When you’ve finally put all the finishing touches on your novel and have formatted for e-book self-publishing, do you know where and how you’ll be selling your work? While it may not seem so, the method by which you make your work available is almost as important as the quality of your manuscript. With so many e-book download systems available to you, it can be confusing, to say the least. Should you choose managed sales through mass e-book retailers tied to popular e-reader devices? Or should you strike out on your own, running your own web store? For many self-published authors, the latter is actually the best option by far. It can be easier than you might think, and you’ll never have to worry about the loss of control associated with both traditional publishing and managed sales.

Why All E-Book Download Systems are Not Created Equal

If you’re like most self-published authors, you’ve chosen this route primarily to preserve your independence and control over your career. You don’t want to settle for pennies from each sale of your work, surrender creative control to an editor or forfeit your reprinting rights. What you may not realize is that the popular mass-market managed sales route offers the same drawbacks with few of the benefits of traditional publishing. You’re likely to still share the lion’s share of your earnings with a corporate entity, are not likely to have much control over pricing and will be forced to agree to exclusivity contracts which totally restrict your ability to sell outside of a single marketplace.

Running your own web store may seem daunting, but it may actually be one of the most simple and straightforward methods of sale for your e-book download. Working with a dedicated eCommerce platform makes it easy to maintain an online business by streamlining your entire operation. From payment processing to file hosting and download automation, all the work is done for you. Choosing a service provider like PayLoadz.com also gives you access to an invaluable tool: low-cost, risk-free marketing.

How E-Book Download Marketing Can Make or Break Your Business

How often do you scroll past sponsored social media posts and banner ads? Your customers are no exception. You may be able to generate some sales through prepaid advertising, but you’ll be forced to gamble with your marketing budget to find out. These ads are expensive, and not at all guaranteed to work effectively.

Affiliate marketing networks, which are built in to high-quality eCommerce platforms, take all the risk and expense out of promoting your brand. You’re connected with an affiliate who actively works to promote your e-book download, because they only get paid when they directly generate a sale through their own specialized marketplace link. You’re only paying for marketing when it works, and then it’s only a small portion of your total proceeds. No risk, no lost money spent on ineffective marketing.

Explore your options with an eCommerce platform. You could have your own web store up and running in as little as a few hours.