Lindsay - March 18, 2021On this week’s show, the hosts talk to Damon Courtney from Bookfunnel about making more money while giving readers a better deal. How? By selling ebooks and audiobooks direct from your site/newsletter. We also asked him for a few tips on starting an author services business and what he’s been through with Bookfunnel.
Here’s a list of the questions we asked:
- What has changed at Bookfunnel since we had you on the show last year (SFA 017 – Selling Ebooks Direct, Growing Your Newsletter with Bonus Content, and Benefits of In-Person Events)?
- Has CoVid affected your business?
- It feels like books are a little special in that they can be set up as passive income, and you can baby step your way into making them your main gig by slowly building sales and a back list. It allows you to make an informed decision about when writing can support you. How would you contrast that to how Bookfunnel developed?
- What advice do you have for authors who want to start a service for other authors?
- You’ve talked before about how you saw the need for Bookfunnel and therefore created it, but did you face any challenges in starting a new business for authors?
- Promoting books may not be simple, but a whole ecosystem has been built up to facilitate it in the last decade or so. How does one get the word out about a service business like yours?
- What are the risks for a service-oriented business when it comes to growing too slowly or too quickly and how should a business owner approach those risks?
- Bookfunnel now allows authors to upload audiobooks and has an audiobook app for readers. Can you talk about what precisely you are offering with audio book fulfillment, and are there any limitations?
- When it comes to downloading ebooks via bookfunnel, you have a ton of options. Pretty much any way you’re accustomed to consuming your ebooks can be fulfilled using Bookfunnel. How does Bookfunnel fulfill audio books?
- Being able to sell audiobooks direct offers authors a potential platform to use on their own, separate from the main distributors. What are your thoughts on how authors might use this tool in the future and how they’re using it now?
- For someone who wants to sell audiobooks direct from their website, what’s the best way to set things up?
- The Alliance of Independent Authors recently published an article about how Audible pays authors (How Audiobook Authors and Narrators are Paid by Audible-ACX. We think.), and it may have been eye opening for some. Basically, you’re lucky to get $3-$4 on audiobooks that they either charge $15 a credit for or full-price, which may be $30 or more. Thoughts?
- How should an author go about marketing audiobooks they sell direct? Any tips for things that work or things to stay away from?
You can find out more about what’s available at Bookfunnel at their site and on their blog.
Thanks for listening, and thanks to Joshua Pearson for producing the show.
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