Karen’s Chat – Selling Books Just Became Harder.

I’m not going to lie, selling books has always been hard, and leaving Amazon has only made it harder.

Many readers automatically head to Amazon when they’re looking for a book. I used to, but I’m learning there are so many other excellent retailers out there – Apple Books, Google Play Books, Kobo, BookFunnel and Smashwords, to name a few. They all have plenty of users, but how do you find them?

I’ve begun using BookFunnel as an author. As a reader, it’s an app you can download from your usual app store. I use Apple’s App Store, while Android users can download it through Google Play. I’ve used BookFunnel in the past to read books from author newsletters, and it also has a handy Send to Kindle option, which is very easy to use. The great thing about Book Funnel is that they also have a Cloud Reader, so if you don’t want to download the app, you can read just trad there instead.

Of course, authors have to pay to use the service. I’m on the lowest-priced plan, which doesn’t allow me to sell books, so at the moment the only thing I can do is take part in promotions and give books away.

Right now, I’m offering The Killer on the Heath for free. Hopefully, readers will enjoy it enough to want to buy the rest of the series, and that’s where my dilemma begins.

I’m also offering it free through my Books2Read link, although that doesn’t include a Send to Kindle option. The only retailer I know that does is Smashwords. I recently bought a book there and was able to send it straight to my Kindle without any problems. But if readers enjoy The Killer on the Heath, will they want the sequel enough to go looking for it elsewhere?

I have three books coming out over the next few months. How do I persuade readers to buy them when they’re no longer on Amazon? One possibility is audiobooks, and that’s something I’m already working on.

In the meantime, if you’d like to support me, I’d be so grateful if you chose one of my books to read. Or, if you’ve already read one, please consider recommending it to your family and friends. Word of mouth has always been an author’s greatest ally.