I was talking with Lady Laura, reminiscing about the journey we've had in this fiction gig, when she brought up a point I had almost forgotten about.
For the first 1-2 years of taking this ink press seriously, I only sold my wares out of my Storehouse – not retailers.
Sure, I probably lost out on hundreds, perhaps thousands, in royalties, but I also had some of the most fun, relaxed months in this gig.
I had no tax forms to fill out…
No 1-star reviews to field because some troll loathed my Legion ramblings…
And just one clean link to send readers to.
But if life was so good without Big Retailer…
Why did I publish on them?
Was it the coin? The recognition?
Or just so I could hog up some of Amazon's vast server space?
None of the above.
My move back to the retailers actually had very little to do with me and more to do with the emails and social media comments I kept receiving from people asking why my books weren't on their favourite retailer.
I gave my usual reply, "Because these books are special," but after the 200th time of replying, I had to have a strong sit-down with myself and ask a difficult question:
Am I in the business to entertain as many people as I can, or am I not?
If it were the former, then cutting retailers out entirely was a bit like cutting off my nose to spite my face.
Some readers simply weren't ready to buy direct (yet), whether that's because they had been burned before, didn't trust me yet, or thought it would be too complicated to load my books onto their Kindle.
But retailers?
They were safe and predictable.
Then it dawned on me that if those readers discovered me on Amazon, loved the book, then found the Legion — there was a good chance they'd eventually trust me enough to buy direct anyway.
And so, after deciding I was in the business of helping as many people as I can escape the mundanity and challenges of life as I could, I published The Divided Region on every major retailer.
Oh, and guess what?
Less than a few months after opening the doors to retailers…
It turns out my hypothesis was correct.
(Cap tip to the Legionnaires who've come from those platforms.)
So yes, I'll still continue to throw stones at retailers if nothing more than for the fun of it. They may not be the backbone of my business, but they are sure useful.
So much so, I'm going to do something radical.
For the first time ever in the Legion's history, I'm going to pop a link out to retailers, and not my Storehouse.
I know, I know.
We're only a few weeks into the year, and I've lost my noggin already.
So if you're one of those sceptics who isn't "ready" to buy directly yet, or doesn't fancy messing around with BookFunnel or sideloading onto your e-reader (even though I promise it's easier than it sounds)…
Then you can start reading The Divided Region on any major retailer here:
https://books2read.com/dividedregionexiled
DJJW