Got another order from Amazon today for ONE book. It's really annoying that they will only order one at a time. Here's how Amazon breaks down for me- it's terrible for small distributors.
Per year listing fee costs me $29.95
They require me to sell them the books at a 55% discount, so each book sale gets me $11.23
I have to pay the shipping, which for media mail is currently $2.77, not counting mailing materials, time, gas to go to the P.O. etc.
Each book cost me $5.20 to print (Don't even think about costs to research, write, produce, pick up, etc- I'll never get that back). So 11.23-2.77= $8.46 income per book - $5.20= $3.26. But with that listing fee, that chews up the income from 9.4 books. So I don't even break even until I sell 10 books in a year. There doesn't seem to be any pattern to Amazon orders, but it's about 6 books a year. So... I lose money to list books on Amazon
But... it's a credibility thing.
4 comments:
Joan I had no idea you had so many blogs lately! How are you managing?
On Amazon I have found that you have to really direct traffic there. That is the best way to get sales. And the more reviews you have the better the internal marketing by amazon in the form of recommendations. On that note I'd better get over and review your book. :) Don't know why I have not before. I'm a space cadet...
Julia- How fun that you found this new example of my insanity! I don't really want to drive sales there, because I can make SO much more when I sell them myself.
Hi SharkBytes, I only just noticed your new blog :-)
Amazon seems to be an all-round pain. I'm a marketplace seller. They force me to charge their fixed shipping price which is far too high. Then they take about 30% of the sale in commission. :-(
Hi John- I'm amazed that people are finding this blog already- I have barely begun advertising it! They are like the on-line Walmart- they can force suppliers down to their lowest limits because we "have" to be there.
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