Read it beforeeveryone else.

So for the last two months, I’ve been using my jessicascott.selz.com to offer up free samples of my indie books as well as to offer up DRM free versions of my indie ebooks.

Why bother? Buying from Amazon is literally one click and the book is on your gadget. iBooks is even easier b/c the iBookstore is native to your iThing. And honestly, those are the places where I buy a lot of my books, too.

But? As an indie author, I’m also a businesswoman. And while it’s true that the vast majority of my ebooks sales will continue to come through ebookstores like iBooks and Amazon, I wanted to have another way to reach readers. There are a couple of reasons for this.

One, the royalty rates are better. If you buy a $4.99 ebook from me on Amazon, I make 3.49. If you buy it from me directly, I make $4.90. Pretty big difference. Plus, if you buy directly from the author, I get paid that week. Amazon payments take 60 days, Nook takes 60 days (I think) and traditional publishers take 6 months.

Also, the day may come when the terms and conditions of selling directly through some of the major retailers might be untenable. I hope that doesn’t happen but I want to be established on my own platform if that day should come.

There are some drawbacks. I’m basically running customer service now so when folks have trouble, I’m answering the questions. Which I don’t mind but it may turn out to be a hassle down the road. I’m not sure.

The other drawback is returns. Basically, if someone requests a return of an ebook brought through selz, I can’t refund the money because there’s no way for me to know if the file was deleted or not. I have enough trust in my readers to think that’s not going to happen but that may also be another reason why this doesn’t work out.

Right now, though, it seems to be worthwhile for me to offer an alternative way for readers to buy my books. I’ll be offering up signed print copies for purchase later this year, too. Oh and right now, I do have print copies which are pay what you want. All the money from those books goes to benefit Project Sanctuary while supplies last.

So check it out, if you’d like. I think it’s a pretty neat tool available to authors.

And if you’d rather still buy elsewhere, by all means, please do. Whatever works best for you, the reader, is my goal.

iBooks | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | GooglePlay | Amazon | selz.com