Q&A: Is It Better To Buy Books Directly from the Author?

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The short answer is yes, from a revenue standpoint, the author makes more money when you buy directly from them instead of a retailer operating as a middleman and taking a substantial cut.

The longer answer is there are other pros and cons involved… which I’ll discuss in greater detail here in this post.

If we haven’t already met, hi! I’m Sara, a three-time award-winning fantasy author preparing to publish the fourth book in my series. My blog has become a resource for indie authors where I candidly share my experiences to help educate other writers and hopefully help them avoid some of the pitfalls I fell into early in my writing career.

But this post is also for readers, not just writers. Honestly, I wish more readers would ask authors about this topic because there’s a lot to unpack here depending on what kind of support is more important to the author at a given stage in their career.

So, let’s chat about it!

IMPORTANT NOTE: I’m sharing my perspective as an indie (aka self-published) author. This means that I own 100% of the creative rights to my work, but I don’t have the resources and financial support of a big publishing house behind me. All marketing efforts fall on my shoulders (and those costs come out of my pocket, too).

Supporting a traditionally published author probably looks a little different because the publishing house is the one who fronted the investment into the book and then reaps the most financial rewards from book sales after it’s published. (If you’re interested in that topic, check out my article exploring the pros and cons of traditional publishing vs. self-publishing.)

In this article, I’ll share an indie author’s perspective on three key factors we have to consider when it comes to book sales and marketing:

**This article contains affiliate links.

Revenue

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From the most basic standpoint of financial benefits, an indie author will make more money if you purchase directly from the author (in person or through their website) than if you buy the book from a retailer.

That’s really just common-sense economics. Bookstores have overhead costs to cover; of course they need to make a profit from the books they sell, which means less money going back to the author. And let’s face it… you know corporate giants like Amazon are going to take every penny they possibly can to line their pockets.

But even if you think you’re supporting the author and buying from them directly, the location matters. When I did book signings at Barnes & Noble, even though I supplied my own inventory of books to sell (meaning I paid all of the upfront costs to have them produced and shipped to my house so I could then transport them to the store for the signing), B&N still took 40% of every sale I made.

That might seem outrageous, but it’s common practice for bookstores to take a hefty commission even though they have zero financial risks involved when hosting an author. This is one of several reasons why I rarely do bookstore signings anymore. I’m trying to run a sustainable business, and losing those big margins isn’t profitable.

Keep in mind that the base cost of each book is already subtracted from an indie author’s revenue. If the author is charging you $20 for a book that costs them $8 to produce/ship, their profit is already reduced to 60% of the sticker price. Then, the bookstore takes another 40% of that $20 (we’re not even factoring other costs like sales tax).

It’s hard to make a living with those margins. And, to be blunt, this system isn’t fair to the author who already put a lot of time, hard work, and money into publishing the book, just to lose the majority of their profit margin to a bookstore that hosted them for a few hours.

On the other hand, if you see an author selling books at a festival, convention, market, or other type of event that has other vendors, they most likely paid a flat fee to set up their booth while keeping 100% of the profits. Depending on how big the event is and how much the booth space cost, this is usually a much better deal for the author!

If you want to support an indie author by giving them the biggest profit margin on a book sale:

• Order directly from their website (where there isn’t a third party siphoning away commission)
• Visit the author’s booth at a local event
• Contact them and ask how to buy from them directly if you aren’t sure about the best method

Visibility

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Understandably, revenue and profit margins are the most obvious ways to directly measure a positive impact. But there are other factors to consider when it comes to success for an author.

The greatest challenge is not actually writing, editing, or publishing the book (although each of those phases is, of course, a monstrous feat on its own). The hardest part about self-publishing is getting your book beyond your circle of friends and family and into the hands of new readers.

When a reader goes to a bookstore and requests an author’s book, there’s a trade-off for that kind of sale scenario. On the one hand, the author’s profit margin decreases when a bookstore (or other third-party retailer) gets involved. But on the other, the exposure and visibility is an asset.

Most bookstores aren’t aware of self-published books on the market unless they’re advertised or requested. So, when consumers indicate demand for a book, the bookstore is more likely to order additional copies for their shelf, which increases the chances that other readers will discover and buy the book when browsing, which potentially leads to additional orders if the bookstore chooses to restock.

The same goes for libraries. When someone goes to their local library and asks if the library can order a book, the author doesn’t make a ton of money on that sale. BUT they now have the opportunity for a lot more exposure with their book in the library’s circulation, and some readers like to check out a book for free and then later buy a copy for their personal library at home if they like the book.

However it happens, getting a book on the shelf is a win. In many cases, bookstores and libraries don’t carry self-published books unless the author or a local reader sends a personal request. For many indie authors, that level of necessary outreach is overwhelming, and we simply don’t have time to research potential bookstores and handle messaging each one individually while juggling so many other writing/editing/publishing/marketing tasks. Not to mention it’s much more impactful to have a reader ask a bookstore to carry a book than it is to have the author make the request.

In lieu of the higher royalties, improving an author’s visibility by getting their novel on bookshelves is a subtle way to support them even if it’s a much harder metric to measure.

Online Rankings

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When I talk about online rankings, I’m mostly talking about the Goliath of the digital marketplace: Amazon.

Indie authors like me who don’t sell their books exclusively on Amazon tend to have a love-hate relationship with the retailer giant. My biggest headache comes from the fact that Amazon frequently undercuts my retail price in an attempt to beat out other book sellers for the sale… including me.

They are 100% within their rights to do that. I set a recommended retail price based on the print cost plus the retailer discount that I decide for each book (anywhere between 35-55%), giving myself enough wiggle room to avoid being in the red after factoring in potential commission losses (like the 40% that Barnes & Noble takes from in-store signings).

But that retail price is only a recommendation. Once Amazon buys the books from IngramSpark, my distributor, they can then sell the book at whatever cost they want. It doesn’t affect me because Amazon has already paid for the books at the wholesale rate. If they wanted to, they could give away my books for free and eat their losses.

Obviously, I can’t afford to do that. If I tried to outmatch Amazon, I’d lose money.

It’s frustrating for me to be in my booth watching people on their phones clearly pulling up the book on Amazon to see if they can find it at a lower price. And yes, it’s usually going to be cheaper. But is it worth saving $3 to order an unsigned copy from Amazon when you could meet the author and get a personalized, autographed book? I also include a few extra goodies with purchases… which you won’t get on Amazon. And I offer bundle discounts at shows when people buy multiple books from me.

I digress. Amazon is a major contender for book sales, and some people prefer to save a few bucks by ordering online. While I’d prefer to make those sales myself, there’s still a silver lining: the best seller rankings.

Although I make less money when people buy my books on Amazon, those sales do impact my overall rankings, which in turn boost my online visibility and overall credibility as an author when people search for my titles. Fans have told me that they found my books online after Amazon recommended my series based on other books they’ve bought and reviewed (even though, again, I’m not paying Amazon to advertise my books, so this reach is organic).

If you intend to purchase a book on Amazon, I still recommend checking the author’s website or social media bio because they might have an affiliate link to the product page.

Affiliate links are uniquely generated outbound links to a specific product or website with the affiliate’s referral ID embedded in the link.

For you as the consumer, this doesn’t impact you at all. The product will be the exact same price whether you pull up the listing via an affiliate link or by going directly to Amazon and typing in the search bar.

But for the affiliate (in this case, the author), Amazon tracks the inbound traffic and pays them an extra commission for any purchases that come from someone accessing Amazon through that affiliate link. It’s basically a referral commission the author receives from sending a customer to Amazon.

In a nutshell, if you go straight to Amazon to buy the book, the author will get their normal royalty cut. But if you get to the Amazon product page via the author’s affiliate link, then Amazon will give them a small commission (usually <10%) on top of the royalty payment, so they get a little extra while you still pay the same price. It’s not a lot, but it does add up over time if more people support authors by shopping this way!

Unfortunately, there’s usually no way to know for sure if the link an author provides is an affiliate link or a regular link. On my website, for example, if you click on my shop page for links to the books, I simply list the retailers:

This is pretty typical. Most people don’t advertise “THIS IS AN AFFILIATE LINK!!” (especially since many visitors don’t even know what an affiliate link is, so it’s better to keep everything simple).

It’s not until you actually click on the affiliate link and get redirected to Amazon’s website that you’ll be able to see the URL has extra tracking IDs tacked onto the end of the product number:

I know people aren’t wild about the idea of being tracked on the internet, so let me reiterate that affiliate links aren’t tracking YOUR information (at least… not any more than you’re already being tracked online). They’re just telling Amazon that the author sent you to their site. Those tags are sending Amazon MY information so they know how much commission I’m owed based on the number of clicks and purchases that came from my link.

Here is the exact same product listing on Amazon without any of the affiliate tracking information in the URL:

As you can see, the prices of the ebook, audiobook, hardcover, and paperback are exactly the same. The only difference is that Amazon isn’t registering any affiliate information to credit me with the referral.

Many authors don’t realize they can earn this extra commission. They have to sign up for Amazon’s affiliate program and go through the approval process first (and Amazon might reject their application if their web traffic doesn’t meet their requirements), so just because they have an Amazon link on their website doesn’t mean that it’s an affiliate link.

Still, it’s always better to give it a shot, just in case! All it costs you is a few extra clicks to seek out the author’s website or social media bio first instead of going straight to Amazon.

Another bonus: if you access Amazon through an author’s affiliate link, then other items you purchase in that session are also eligible for commission. So, if you’re buying additional books or products, the author gets an extra little bonus on those items, too!

I hope this information was helpful! Thank you for visiting my website and supporting authors in various ways. If you want to do even more, check out my article for five FREE ways to support your favorite indie authors.

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