It’s 100% for sure that you buy your ebooks from one of the four big retailers; Amazon, Apple, B&N or Kobo.
But do you only buy your books on one of those stores?
A great many readers won’t consider buying a book anywhere else but their retailer. There’s a ton of reasons why they won’t, but the real biggy is that sticking with one known retailer means they don’t have to struggle with technology, side loading and a lot of other hassles. They can one-click and be instantly reading.
But there are major advantages to being open to buying your books anywhere you find them. Not every book is available everywhere. No, not even Amazon sells every single title.
I have, for a number of years now, sold my ebooks everywhere, including my own store on my site.
In 2020 I joined up with a bunch of other writers and we all now sell our books on Stories Rule Press.
Why bother buying books directly from me?
If you buy your books on one of the big four, then why would you consider buying direct from me?
Glad you asked.
- Discounts.
I offer a huge number of coupons for discounts on my books. You can find many of them through the BookFunnel promo posts. But I also provide coupons and downloads via these emails (see, it pays to be a subscriber!). The other retailers restrict what discounts and deals I can offer, so I run them all through SRP.
- Points
Stories Rule Press runs a points reward system that is almost identical to Kobo’s, if you are familiar with that. Ours differs in that *every* book you buy adds points to your balance. You can swap those points for any books in our system, too (not just some of them).
- You get to keep the book forever.
This one is a biggie that not many readers are aware of. When you buy from the other retailers, you don’t own the book. You’re borrowing it for as long as you maintain your account with that retailer. When you close your account, you lose all the books you bought there.
On the other hand, when you buy from me, you are handed the book file and get to keep it forever. No takey-backey, ever.
- BookFunnel Library
SRP uses BookFunnel to send you any books you buy from us. That means two things: 1) If you’re already familiar with how to load books you acquire from BookFunnel, then you’re set. And 2) Every book you ever buy from us is available in your BookFunnel Library (https://my.bookfunnel.com), which is a permanent back-up archive. If your computer hardrive implodes, you’re covered.
- You learn to sideload, and can buy from anywhere
This is another hidden, but fantastic benefit of buying from us. The first time through the process of buying and loading will be slow, as you figure out the steps unique to you and your reading setup (everyone’s is different). But once you’ve got the hang of it, then you’re set. You can now buy books from anywhere, and be able to read them.
That makes every book in the whole, entire world that you find anywhere at all available for you to read.
- I keep most of the price.
This is absolutely an author-benefit, but it has a long term side benefit to you. When you buy a book from the big four, 30 to 40% of the cover price is taken by the retailer. I get the rest.
When you buy from me, I keep 98% of the cover price (the rest goes to the payment processor — PayPal or the credit card merchant).
Where’s the benefit in that to you as a reader? It’s a long term thing, as I mentioned above: More money from the sale helps me sustain my business, so that I can keep writing and publising stories. (I don’t have a day job. Writing is my sole income.)
This applies to every author anywhere, by the way. If you have a favourite author you’d love to support in a more direct way, buy their books directly from them (if they sell direct). It puts a few more cents in their pockets, and helps them continue to write.
Plus, every time you buy from me (or your favourite author), I get to see your name in my inbox. I know who is buying my books, and it forges a little connection between us. I become familiar with the readers who return to buy/download. Authors with the big retailers will never get to learn who their readers are (which is a crying shame).
Start right now, if you want.
If you’ve never bought direct from anyone, but are curious enough to try it now, then you can. On the front page of Stories Rule Press, there is a coupon code for first time buyers. You can start browsing all the books there, and use the code to make your first purchase.
Remember that the first time through the process might be a bit of a hassle, until you figure out how to download books and load them onto your reader of choice, as everyone’s set up is unique to them.
BookFunnel have a help link on the top right of every download page (and the library, too). They’re trained to walk readers through sideloading their books, and can help you nut out the simplest way to get your books onto your reader.
Give it a try. You can only benefit from it.
