sean of the dead's picture
sean of the dead from Madisonville, KY is reading Peckerwood, by Jed Ayres September 1, 2012 - 11:49am

Ok writers, I have a question for you.  Where is the best place for me to buy your book?  It's not that I can't find it, it's that I want to make sure you get as much of the cash I fork over as possible.

I'm not a big technology guy, so I don't have any kindles or e-readers of any kind, so we're talking physical, tangible books that I can hold in my hands.  I just want to make sure you get money out of this transaction, seeing as how you have provided me with a product to consume.

I liken it to seeing a band and buying their stuff.  I'd rather buy their music directly from them, because then I know that money goes into their pockets, as opposed to buying it through a distributor who may or may not take out a huge chunk for themselves.

So, published friends, if I was going to buy your book, how should I go about it?

ready, set, go...

 

JonnyGibbings's picture
JonnyGibbings September 1, 2012 - 11:57am

Being as you are in the US, mine woud be form amazon, Barns & Noble etc.

sean of the dead's picture
sean of the dead from Madisonville, KY is reading Peckerwood, by Jed Ayres September 1, 2012 - 12:08pm

ahh, amazon is where I bought your book JonnyGibbings.  I guess that makes sense, as it would cost quite a bit in postage to send it overseas, as opposed to buying it through an American distributor.  And I could see customs opening it up, skimming through it, and trying to prevent me from having it, you sick bastard!

(sidenote: Malice in Blunderland is fucking great!  I'm horrible at analogies when it comes to books or music or whatever, but I'll go with Irvine Welsh re-writing The Big Lebowski, but taking out the bowling.  Just a really fun book...great, now I'm sidetracking my own post)

JonnyGibbings's picture
JonnyGibbings September 2, 2012 - 8:37am

Hey - thanks man. Still freaks me out that folks have read it!

Gordon Highland's picture
Gordon Highland from Kansas City is reading Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore September 2, 2012 - 10:22am

I always tell people that Amazon is fine, because I figure they're like me and bundle books together to get free shipping (plus, it's available in their European storefronts, too). But they do take a considerable cut, and CreateSpace pays me way more per unit at the same cover price.

Thanks for asking!

sean of the dead's picture
sean of the dead from Madisonville, KY is reading Peckerwood, by Jed Ayres September 2, 2012 - 11:28am

I'm realizing I should have asked this question as soon as I joined this site.  I've gotten two responses, and they just happen to be from the two authors whose books I bought after hearing about them on this website.  So, hey, I guess that means LitReactor's doing a good job promoting your work!

@Gordon-I had never heard of CreateSpace before, that is interesting.  How do you like it?

Gordon Highland's picture
Gordon Highland from Kansas City is reading Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore September 2, 2012 - 1:26pm

Thank you, by the way.

CreateSpace works well, if you already know what you're doing as far as laying out and designing your own books. They'll walk you through the steps, but someone still has to do all that stuff. It doesn't really cost anything, and they handle all the e-commerce aspects. And being print-on-demand, it means you're not saddled with warehousing your inventory of printed books, then hoping they sell, and being responsible for shipping them out. Quality seems great to me, too. It's invisible on the customer's end, because they're printed right away and ship out like any other order.

A lot of people use Lightning Source as a printer, get an ISBN, and then manually set up accounts with the various sellers. I chose CreateSpace (for both of my novels) mainly because they're directly tied in to Amazon.

Covewriter's picture
Covewriter from Nashville, Tennessee is reading & Sons September 3, 2012 - 8:20pm

Go to an independently owned bookstore if you have one in your town. They usually support local authors.  Besides we need to also support tem to help with diversity . 

Bradley Sands's picture
Bradley Sands from Boston is reading Greil Marcus's The History of Rock 'N' Roll in Ten Songs September 3, 2012 - 8:29pm

Amazon.

For other authors, directly through the publisher if that's possible (my primary publisher doesn't do that).

Bookstores usually take a bigger cut than Amazon, but supporting a bookstore is always a nice thing.