In my last blog post, I did talk about my intention to focus more on generating direct to consumer book sales. What I mean by that is I want to sell my books directly to my readers instead of having them to buy my books from the retailers.

For some people, that may seem like a drastic change. But for me, it’s something that we as an author should embrace.

There are many benefits to selling your books directly to your readers. If you have never considered it before, then it’s worth having a look at it.

As much as I love the idea of going direct, there’s one caveat that you should know if you decide to opt for the go direct approach.

For some of us, it may not seem like a big deal. But for most of us, it can be such a huge deal.

The caveat of direct to consumer book sales approach

Here’s the impact when you decide to sell your books directly to your readers: those sales will never be counted in your sales rank.

The sales rank I’m referring to is the sales rank that can land you in USA Today Bestseller List and New York Times Bestseller List.

I won’t bore you with details on how you can land yourself in any of these bestseller lists since Tim Grahl can explain it better than I do.

But in a nutshell, you can be in any of these bestseller lists because of the book sales generated from all retailers. After all, that’s where they get the book sales number from.

If the only thing you care about is making a living from your books, then you may not care whether your books hit the bestseller lists or not.

But if you want the best-selling author title, then the sales can make or break your effort. If you sell your books directly a lot more than the retailers, it will be hard for you to get the best-selling author title.

You can have it both ways

Here’s the wonderful thing about being an indie author: you don’t have to choose one way or the other. You can have both ways.

You can still have your books available for sale on these retailers and on your own website as well. The only reason why you can’t sell your books on your website is because your books are in KDP Select. Other than that, you’re free to sell your books anywhere you want.

I can’t say for everyone. But I do know that there are many people out there who dream of becoming a best-selling author. And I’m no exception to that.

After all, it’s the title that will stick with you for the rest of your life. And let’s not forget that many opportunities will come your way when you become a best-selling author.

What’s my plan going forward

I admit that there are so many things that I plan to do. So, it can feel a bit overwhelmed on my side.

But my focus going forward will only boil down to two things: building the audience and prepping my author site for the direct sale.

The good news is I can do both things at the same time.

I’ve yet to come up with a concrete plan on how I’m planning to tackle these issues in an efficient way. Once I nail the plan down, I’ll lay it all down in this blog for the next couple of weeks.

I can’t wait to share with you my plan from now onwards.