John Scalzi did it over here, so I’m doing it, too.
I’m an Indie (self-published), so unlike John, where you buy matters in terms of how much money I make.
The absolute best place (for me!) to buy my work is my shop, where I make 92.1% of what you pay for ebooks and audiobooks, and 92.1% of what you pay minus the physical cost of the book for print. Print books are surprisingly expensive, and Indie “print on demand” books are more expensive than traditionally published books printed at scale because offset printing is cheaper (but I don’t want to be on the hook for 5000 copies or whatever, or rent a warehouse to store them).
If you’re not comfortable buying at my shop, pretty much any online vendor will give me 70% of what you pay for ebooks (minus delivery fees for Amazon), which is pretty sweet. (Now you know why Indies love ebooks!) I use Draft2Digital to reach some markets and they take 10% as well, but I’m going direct more places with the upcoming book. (No shade to D2D, I’m happy with them!)
For print, Amazon gives me 60% of the profit (what you pay minus the cost of the book to produce). Other retailers likely give me 54% of the profit (what you pay minus the cost of the book to produce). Physical bookstores give me the least money (because I give them a wholesale discount) but you should absolutely buy from them to encourage them to buy my books. This is a calculated tradeoff of reaching customers who would otherwise not find my books because they only shop local. If your local bookstore doesn’t carry my book, you can request they order it for you (tell them it’s available through Ingram!). By the way, if you really want to support buying local, bookshop.org donates profits to local bookstores.
For audio, well. ACX (Audible and Amazon) pays me 25% of what you paid for the credit. Other places, I generally get between 32% and 50%. I’m not going to begrudge anyone buying my work with the credits you bought a year in advance! please buy my audiobook! but also, if you have a choice, my store is lovely…
Also, buying my books at the retailers makes the retailers think you like me 😉 and they might recommend my book to someone else. It’s kind of a double-edged sword for Indies, usually summed up as “bank vs. rank.” I’m encouraging you to consider options that give me better bank, but if you prefer your retailer of choice that will give me rank. In other words, it’s all good!
If you don’t like or approve of one of the places that carries my books, you can order them somewhere else. I actively encourage this!
Can’t afford to buy? I love libraries! In some countries that are not the US I get money when you check out a book. In the US, if lots of people check out my book the library buys more copies, or buys replacement copies when they wear out. Libraries are the best.
Used bookstores: I love used bookstores, but I do not receive money if you buy my book there. If you really want to give me money for the used copy of my book (where did you even find it?) I do have a Ko-Fi tip jar, if you’re so inclined. But either way, I feel like used bookstores are a lovely thing that keeps perfectly good books out of landfills, and presumably I was paid for it by the person who bought it new.
John had a section on Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum. Okay, look, I’m not your mom, okay? If you really can’t afford it, and your library doesn’t carry it, do me a favor and ask your library to carry it. If it’s hard to get in your country and you can afford it, my shop will sell you an ebook that you can read on your phone or tablet, but if it’s too expensive I’m not going to come after you. But my preference is that I get paid. You don’t want to know what I spent. 😉 No, really, since I’m an Indie I paid the editors and cover designer and audiobook producer and… yeah, I would love to recoup the money I spent and even make a profit. If you DID Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum and would like to make it up to me because you think my book is worth the money, you can buy a copy and give it to a friend, or your local library (talk to them first, it costs money to process a new book). That would honestly be my first choice.
I would prefer not to debate Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum in the comments. Sorry.
