Why should indie authors consider EditionGuard Storefront? The main reason is because you worked hard to create your art and you should be the one to profit from it. Self-published indie authors have a lot of choices about where they can sell their ebooks. However, almost all of these choices require you to give up a piece of your profit with every sale. If you are a reasonably well established author selling an average of 30-40 copies of your various titles per month, consider EditionGuard Storefront as an ideal solution that will let you keep more of your profits.
How Indie Authors Benefit from EditionGuard Storefront
No matter where you list your ebooks for sale, you must give up a portion of that sale to the fulfillment service listing your ebooks. From Amazon to SmashWords to Kobo and beyond, each of these services takes 35%-75% of each sale. It can make it very difficult for an indie author to become profitable with that kind of fee structure, even with the most comprehensive ebook marketing. EditionGuard storefront is different.
Pricing Structure of EditionGuard Storefront
EditionGuard charges a flat monthly rate for our fulfilment service. That rate includes a specific number of downloads of your ebook. If you exceed that number, it’s just a small fee for each additional download. The lowest number of ebook credits you receive, on the smallest plan, is 50; unused credits roll over into the next month. And on your monthly plan, you can have unlimited titles.
Storefront vs. Other Fulfilment Services
Let’s do the math. For comparison’s sake, let’s say you have four ebooks, each selling at $9.99, each selling about 20 copies per month – or a total of 60 sales. 9.99 x 60 = $599.40.
Selling eBooks on Amazon
Amazon takes 35% of each book sale plus a per-book download fee based on the size of the ebook. An average ebook – straight text, no images throughout – costs 15 cents per mb, or around 30 cents per book. So you get 65% of 9.99 for each ebook, then lose an additional 30 cents at the lowest. Each book nets you $6.20.
Profit: $372
If you only sold 35 ebooks in a month, your profit on Amazon would be $217 or less (depending on the price-per-mb download fee)
Selling eBooks on SmashWords
While SmashWords is more generous to authors and distributes ebooks to other major resellers, they boast that you get 85% of each sale minus PayPal fees for books sold through SmashWords; you’ll receive about 70% for ebooks sold through other fulfillment centers. But PayPal’s fees are 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. So your $9.99 ebook ends up netting $7.99 (9.99 – 2.9% - .30) x 85%.
Profit: $479.40
If you only sold 35 copies on SmashWords, your profit would be $279.65, if you sold them all through SmashWords. Many of your SmashWords sales will come from third parties, where you only get 70% of the net sales price. If even half of your sales come from outside SmashWords, your profits drop to $437 for 60 sales and roughly $258 for 35 sales.
Selling eBooks on EditionGuard Storefront
Our starter package is $79 per month and comes with 50 free downloads; additional downloads are 99 cents. Your total cost with Storefront would be $79 + 10 additional downloads ($9.90), or $88.90.
Profit: $510.50
If you sold 35 books, your profit would be $270.65 and 15 book download credits would roll over to the next month.
In addition, with EditionGuard storefront, you get your money within two days; Amazon can take up to 90 days to pay out royalties and others 30-60 days.
Selling on Your Own Storefront Doesn’t Prevent You from Listing Everywhere Else
When you sell through Amazon, in order to get the full benefit of their fulfillment system, you need to sign up for KDP Select, which obligates you to sell only through them for at least 90 days; you must continue to renew with KDP Select to continue getting those benefits. Amazon dominates the landscape in the US and the UK, but Kobo just partnered with Walmart to give them some competition, and Kobo already has 25% of the Canadian market.
When you sell on your own website with EditionGuard Storefront, it doesn’t prevent you from also listing everywhere else you want in order to get your name and ebooks out to the world, including on Amazon (without opting for KDP Select). In fact, we highly recommend “going wide” with your ebook distribution in most cases, but believe your own branded website, where you keep all the profits of your sales, should be the starting point. With just 60 sales per month, you’ll make a minimum of $138 per month more.
Secure eBook Fulfillment with EditionGuard
One you have made the decision to self-publish, consider EditionGuard Storefront for easy sales and fulfillment. You can securely sell and fulfill eBook orders with Storefront, a turnkey ecommerce solution with no percentage fees.
With our ecommerce solution, you'll get:
- Instant ebook product pages
- 10-minute instant setup
- Secure DRM product pages
- The ability to sell with no percentage fees
- Total control over your pricing and sales
- 2-day direct payouts - no more waiting 60-90 days to get your money
Read more about how fulfillment services work with EditionGuard or start your free trial today.
