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How do I overcome this problem?
A lady has opened a bookshop for children's books and is very interested in stocking mine. Hooray! Finally...
However, she has just asked how she would get hold of them, and is adamant that she won't buy from Amazon, only from me.
The only thing I can think of is to buy stock myself and post them to her, and then she pays me... which seems a bit odd when she could order them direct and have free postage.
Is there any way around this, do you think?
Comments
She is asking lots of very brief questions to which I have to give long answers - which she doesn't refer to again!
It might just be she wants them cheaper, or thinks she can get them cheaper by applying through you - I know Iron Press have to sell so cheap to book shops it almost doesn't make it worth their while having the books stocked. She may not understand that you will have to pay the same price for your own book. Perhaps you should tell her that?
There is an option to buy with an author discount, heather:
I looked into this once before, but for a UK author it turned out not to be viable.
If I got 10 x copies of my most expensive book which is priced at £6, with the discount I would pay £32 (ish), which sounds very cheap. (The price changes depending on how large the order is...)
However, they then add tax and postage as they would be coming direct from the USA and, from past experience, I seem to think that this then works out more expensive than buying them from Amazon UK as an ordinary 'customer', especially as when you spend over £10 here, there is no postage.
Unfortunately, without going right down the 'Go to checkout' route, I can't see how much the P & P would be to get hold of author copies.
I have explained all this to her. It's not very easy to understand her replies, though.
In the last email, I suddenly remembered, and mentioned, that I am actually able to lower the price per book to the very lowest option - as long as it's within Amazon's suggested price range. It won't be by much as I've kept the paperback prices low; at the moment, all the books cost around £5 to the general customer.
Below is her last reply, which I don't exactly understand (she's asked me time and time again 'What is the rrp?' and I've quoted her my Amazon prices and have told her that she can set her own price):
What is the rrp £5 is cheap, I work on 50% '
I have no idea what she means by the percentage! I mean, I know it's half, but of what?!
So if she charges £6 and I have bought them for £5, and I get £3 back, am I in loss?
I buy them, so I pay £5.
I send them to her.
She pays nothing.
She sells them and gets £6.
She gives me £3...
So she makes £3 and I have made a loss of £2!
Have I worked that out correctly?
I'll have to see what the very cheapest I can price them for is, but I don't think I'll be able to get it down enough.
Because you don't have your own ISBN, you are tied to them printing and supplying the books that you want to place in the shop.
One option is to reduce the Amazon price temporarily and buy a batch. Then, when the order's processed, return the price to the original value. If you did that you could order enough to qualify for free postage.
She won't want to sell them for more than Amazon.
Unfortunately this is the main problem with KDP - selling in shops is not a money-earner.
Not having the price on the cover is not an issue. She will use the barcode and set the price.
I need to get my husband on to this. I need a spreadsheet - different prices for different quantities.
Sigh...
And it's going to be fiddly, constantly price-changing.
Sigh...
I tried to have a look at price editing this morning and I think it involves all the republishing palaver, waiting 24 or 48 hours (whatever it is) to have it okayed and then hit publish again.
*puts head in hands and gives up*
I suppose I don't really care about the money, Baggy. It would be nice to have an increase in sales, though - if they register when I buy. Also, it might earn me a few more fans who look out for my books...
Chicken?
Egg?
I can try out different quantities, I suppose, and send a suggested quantity for whatever seems most lucrative.
That was very stressful! (Too much maths!)
I am very out of my depth with technology, marketing, remembering to take up opportunities (World Book Day has surprised me yet again...), etc, etc.
All I can really do is spell, write a bit and make a nice Victoria sandwich.
We all have things we can't do. (I have lots!!)
Some things seem to be more acceptable than others. People who can't read often hide it, whereas people who aren't good at sums seem quite happy to say 'Oh I'm not good at maths'.
Same with other areas where people are judged for poor abilities in some things whereas similar things are treated sympathetically. I wonder why that is.