It’s unlikely that you’ve missed the fact that having an online presence is absolutely essential if you’re looking to sell your books, but we figured it made sense to start with that oft-repeated fact. Aside from social media, it’s also handy for authors to have a website.
The former is great for building your brand, promoting your books, and selling them to your existing audience. A website, however, when built correctly, can draw in a lot of fresh organic traffic and convert that into new readers. Having your own website is also a great way to sell your books, either directly from your own stock or via our widgets. This method of selling your book nets you the highest royalties (generally 2-4 times more than other sales channels!) which is of course a huge benefit. It’s also just a good idea to be findable in as many different places as possible.
What if an author website isn’t an option for you though? Funds, skills, or time might be factors that make a website an impossibility for some people. We decided to remedy this by creating a free author webshop that you can activate with a few clicks.
What is the Bookmundo author webshop?
If you’re one of those people who want to sell their books but for whom creating a website to do so isn’t an option, then the author webshop is for you!
In case you didn’t know, everyone who has an account on Bookmundo can create an online storefront where they can display some info about themselves, links to social media, and all the books they’ve published, complete with sales buttons so that visitors to this website can buy their books directly. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s simple and effective; perfect if you can’t make your own website, as a placeholder, or even to complement an existing website.
Selling your books via the author webshop nets you the same high royalties that you’d get by selling via the official Bookmundo store, with the added benefit of a personal touch and fewer distractions for prospective customers. It’s also reachable via search engines, so a search on your name and the title of your book tends to bring people to your webshop.
How to create your author webshop
Creating your author webshop is really easy. Once you’re logged in to your account, just navigate to “My Authors” and select the one you want to create a webshop for; you’ll get a popup with an option to create and edit it. You’ll see a screen like this:
Once you’ve chosen an author to create a webshop for, you’re only a few clicks away. We’ve broken it down into four steps that are so simple that you can barely even call them steps (also, most of them are optional):
- Customize your URL (or don’t!)
Your URL will be set to www.bookmundo.com/(your author name) by default. You can edit the bold segment however you like, though your name is always a solid choice. - Add your email address (or don’t!)
You have the option of displaying an email address in your author webshop, in case readers or customers want to get in touch with you. You can also skip this if you want. - Add your social media channels (or don’t!)
Same deal as with the email. You can add links to your social media profiles in order to get in touch with your readers and, in the long term, build a community. Again, this is all optional, but we do recommend it. - Launch your webshop
After you’ve decided whether or not to add your social media channels to your webshop, it’s time to set it online. All you need to do is click the button. Your webshop will then be activated, and all the books you’ve published will be displayed and available for purchase!
Is the author webshop something for you?
If you’ve read this far but still don’t feel like you have a clear idea whether the author webshop is something that you’re interested in, let us lay it all out for you.
The author webshop is not:
- A replacement for a full-fledged, customizable author website
- A place where you can post custom content and interact with your readers
- A guarantee for traffic and/or sales
What the author webshop is
- A personalized space to sell your books directly to readers via print-on-demand
- A sales channel that offers the highest possible margins
- Accessible directly through search engines
- Free to use and hosted by Bookmundo
Making the best use of your author webshop
The main takeaway here is that while having an author webshop is not a guarantor for book sales, it can be a powerful tool to boost them if used right. As mentioned, selling books via your author webshop nets you the same high margins that you’d get by selling through the Bookmundo store, but in a more focused, personalized environment.
By encouraging people to buy your book via the author webshop instead of third parties like Amazon, you can make up to 3 times more money per sold copy. Unless you make a concentrated effort to steer people towards it, however, chances are most readers will choose to buy your book in places they’re familiar with.
FAQ
Will the author webshop help me sell more books?
While we can’t guarantee that using the author webshop will help you sell more books, it will net you the highest possible margins for each sale. This means you won’t have to sell as many books via the author webshop as you would via a third party to make the same amount of money. The trick is to direct your customers to your author webshop instead of letting them buy your books via stores like Amazon, for instance. Explore our sales channels page to learn more about this.
Can I change the info I put on my page afterward?
Absolutely, you can edit any info at any time.
What if I change my mind about my webshop and want to delete it?
That is also possible. You can always select the “I don’t want a webshop” option on the webshop screen, and it will be deactivated.
Why can’t I add more content or customization to the webshop?
At the moment, the webshop is kept quite minimalist in order to keep everything running smoothly. We are working on implementing new customization features down the road, however, so keep an eye out!
I already have a website, how do I sell my books from there?
If you already have an author website of your own but want to get the same high margins that our webshop offers, you can make use of our widgets. These are customizable buy buttons that you can place on your website. When people buy your books via these widgets you’ll earn the same high royalties that you would in our shop.
Alternatively, you can of course simply add a link or button to the author webshop anywhere you like on your own site.