How to Buy Direct From Me
If you have an e-reader, a free e-reading app for your smartphone or tablet, or a desktop or laptop computer, you can read ebook files you purchased direct from my store.
My ebooks are compatible with all of the following:
- Amazon Kindle and Kindle Fire tablet
- Apple iPad, iPhone, and Mac
- Barnes & Noble NOOK Glowlight and NOOK Lenovo tablet
- Kobo’s line of e-readers
- Android phones
- Windows-based computers
- Apple Books app
- Amazon Kindle app
- Barnes & Noble app
- BookFunnel app*
- Google Play Books app
- Kobo app
And just about any other device or system you can imagine!
After your purchase, a file will be available for you to download yourself from my Payhip store. If you’re comfortable side-loading an ebook file or don’t wish to sign up for a BookFunnel account, you can download your book onto your device yourself.
Immediately after your purchase, you will also receive an email from BookFunnel. This BookFunnel email will include your book files plus links to add the book to the reader or app of your choice or a button to add it to your BookFunnel library and read it from within the BookFunnel app on your device!
Most authors who sell their books directly to readers use BookFunnel for delivery, so using the BookFunnel app is a handy way to keep your ebooks organized. But, in my opinion, the best reason to use BookFunnel is the excellent (and free) customer support they provide to readers. If you have any problems, a real live person (who just happens to be a tech whiz) will help you out!
If you contact me directly, I’ll always try to help you, but unlike the folks at BookFunnel, I’m not a tech expert. So, if I were you, I’d use BookFunnel. But in addition to not being a tech expert, I’m not you, and part of the beauty of buying direct is that you’re not locked into a platform or format, so you can do whatever you like!
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Why to Buy Direct from Me
There are loads of reasons why buying directly from me is a great option (for both of us!) Here are some of the big ones:
Exclusive Discounts: When you purchase your ebook from me, I don’t hand over 30-40% of your payment (plus fees) to a retailer. This gives me more flexibility to offer specials and discounts that I can’t always offer through retailers.
Early Releases: Be the first to read my new releases! I always release new books on my story at least one week before they’re available to purchase from the retail sites. Unlike major retailers, I don’t need a lot of lead time to process an ebook file, so why should you have to wait?
Customer Support: When a reader has a technical issue with a file purchased from me (it’s rare, but things happen), almost always, BookFunnel can resolve it in a snap! And when BookFunnel can’t (which is almost never), I can click a button and refund the reader without sending them through a frustrating chatbot or interminable hold time. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!
In contrast, when a reader contacts me to let me know their Apple Book won’t load, or Amazon delivered the wrong file, or Nook didn’t deliver the file at all, or whatever the issue is, it’s distressing for both of us. The reader wants their book, and I want them to get the book! But the reality is, there’s only so much I can do to troubleshoot problems with limited information, expertise, and understanding. If I can solve it, I have a happy reader, and I’m behind on my writing. If I can’t solve it (the more likely outcome), I have an unhappy reader, I’m mentally fried, and I’m behind on my writing.
Own Your Files: Most (all?) of the retailers don’t actually sell you ebooks, they license the files to you. It doesn’t make much of a difference to most readers …. Unless the retailer goes out of business or you switch e-reader platforms (for example, from Amazon to Apple Books). But when you buy from me, the files are yours. They belong to you. You can read them on any e-reader or app, and you can change from one e-reading system to another to your heart’s content.
Support My Writing Directly: I’ve always believed (most) readers don’t want to know “how the sausage gets made,” as the saying goes. So I’ll spare you the details, but the short of it is some retailers have policies like no-questions-asked returns of ebooks and audiobooks that have been read/listened to in their entirety; delivery fees charged to the author on top of the percentage they take for each ebook; exclusivity requirements; forty-five- to sixty-day royalty payment holds; and sometimes late, missing, and inaccurate (and unauditable) payments, to name just a few.
I’m genuinely delighted that readers find my books on retail sites where they are comfortable shopping. But it’s a simple fact that retailers look out for their own business interests, and they don’t care if that means your favorite authors have to stop writing because they can no longer support themselves and their families. You care, though. And buying books directly from authors like me is a tangible way to make sure we can keep creating the books and characters you love.
