SFFMP 182: Selling Direct from Your Site and Cultivating a Rabid Fan Base with Bookfunnel’s Damon Courtney

If you’ve been wanting to sell direct from your site, figure out how to turn your current readers into rabid fans, and learn about this new GDPR thing everyone is talking about in regard to mailing lists, you’ll want to listen to today’s show. We had return guest Damon Courtney from Bookfunnel on, and he talked about concerns of authors and also what his author customers are doing that’s most effective in building a fan base and selling books.

Here are some of the specifics we covered:

  • New features at Bookfunnel including integration with Patreon and payment processors so authors can sell direct from their sites.
  • Selling advanced reader copies of books before you enroll them in Kindle Unlimited, so non-Amazon readers can buy them.
  • Which payment processors are simplest to work with and which make it so you don’t have to worry about handling sales tax and VAT on your own (Payhip was mentioned as a good option, and then the WooCommerce WordPress plug-in for those who don’t mind DIY.)
  • How some authors are getting readers to buy direct, so they have more control and take a bigger cut of the sales price.
  • Bookfunnel’s gifting option.
  • How they make it so you can restrict ebook downloads to certain reward levels on Patreon.
  • Some mistakes authors make with their mailing lists and give aways.
  • How often do you need to give away things to keep fans happy?
  • What kind of bonus content excites readers and makes them want to sign up for and stay on your mailing list.
  • Putting out regular chapters or serial episodes.
  • What GDPR is and how to know if your mailing list practices may get you in trouble.

Make sure to check out Bookfunnel and the Bookfunnel blog, and if you missed Damon’s earlier episode you can listen to that here: Using Free Ebooks to Grow Your Mailing List and Increase Readership.

 

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2 comments

  • Wow. All your shows are interesting an informative, but this one was just PACKED with useful details. I listened twice, taking notes. Thank you very much to the SFF crew and the Damon for an excellent episode!

    • SFFpodcast

      Thanks, Anna! Damon is a great guest. Definitely corner him at a conference if you ever get the chance. 🙂