A Look Back at 10 Initial Publishing Questions - Part 2
If you missed Part One, you can find it here. I recommend reading that one first and then coming back to this one. Below are the other five questions I asked (in no particular order of importance). Also, this info may change in the future :)
“What is Amazon Advantage?”
Amazon Advantage is a program that allows publishers to list and sell their books directly on Amazon. This program is for publishers with inventory on hand (i.e., they have done offset printing and have books they can ship to Amazon fulfillment centers). It requires a vendor account and a signed agreement with Amazon. Evaluating the costs and benefits before enrolling in this program is important. There is a $99 non-refundable annual fee.
Amazon receives 55% of every book sold. So, if your book is $20, they will receive $11 for each book. If your cost to print is $2.50, you will receive $6.50 per book. However, you still need to factor in shipping costs to Amazon (they send purchase orders on Mondays to request a specific quantity of books based on the demand they are seeing) and marketing expenses such as Amazon ads or other digital ads. This page provides an older but helpful overview of the difference between Amazon Advantage and the Amazon Seller Program (another way to sell offset inventory on Amazon).
“How do you fulfill and ship from your website?”
Once you set up a website on Wix, WordPress, Squarespace (I use and prefer Squarespace), Shopify, etc., you can deploy or connect to a payment processor such as Square, Stripe, or PayPal. The margins are better when you sell on your site because you do not have Amazon, Ingram Spark, or another retailer taking a large percentage of sales. However, you have to be willing to process the orders that come in. This task includes ensuring your checkout process on your site is user-friendly and collects appropriate taxes. You will want to decide on shipping fees (you can do flat rate or by weight or pre-establish shipping costs by item bundles).
Remember to also think about the weight of mailers and packaging. These can be small cardboard boxes, padded plastic mailers, or sturdy cardboard mailers. The padded plastic mailers are the cheapest and work well for paperbacks or hardbacks. If you are worried about damage and want something sturdy, cardboard boxes may be your best bet. A tool such as Pirate Ship is free and helpful in calculating shipping costs and finding the best providers. You can purchase a small scale like this one to determine package weight. You can buy a label printer like this to print the shipping labels.
Another consideration for selling on your site is how you drive traffic to your shop. Ensure you have good search engine optimization for organic search and consider ads on platforms such as Meta or Google. Here is a good Kindlepreneur article about selling direct.
“Can you set up an author page on Amazon before you publish a book?”
Author pages on Amazon are typically tied to published books. However, you can set up an author profile if you have turned on a pre-order (which you can do for ebooks that you publish through Amazon). Once you turn on your pre-order, you can enter the ISBN or title and begin filling out your author page, which can include your photo, bio, social channel links, and website links. You will need to follow some rules regarding what you say about discounts and external sites, but this can be a great place to share content about yourself, your publishing company, or your other books/merchandise.
“What are ISBNs, LCCNs, CIP, and MARC data?”
ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. LCCN stands for Library of Congress Control Number. CIP stands for Cataloging-in-Publication data. MARC stands for MAchine-Readable Cataloging. They all play a different role but are all important book identifiers that may be printed in your book (MARC is the exception).
In the US, you can buy your ISBNs through Bowker. Buy your own (unless you are okay with not being able to sell your book outside of the platform that provided you with the free ISBN. Amazon, for example, offers free ISBNs. You must obtain an ISBN for each edition (if you make changes beyond minor typos, for example) and format (hardback vs paperback, for example). Every book should include an ISBN and bar code on the back cover.
LCCNs are necessary for books in libraries. The Library of Congress provides them; one LCCN is required per book. You do not need an LCCN per format. For authors or smaller publishers, the LCCN is referred to as a PCN. The LCCN/PCN is used for US library cataloging and when you request CIP data for pre-publication cataloging.
CIP data is also primarily used by libraries to help them catalog books. This information - a dense block of text about your book - usually sits on the copyright page at the front. Publishers that publish more than five books per year can request CIP data from the Library of Congress. Authors or small publishers can obtain a Publisher's CIP, essentially the same block of text provided for a fee by companies such as Five Rainbows Cataloging Services. Brook Vitale's website includes a visual of CIP data and more info here.
I will let the Library of Congress explain the purpose of MARC data here. Essentially, this data (similar to what is captured in your CIP but in a different format) is entered into databases such as WorldCat (which libraries use to research and select books). Five Rainbows Cataloging Services also provides MARC data and enters it into WorldCat for a fee.
“What are Amazon keywords and categories?”
Navigating Amazon keywords and categories is crucial for visibility when your book launches. You will enter this information on Amazon KDP as you set up your book's profile before publishing it (if you are publishing through Amazon). Selecting keywords and categories aligned with what your audience is searching for will help your book appear organically on Amazon and, therefore, give your book a better seller ranking (a best seller in XX category, for example). Paying for Amazon ads (not discussed in this post) is another strategy complementary to good organic keywords and categories. Tools such as Publisher Rocket or Helium 10 are great tools for researching and optimizing your book's keywords and categories effectively. Amazon KDP provides this overview as a guide. You can select a total of three categories and seven keywords/phrases.
If you have read this far, you made it to the end! I hope you took away a couple of good nuggets of information to help you on your journey. Feel free to comment if you have feedback or additional thoughts to add, or visit the writer resources page for other helpful links.
