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How to Buy Your Own Books After Publication

Aug 19, 2017

By John Koehler

After your book is published, you will probably have opportunities to sell it through your own author channels. Our authors typically buy between 75-150 books in the first year, over and above the books we give them as part of the deal.

Author Direct Sales are not the same as Distributed Sales. Here are the differences:

AUTHOR DIRECT SALES
Most publishers are going to provide a way for you to buy from them. They will markup the printing price they get, but your unit price should still be well below wholesale (about half of your list price), though hardcover may be closer to wholesale as they are very expensive to print. Here’s what our Author Book Order page looks like.

• Author buys direct from the publisher or distributor if you are self-publishing
• Sell books directly to readers
• Best unit prices possible
• Sales do not count towards royalties (no residuals)
• Typically largest possible net for author
• Author must become bookseller and manage the sales
• Volume discounts may be available for larger orders

DISTRIBUTED SALES
• Readers buy direct from booksellers or wholesalers
• High list prices may be discounted by bookseller or wholesaler
• Highest unit prices even at wholesale
• Sales count toward your royalties
• Smallest net for author
• Author does manage the sales and can sit back and let others do it
• • Volume discounts may be available for larger orders

One wholesale company our authors use is 800 CEO Read. You can find your book on their site and if you buy copies of it they will count towards your royalties. They will cost more than a direct purchase from your publisher or distributor, but the sale counts as a distributed sale and should show up on Bookscan and other publishing tracking apps.

Be sure to also check your book on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.com as they often heavily discount books up to 40%.

The other reason for using 800 CEO Read is if you get a company or group who wants to buy a box of your books. Give them the link to your book on CEO Reads and you won’t have to do anything more, and your the sale will count.