The Catherine Hannah Poetry Shop is now live- click here to visit. I had been toying with the idea of opening an online store to sell some poetry related merchandise for a while; but as time marched on, I realised I wanted to take a step back from the giant that is Amazon. As such, the focus of my book sales -as well as all other Catherine Hannah Poetry products- is now directed at my own little corner of the internet.
A little fish in a big, BIG online store…
The truth is, whilst the current accessibility of self publishing has made many a would-be authors dream come true, we are somewhat drowning in our own success. There are so many books on the market now that the likes of “The Life of Sir Dunstan Pigglesworth” and “The Ballad of the Bunny and Other Poems: The Diary of a Car Crash and Beyond” couldn’t make a ripple in Amazon’s algorithm without selling hundreds of books a month over an extended period of time. This may sound like whining. It’s not; I think everyone who has worked hard on a book deserves that feeling of gratification- the one an author gets when holding a physical copy of their book in their hands for the first time. I don’t hate Amazon either; it’s still the first online store I saw my name in. I’m just being practical.
Plan B
As such, my strategy moving forward is this: direct sales to my own online store (powered by Square). Will it get as much traffic as Amazon? Nope. Will I get earn more than the couple of dollars per copy sold that Amazon leaves me with? Yes. Yes I will. It’s not a perfect solution. I’m not an IT natural and I’m sure there will be some teething problems. It also means I now need to have access to a physical inventory of products, which was a big pull of the print-on-demand service model. In addition, with Australia being somewhat remote, it makes shipping quite expensive for my customers- as a result, I’m currently limiting shipping to Australia, US & Canada, and the UK. (Shipping to North America is currently limited to books; and shipping in the UK is only possible with the help of my UK distribution centre, ie. my sister’s front room).
Goodbye Amazon?
Absolutely not. Both of my books -and indeed, any of my future books- will still be available on Amazon worldwide even when I figure out how to increase my shipping range. It means potential buyers worldwide will still have easy access to my books and maybe one day, someone who is struggling after a car crash or is mourning the loss of a loved one will stumble across my name. I still want my books to reach those who they could help. But I also need to make something of a living.
For a list of worldwide purchase options for books by Catherine Hannah, please click here.
