The New Christian Books Online Store is accepting submissions, enabling you to expand into a new sales venue in advance of the holiday buying season. The shop, run in affiliation with the John 3:16 Author Marketing Network, is managed by Author Marketing Network member Cheryl Rogers.
"It is my goal to make this a very large store where the authors and publishers of kingdom-building books can sell their books," says Cheryl, who also publishes the New Christian Books Online Magazine.
New Christian Books gives authors a unique opportunity to both publicize and sell their books on one site. Authors register for free and can submit pre- and post-release book announcements, plus excerpts. Books can be sold directly in the New Christian Books Online Store and through links to online booksellers Amazon and Smashwords.com. Authors can keep their names in front of readers by taking advantage of all three posting opportunities, commenting on other posts, and selling their book in the store.
The magazine was launched last March to accommodate reciprocal blogging agreements with fellow John 3:16 Author Marketing Network members. "My original blog started in 2007 was strictly focused on Bible-based living tips to support my devotions book, Fast Track to Victory, A Christian Guidebook," explains Cheryl. "The new magazine includes the Bible blog but also allows me to host blog tours, write about the exploding ebook industry, and share author marketing news."
Posts and products must be approved prior to becoming live. The site is run as a service to the Christian reading and writing communities and will generate revenues through book sales, advertising and potential optional services.
"It is my goal to provide a place where authors with a God-given message can get help publicizing and selling their book, for free," Cheryl explains. "I'm not a fan of book launches, so this is how I have chosen to offer help to fellow authors."
Here are some important things you should know if you want to sell your books in the New Christian Books Online Store:
* You can sell both print and digital books. YOU will be shipping the print books, so you must be available and able to ship when an order is placed. This avoids duplicating shipping charges and handling fees, keeps customer costs down and maximizes the amount you can collect from every sale. Digital books will be available for instant, secure downloading once payment has been made.
* You receive 65 percent of the sales revenue on your book, unless you refer that customer to the store. If you so you will receive an additional 15 percent, or a total of 80 percent.
* You must have the rights to enter into sales agreements before submitting your book. If you have relinquished this right to your publisher, you may want to send them to New Christian Books to submit the book for you. Or perhaps they will consider giving you rights to handle this store agreement since you are a network member.
* The store is set up in self-serve format, but there are instructions available after you register and log in. It uses Wordpress, so posting and product submission follows the basic blogging format.
* Sales are generated through an affiliate program, basically an online sales force who uses New Christian Book-provided sales banners and links to advertise the store through their websites and other means. You need to sign up for the affiliate program to collect your royalties and that means you will have access to the sales tools. You are not required to sell, but it would be great if you did.
"It is my belief that if everyone did just a little bit, posted a couple of banners, we would be able to create a substantial interest in this store," Cheryl says. "This should provide a new sales venue for Christian authors currently shut out of other stores because of unattractive consignment and return agreements, upfront costs, and monthly fees."
I want to dispel any potential confusion about the shipping. You, the author, set the shipping rate that covers your costs in the U.S. and keep 100% of it. The 65% rate applies to the actual book price, not shipping.
ReplyDeleteSetting the rate high enough to cover shipping to Canada is a good idea, but at this point we are not accepting overseas orders because of European taxing issues.
Those who do not prefer to ship can always just sell ebooks!