Pros and cons of using Amazon’s Digital Text Platform (DTP) to sell your ebooks.
Pros
Joining is free. They take care of all payment processing. You need not reside in the USA and can have checks sent to wherever you are in the world. Their market is massive. Even if your book is completely unknown – like most of mine are, you will sell some books. There’s SOMEONE out there looking for a book like yours.
Cons of using Amazon to sell your digital books
The first major con is that you don’t even get to set your own price for your book. They give you the illusion of setting your own price, but then they change it at will. I chose $9.99 for some of my books. They jacked it up to $11.99. What this means is that my books are not as attractive as all the $9.99 books. WTF? The percentage I make is 35%. Not of the actual price of the book though! I make 35% of the price I chose for the book! I make $3.50 per book that sells for $11.99.
WHAT THE F?
Oh wait, I almost forgot the best part… they make you promise in the terms and conditions that you cannot sell your book for LESS THAN WHAT THEY ARE SELLING IT FOR! Ha! So- if you tell them to sell your book at $9.99. They ignore you and sell it at $11.99. YOU CANNOT SELL YOUR BOOK FOR LESS THAN THAT ON YOUR OWN SITE!
The second major con is that Amazon keeps all the buyer data. You sell a book for $3.50 and don’t get any of the data about the buyer. You don’t know what site they came from. You don’t know what else they bought. You don’t know their age, sex, location in the world, nothing. You don’t know their email address. In short you DON’T KNOW JACK about the buyer of your book. You don’t even know – was it bought at Amazon or an Amazon partner site? WTF?
At the beginning of your professional writing career you may choose to list your books at Amazon – like I have. The owner of my books makes a pittance from it – but, it takes just about that much to live in Thailand.
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