Stop Letting Amazon Control Your Author Career

The rule-breaker's guide to creative book-selling beyond KDP

This is an excerpt from my upcoming book The Artisan Author.

For context, what you’re about to read is from the introduction to a chapter about selling books as an Artisan Author. Following this introduction are subchapters full of specific Artisan Author selling techniques, but I haven’t included all of those because this post would be epic length if I did … and because frankly, I want you to buy the book when it comes out.

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Your imagination is the only limit when it comes to creative sales strategies. In fact, here’s something that shifts the paradigm so hard, it’ll break your brain: Try to think of sales and marketing your work as being part of the art.

Gross, right? You want to create, not sell. You’re an artist, not a huckster. But does it have to be that way? Time and time again, friends have asked me why I self-publish in the first place. They’ll say, You could land a traditional publishing deal, Johnny, so why don’t you try to get one? The answer I give is, “Why would I want to? Solving the puzzle of ‘How can I package and sell this?’ is half the art — and half the fun!”

Here’s what I mean:

• When I noticed that most new readers would buy one book from me but didn’t particularly care what it cost, I created a huge paperback omnibus containing all six Fat Vampire books. That omnibus sells for $45: great profit for me, and a $30 savings for the reader versus buying the books individually. It was a creative problem with a creative solution, and it’s made a lot of deposits to my bank account since I solved it.

• When I noticed how influential my recommendations were on which books people bought, I started experimenting with recommending some of my hidden gems: books I love, but that aren’t the usual suspects. It worked, and I learned something about my unique audience and my unique strengths as a seller. I learned that I can move just about any book I want to — something that comes in handy when I sell out of something popular.

• A lot of times when I sell in person, I get the same reaction from lapsed readers that everyone gives to the dental hygienist when they ask how often you floss: a guilty “I don’t do it as much as I should. I keep meaning to, but just never get around to it!” And so over time, I’ve learned to help those people out. They want to read but can’t get through books, and obviously I want to sell to them. So instead of shrugging and bidding them well as they walk away empty-handed, I now suggest a page-turner like The Target or Namaste: short books that are fast-paced and engaging enough that even out-of-practice readers burn through them quickly, getting them back on the reading horse.

It’s a mindset shift, nothing more. You could choose to like selling. All you need is to keep an open mind, then make that choice.

And honestly, it makes sense. When you think about it, writing books is a process that involves facing and solving problems over and over again. Writers tend to love that aspect of problem-solving, but balk at packaging, marketing, and sales … which are also problem solving. Why wouldn’t you be interested in finding the best ways to earn money from that book you poured so much time into — especially as an Artisan Author, where there are no rules and you can do whatever you want? It’s fascinating and a great intellectual challenge … and when you solve the puzzle, you get money for it. Who wouldn’t want that?

Oh, you might need to stretch your comfort zone a bit, but I hope you’ll try. Dismiss your knee-jerk reaction to the boogeyman of SELLING. Instead, Kobayashi Maru style, remember that you’re playing a different game now. What used to repel you can — if you keep an open mind — become a huge part of the fun of this Artisan thing. It certainly has for me.

Remember the lesson: If you can’t win the game, change the rules.

Besides, you’re likely to run into some cool “a-ha” moments with Artisan selling [resists an urge to make an A-Ha! “Take On Me” reference that nobody under thirty will understand] that I promise will be delightfully eye-opening. You’re going to start seeing ways to promote and sell your books that nobody ever told you were options before. You’re going to have revelations, if you stick with it, that feel like you’re one of only a few people who see through the Matrix and into the real world behind it.

For me, it was when I realized that I didn’t need Amazon anymore.

I remember the day fondly. I was adding up profit forecasts for all of my upcoming in-person selling opportunities, tossing in a few planned Kickstarter campaigns to boot. (A formula that’s perfect for me, by the way, but definitely not a formula for you or anyone else to follow because I’m me and you are you.)

At the end of those calculations, I reached a number that made me happy … and only then did I realize I hadn’t added in my online sales. Not Amazon, not Draft2Digital, not IngramSpark, not any of the audiobook distributors. Hell, I hadn’t even factored in my own direct store, because I hadn’t gotten around to optimizing it yet.

All I’d added up were in-person sales and Kickstarter. And it was enough.

I thought: Wait. I don’t need Amazon anymore? Is that really a thing? But then I remembered at least two people I know who’ve said plainly that their Amazon sales are garbage, and yet they make full-time livings from their books, too. So yes, it really is possible.

Now, let me be clear: In no way am I saying that you should remove Amazon or anything else from your bookselling vocabulary. I’m saying that was my revelation, and that you will have different revelations of your own. I’m saying there are possibilities out there that even I’d never considered — not even after a dozen years in this business. I’m not planning to leave Amazon or the other online retailers (quite the contrary; my next problem-to-solve is ramping them up), but the point is: I don’t have to do any of that if I don’t want to.

When you learn how to sniff out Artisan selling opportunities in the strangest and most previously-unseen places, you won’t “have to” for any single channel, either. The freedom of that sort of revelation is exhilarating. Realizing you can find readers almost anywhere, all on your own? It’s an amazing feeling.

As you read this chapter, I’d like you to do two things.

First, discard your preconceptions and prejudices. Adopt what martial artists call “beginner mind,” meaning you’re willing to let go of your ego and accept anyone and anything as a possible teacher.

Second — and I hate to be a buzzkill — keep your expectations in check. I’ve worked with enough authors to know that although I shared my “I don’t need Amazon” story above only to make a point, some of you are already slobbering over the idea of 1) copying my approach exactly even though I’ve told you about ten times not to and 2) finding untold new riches between the cushions of the great bookselling couch.

I’m telling you right now, it won’t work that way. My unique book catalog, personality, skill set and strong suits, and the fact that I’ve been through the ringer in this business for a long time makes my approach work for me. I had an enormous head start, and I also worked for two years solid to rebuild even my well-established business to work up to what I’ve just described. But you aren’t me. You’ll be able to do things I can’t if you really lean into the “you do you” of this Artisan approach, so don’t bank on doing things that I do well that aren’t right for you.

But who cares if sales start out slow? Hell — who cares if they stay slow, as long as they’re reliable and give you something to build on, patiently, over time? You’re an Artisan Author, remember? Art first. Profit second. I want you to sell your wares and have fun doing it, but if profit was our primary driver, we should all be in another profession entirely.

Don’t think in terms of “riches.” Think in terms of “a whole new world of possibility.”

And man oh man, are there possibilities out there for people who are willing to work hard, think creatively, and persist.

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If you like the idea of breaking your reliance on the usual book-selling platforms, check out my book The Artisan Author. It debuts on July 15th on Kickstarter, and that campaign will include all sorts of additional education and behind-the-scenes-with-me stuff beyond just the book. If, however, you ONLY care about the book and aren’t into Kickstarter, The Artisan Author comes out on the usual bookstores on November 4th. Yes, there will be a paperback and audiobook, but I haven’t posted them for pre-order yet. (They’ll be part of the Kickstarter, too.)