Frequently Asked Questions:
We are here to answer any question that you may have about AuthorsBookshop.com. When a particular question is asked frequently enough, we will post it here.
-Why does AuthorsBookshop.com ask for $4 instead of a percentage like all of the other online booksellers?
-Do you really think you can compete with Amazon/Barnes and Noble/Other Random Megabookstore?
-I have a $5 chapbook that I would love to sell with AuthorsBookshop.com - but your $4 fee would mean I couldn't even cover my printing costs. Don't you want my business?
-I am looking for a book/would like to sell a book of a certain category, but I do not see that category listed on your site. Why do you have so few categories listed?
-I have more than one book that I would like to register. Is the $20 setup fee per book, or per account?
-What kind of marketing are you doing / what kind of traffic are you generating / Who is visiting AuthorsBookshop.com? You seem so small, and there aren't many books on your site - why should I take a chance on such a new site?
Why does AuthorsBookshop.com ask for $4 instead of a percentage like all of the other online booksellers?
Well for one thing, to simplify things as much as possible. Everyone knows
the price at the door. There's no calculating, no confusion. You sell a
book, you keep the cover price less 4 bucks.
Plus, this is a better deal for the booksellers, and for
their customers. The big online bookstores take 50-60% of your cover price! Until now, in order to be able to say "go to this
website to buy my book online" (unless you set up your own merchant
account, shopping cart, and all the e-commerce stuff, and that wouldn't be
economical unless you are selling a lot of books) you would have to give
up 50-60%.
By setting a flat rate of $4, you have a lot more control over what your
customer pays, and what you make. You could set your price at a discount - a great deal for your customer - and still come out ahead over the giant sites.
Plus, and this may shock you, it costs us the same to process and stock a book no matter what its cover price! It costs us 4 dollars to help you sell your book whether its cover price is $15 or $50. Why should we charge you more just because your book sells for more? There are only two reasons why anyone would - because they can and because they want as much money as they can get. Well, we can, but we don't want to. It's not fair.4 Bucks. Simple. Easy. The best deal around.
Do you really think you can compete with Amazon/Barnes and Noble/Other Random Megabookstore?
No, not at all! In fact, were not even trying. We encourage you to make your book available through as many avenues as possible. Your goal should be to sell as many books as you can. If someone would rather give their (and your) money to a big mega-online-bookstore then you don't want to miss that sale. You should be there for it.
But think about it for a moment. If you are going to send someone to the web to buy your book, where are you going to send them? Somewhere where they will pay more and you will get less? Of course not.
Plus, wouldn't it be nice if your customer felt good about where they were buying your book? If they knew they weren't just getting the best price but supporting a community? A movement? A place that celebrates independence, not just tolerates it?
Well, we obviously think it would be. So no, we are not "competing" with anyone. We are simply trying to give you another avenue to get your book out there. We happen to think it's the best place in the world to sell your book... but you should decide for yourself.
I have a $5 chapbook that I would love to sell with AuthorsBookshop.com - but your $4 fee would mean I couldn't even cover my printing costs. Don't you want my business?
We are aware that our standard $4 deal won't really work for cover prices less then around $6. However, we would really like to work with titles that list in that price range. Not so much because we want your business, but because chapbooks, zines and comics are really cool! They embody the spirit of what we are all about here - and we want to give you a great place to sell them online.
However, the reality of starting out dictates that we make certain short-term decisions. We have decided to stick to the $4 rate to get AuthorsBookshop.com up and running. Once we do, it will be pretty easy to set up a separate designation for low-cost titles at a $2 or $3 rate.
If this is something that would benefit you, please let us know via the form below. The more interest there is, the higher we will move it up the priority list.
I am looking for a book/would like to sell a book of a certain category, but I do not see that category listed on your site. Why do you have so few categories listed?
We are interested in carrying all categories of books. However, to avoid disappointment and confusion we made the decision to display only the categories that currently have books listed in them.
If you have written a book in a category that is not listed, we especially encourage you to list it with us! When you register your title, you will be asked to select the three categories that best describe your book. Once your book has been registered, we will add your categories so that all of your customers can find your books. The list of available categories includes the following:
-I have more than one book that I would like to register. Is the $20 setup fee per book, or per account?
$20 is about what it costs us to set up each book at AuthorsBookshop.com. After receiving, scanning the cover, setting up the webpage, cataloging and shelving each new book, we have incurred a bit over $20 in time and labor. This does not include the cost of the commercial retail space that your book will receive.
If you have, say, three or four books that you would like to register, we understand that $20 for each may add up to a lot - especially considering the type of budget most indie publishers and authors are on. But when you consider the service, community and value that you are receiving by registering with AuthorsBookshop.com it's hard to deny that you are getting a great deal.
If you are a larger indie publisher, you may want to consider registering as a Publisher Partner. With this membership you can register as many books as you like without paying the $20. Instead, Publisher Partners pay an annual partnership fee of $50.
-What kind of marketing are you doing / what kind of traffic are you generating / Who is visiting AuthorsBookshop.com? You seem so small, and there aren't many books on your site - why should I take a chance on such a new site?
AuthorsBookshop.com is a new site. We are in the process of building - our catalog, site features, and public awareness.
For the first few months, our focus will be on building the catalog by getting as many authors and small presses on line as possible. To achieve this, we are primarily focusing most of our marketing efforts on booksellers.
Perhaps you are wondering why we would want to do this, when we could be bringing customers to our site right now instead. Well, we could. But if we convince customers to come now, and they find a catalog of 15 books, it will take a lot of work down the road to convince them to come back to look at our 100s, and eventually 1000s of books.
In the long run, it is a much wiser strategy to focus our energies on sellers for this first phase. It is much better for our booksellers too. If you can get on board now, then you will be in place as things ramp up. The AuthorsBookshop.com staff will already know your book very well, and our earliest shoppers will see your book front and center. You will also have the satisfaction of foresight in having recognized AuthorsBookshop.com to be what it will soon become - a powerful sales tool for all independent book sellers.
If you are an author or press operator, please consider taking a chance on AuthorsBookshop.com. Consider it an investment that could pay large dividends down the road. The more people like you that join our community, the faster we will grow, and the faster we grow, the more valuable we will be to you.
Do you have a question we haven't answered?