Long-time Legionnaires will know I’ve always had a Storehouse-first attitude, and for good reasons.
When I first started taking this publishing gig seriously, for the first year, my books weren’t even available on Amazon or other retailers. I loathed relying on them. I didn’t like landing on a product page crammed with 101 other books vying for my attention. And I most certainly didn’t enjoy the idea of putting all my eggs in someone else’s basket.
Owning my own store avoids all of these shortcomings.
I get to design book pages the way I want them…
Write fun and highly unprofessional e-commerce emails…
Offer readers items they otherwise would never have had access to…
And most importantly…
Have a more direct connection with my Patrons.
That said, my stance softened on retailers earlier this year when I released the first iteration of my digitally narrated audiobooks through Google’s narration programme. They required my ebooks and audiobooks to be listed on the Play Store in order to distribute the audiobooks elsewhere.
I figured if I’m going to be on one retailer, I may as well be on the others, too.
That turned out to be a good thing in hindsight, as plenty of new readers have discovered my work through these channels, which ultimately serves my mission of entertaining and giving people a place to escape the world for a few hours.
I’ve since upgraded the audiobook narration (using another company) and pulled down the originals at Google, so I am no longer “required” to be on retailers, but I still choose to be… for now.
So the retailers are stocked only with my standard e-books — nothing else.
Naturally, the question comes:
Will my paperbacks find their way onto retailers?
Only a week ago, that would have been a resounding NO, but since receiving the Amazon samples and being pleasantly surprised by the printer quality, I’m a little on the fence.
I’m still waiting on final proofs from my preferred printing partner, and that will be the determining factor.
My priority has been (and always will be) delivering the best versions of my work to Patrons. If my printing partner’s editions are clearly superior, it will be a Storehouse exclusive. If the difference is negligible, then there’s good reason to assume they will eventually be distributed through retailers, while I’ll reserve my store for signed copies or things of that nature.
Or maybe I’ll just have them running simultaneously.
This way, you have a choice.
For those who prioritise speed over quality, Amazon/retailers will be their preferred destination.
For those who value quality and want a book that will stand the test of time on their bookshelf, waiting an extra 5-7 days will be no big deal.
But for now, though, the inaugural paperbacks will launch ONLY at my Storehouse.
Until then, you can still grab my digitally signed ebooks and audiobooks exclusively from my website — editions you’ll never find on retailers.
Here’s zee link:
https://www.djjwatsonstore.com
DJJW
