payments!!

CREDIT CARD PROCESSING
Many people are intimidated by the complexities of setting up an "online store". There are many choices out there and the fees and costs seem intimidating. If you have investigated an "online store" you are over complicating things. I'll make this real easy on you...You don't need an online store - you need a "buy now button". These are as simple to implement as falling off a log. Don't be intimidated. Both PayPal and Google Payments offer "the little guys" access to credit card processing without all the hassles of setting up a merchant account. I've used both and I'm going to focus on PayPal only because it is what I currently use and am most familiar with.

CREDIT CARD FEES
Again if you had a "on-line store" there are all kinds of monthly fees and fees for getting a merchant account and so on. But if you use PayPal there is $0 setup and $0 monthly fees. This is HUGE! Yes their "per transaction fee" is a bit high - but if is more than worth it to have a way for people to buy right away. They don't need to have a PayPal account - they can use any credit card to buy from you.

Okay so what are the transaction fees? If you sell less than $3,000 a month (a pretty safe bet) the fees are $0.30 + 2.9%. So if you sell your book for $15.00 you need to give PayPal $0.74. Not too bad - and trust me it is worth it - you WILL see the difference if you offer this option.

ADDITIONAL BENEFIT OF PAYPAL
When you use the PayPaloption they have a really nice "merchant center" - you come in each morning see your orders and can print shipping labels right from there. It makes it easy to address your orders and you will can add tracking for $.018 and it does MEDIA MAIL labels - again worth the price of admission right there.

NO FEE PAYPAL TRANSACTIONS
There is a way to use PayPal and have no transactions - basically both parties need to have a PayPal account and you transfer money between them -but you can't do that automatically like you can with the other method and it means a number of emails going back and forth between you and your buyer you'll waste more time than the $0.74 it is much more convenient to just check your PayPal account in the morning and find 3 - 10 orders just sitting there waiting for you to process.

BUY NOW BUTTON
Again I'll do a full step by step on this in a future post - but it really is very simple. You go into your PayPal account. Specify some simple settings like the price of the book, various options (signed/unsigned) additional fields for users to tell you more - like if you want to have it signed to someone in particular etc. This gives you a piece of .html code - you just copy and paste it into your site - and presto - people can buy from you immediately with any credit card and you'll get an email and have an order waiting for you to process in PayPal. See I told you it was easy!

PROMOTIONAL OFFER
People always like "getting a deal" and a special offer will bring in more sales then selling list price. The good news is that since you are selling direct you have much more margin to play with and still make a good profit. Plus you have something to offer them that they can't get anywhere else - your signature!

Two choices
Usually I recommend that you offer either free shipping or 20% off the cover price. Either one will work out well for you. If you charge shipping make sure it is not too high. I suggest $3.00 for standard shipping and $5.00 for express. Again see this post for full details on shipping costs.

Signed copies
By default you should "sweeten" your offer with a signed copy. This costs you nothing and adds significant value to the purchase. Some people have asked if they should charge more for a signed copy - I say no. It sends the wrong impression, after all most people here are not household names and they want to create a relationship with their customers. Asking for an extra $1.00 or so just makes you look cheap and "self-important". Take the high road and give it for free.

That being said..you should also offer the ability not to sign. Some people are "funny" about having stuff in their books so give them the option either way. Also add a field (easy with PayPal button) where they can specify "who" to make it out to so they can buy a signed copy for their friends and family - it makes a great gift.

SHIPPING MATERIALS
This is covered pretty thoroughly in this post. The bottom line is budget $0.27 for shipping materials.

SALES TAX
You only have to pay sales tax when people from your state buy your books - out of state sales do not have sales tax. Again PayPal will do this automatically for you (i.e. add it to the order and charge the customer) you just pass this money directly to your states revenue department so there is no effect on the overall profitability - it is just a "pass through" expense.

EXAMPLE PROFIT SCENARIOS
Okay let's take some examples. I'll start with Michael's book which has a 50% author discount and sells for $11.99. When a copy is sold Michael receives a royalty of 25% of the net price paid to the publisher. Since most distribution chains have a 40 - 55% discount this means he gets a royalty of $1.80 to $1.34. (Another common royalty model is 10% of list price or $1.20)

20% discount option + $3.00 shipping
In this option the customer pays $9.60 + $3.00 = $12.60 - just a tad higher then getting in the bookstore but it is signed. Michael's costs would be:

• $6.00 for book (paid to publisher)
• $0.67 for Credit Card Processing
• $2.58 for Media Mail
• $0.18 for Confirmation tracking
• $0.27 for shipping materials

His profit is $12.60 - $9.70 = $2.90 which is 160% - 220% more than his royalty.

Free shipping option
In this option the customer pays $11.99 - exactly what they would pay if they went to the bookstore and a little less than if they did Amazon and had to pay the $3.99 for shipping. The credit card charges change from $0.67 to $0.65 all else remains the same. His profit is $11.99 - $9.68 = $2.31 which is 128% - 172% more than his royalty.

Self published options
If we would have gone the "self publishing" route the equation gets even better. The price per book goes down from $6.00 to $3.33 so the 20% discount option would have a profit of $5.57 and the free shopping $4.98 which is potentially more than four times the royalty.

Selling direct
When selling direct - for instance to friends, co-workers, people at book clubs, people at book fairs the equation gets even better because you usually take cash and don't have the shipping fees etc. I usually recommend a 20% discount when selling direct. For Michael's book I make it an even $10.00 (when selling in state I make it $9.52 so with tax it comes to an even $10.00) this means he pockets $3.52 for each book he sells and would have pocketed $6.19 if self published.

WRAPPING IT ALL UP
Direct selling is the most profitable way for an author to get money in his pocket he receives much more than sales done through bookstores and Amazon where his royalty is a small in comparison. With PayPal there is no setup fees or monthly fees and there is more than enough profit to account for their transaction fees. It is simple to setup and easy to process the sales - simply click to print a label, stick it in a bag, and drop it in a mailbox. If you are not direct mail selling make sure to get this on your to do list right away.

Packaging - Mailers

Since I covered the various mailing options in a recent post I thought I would finish out the topic with recommendations about "what" to ship your books in. Generally you have the following choices:

• Box
• Rigid Mailer
• Padded Mailers
• Bubble Wrap Mailers

There are plenty of expensive ways to get these materials - going to the office supply store is one that I don't recommend. The best thing to do is buy them from a packaging wholesaler. I did a bit of research and I recommend ULINE they are a large supplier with a wide selection and had the best prices I could find.

WEIGHT
When considering a mailing material - to me the #1 concern should be weight. You don't want to artificially increase the cost of your book because you have crossed the line to a new weight category. If you have a book that ways about 1 lb. This might not be so big of a concern because all of the options will keep you under 2 lb (next level) but if you are at 1 lb 12 oz then you are really going to care.

PROTECTION
Making sure your book arrives in good condition is also a consideration. You want a mailer that will protect it from water...what if it sits outside on a step in the rain before the person gets it? Also protection of the "corners" is a concern you don't want them bent or crushed etc.

COST
In general any cost you incur is either passed on to the consumer or taken from your profit. The shipping material therefore should be as economical as possible it's just not a thing worth spending a lot on this and artificially increase your price or decrease your profit. The best way to control this cost is "buy in bulk" and use free options from the USPS. More on this in a minute.

BOXES
I would not recommend Boxes. Their problems:

• Hard to get one that fits the right height of your book
• Expensive (relative to other options)
• Difficult to store
• Takes time to "assemble"
• Not self-sealing
• Not waterproof
• Heaviest option

ULINE does offer a nice "variable height folding box that accommodates 1/2", 1", 1 1/2", 2" but at $0.53 each they are costly

MAILERS
With boxes eliminated mailers are your next choice. The biggest issue with them is determining the "right" size. ULINE does a really good job listing both interior and exterior sizes. I recommend you choose a few options and ask for "samples" they will gladly mail these at no charge . Find the one where you book fits snugly but not too tight (don't want to damage the book getting it in or out then buy them by the case (Usually 50 or 100 per).

I personally like "bubble wrap mailers" - they are light, inexpensive and provide good protection both on edges and weather. I did here from one customer that one of his corners was a bit damaged but that may have been a fluke - I might do some "rigid mailers" in the future. I don't recommend the "padded" I don't think there is enough protection and I don't trusts them against weather.

The following chart shows the various costs for mailers that fit my husband's book "The Crown Conspiracy" well. His is a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" book with about 3/4" of a spine. I use Hefty #S-996 mailers which are 7 1/4" x 12" outside dimension.

Type	Part	# per Case	Cost per case	Unit cost
Brown Bubble wrap	S-9986	100	$26	$0.26
White Bubble wrap	S-5632	100	$28	$0.28
Brown Padded	S-1413	100	$21	$0.21
White Poly Padded	S-7544	100	$27	$0.27
Brown Padded	S-227	100	$24	$0.24
White Padded	S-7530	100	$30	$0.30
Rigid	S-917	200	$74	$0.37

I ordered 200 and have just cracked my second box. I will probably shift to a "poly bubble" for my next order because the paper ones sometimes have been "punctured" although not a problem for protection - it just doesn't "look" as good to the customer.

FREE SHIPPING MATERIALS
Don't forget if you mail priority that the USPS provides free mailing materials. If I'm sending a single book - I put it inside a bubble wrap bag then inside the priority envelope because otherwise the book would slide around a bit and might get "scratched". When doing 2 I can put both of them in a priority envelope side by side very snugly so no extra material is needed. If I have an order of 3 or more I use a priority box.

The books is in the mail...

I was talking to another author today as we were planning a joint marketing direct mail. We were discussing how we would fulfill the orders and I was shocked to hear she had been mailing her books 7-day parcel post! This was costing her $4.55-$6.67 per book (depending on zone of the two addresses) when she could have been shipping them for $2.58!! So I thought today’s post should be about shipping options.

WHAT SERVICE TO USE
For people who sell books the USPS beats FedEx, UPS, and DHL hands down. Primarily because of Media Mail. Media mail is special discounted posted specifically for the printed word (You are using it when shipping manuscripts - right?). In general you will be using one of the following:

• Media Mail – cheap shipping anywhere in the US
• Priority Mail fixed price envelope – inexpensive 1 – 2 day delivery service
• International Fixed price envelope – best alternative for foreign countries
• Priority fixed priced boxes – best alternative for 3 - 10 books

MEDIA MAIL
Media Mail is used for books, film, manuscripts, printed music, printed test materials, sound recordings, play scripts, printed educational charts, loose-leaf pages and binders consisting of medical information, videotapes, and computer-recorded media like CDs and diskettes. Media Mail cannot contain advertising.

Media mail does take longer to arrive, 7 – 10 days is what is listed on the USPS website but my experience is sometimes it arrives in 2 – 5 days. To get the Media Mail postage you must clearly place MEDIA MAIL on the outside of the envelope, or use a printed Media Mail label (more on this is a minute). If you are shipping a large number of books in one order – there is some limitations on the size of the box that can be used for Media Mail (The maximum size is 108 inches in combined length and distance around the thickest part). In most cases you only have to worry about the weight. The current prices as of the date of this post are:

Weight	Price
1 lb or less	$2.23
1 lb 1 oz 2 lb	$2.58
2 lb 1 oz 3 lb	$2.93
3 lb 1 oz 4 lb	$3.28
4 lb 1 oz 5 lb	$3.63

For other weights or up to date postal costs click here. Most single book sales will fall into the $2.58 category. Be sure to you are accounting for the weight of packing material not just the book weight.

PRIORITY MAIL
Fixed price envelope
What if your customer wants to pay for “faster delivery” – there is a great option for this as well – Priority Mail Fixed Price envelope. The nice thing about this is they give you free packing materials (the envelope), and free tracking costs $4.80 to send it anywhere in the US. The weight of the package does not matter just that your book fits and closes on its own – you can’t have extra tape sealing it because you put in too much. Depending on the size of your book you most certainly should be able to get one book in one of these envelopes. In the case of my husband’s book I can put two side by side and “just” get it closed. So whenever I get a 2 book order I send it priority mail (The customer gests it faster and I save $0.36).

Multiple book orders – Fixed priced boxes
If you are mailing several books you might want to consider the Priority standard sized box – again the shipping material (box) is free and it does not matter how much or what you put in it just as long as they fit. There are two sizes of “standard sized boxes” the costs are shown here”

Size	US	Canada/Mexico	International
12” x 12” x 5 ½”	$13.50	$32.95	$53.95
11 7/8” x 3 3/8” x 13 5/8”	$10.35	$25.95	$41.95

A good resource to keep handy is the USPS Calculator. If you are doing an unusally sized piece then this is a good link to calculate the postage for it.

INTERNATIONAL MAIL – Non Canada & Mexico
When shipping international the best choice is the “fixed priced” international envelope – you use the same fixed priced priority mail envelope mentioned above and the cost is $12.95 to send anywhere in the world. I used this to send a book to Romania once and it worked out quite well. (The book stores in Romania don’t carry all the US titles)

CANADA & MEXICO
The reason I excluded Canada and Mexico above is there are lower priced alternatives for our close“neighbors”. The price for boxes is shown above. For the fixed price envelope it is $10.95. There is no support for media mail to any country other than the US so it is best to just take the package to the post office and have them do the postage for these countries. My experience that shipping to Canada for my weight of book is about $5.50.

TRACKING NUMBERS
Tracking Priority Mail
When you ship with the priority options you get tracking for free – IF you use software to generate the printing label (which is a good idea anyway since it will standardize and validate the address etc). The easiest way to do this is print the label directly from the USPS site. Accounts are free from the US Postal Service. You can simply print the labels or also buy the postage when you print the label via a credit card. You can even save the addresses in a database so you can remail in the future. NOTE: This CANNOT be used to print a label for Media Mail. I don’t know why the USPS has not added support for this yet. When it does I’ll update this post.

Tracking Media Mail
For media mail you can get tracking for $0.18 more. A bargain at twice the price when you get a buyer telling them they did not receive the book you can see the tracking. The only way I know to do this is to generate the Media Mail label from a shipping program. The good news is there is a free one associated with PayPal so if you use this for credit card processing you will have this capability.

MAILBOX OR POST OFFICE
In these post 911 times an important thing about mailing books should be mentioned – the 13 oz rule. In general if you are mailing something more than 13 oz (which almost all books with shipping materials will be) – you can’t just put a stamp on it and drop it in the postbox at the side of the street. You MUST go to the post office…but there is an exception. If you print your mailing labels, from either the USPS, stamps.com, or Paypal then you can put them in any mailbox. The issue is traceability. When you use a printed label they can trace that back to you by how you paid for it (usually a credit card or PayPal account) if you sent a bomb or Anthrax they would be able to find you.

Bottom line – if you hand label and use a stamp – go to the post office. If you use labels and pay for postage online – mail them anywhere you like.

Well....that's all there is too it!! Much longer post then I would have thought but it does explain all the gorey details. Enjoy!