In this solo presentation, Julie Broad (founder of Book Launchers) examines whether authors should avoid selling their books on Amazon. She acknowledges common author complaints—high fees, algorithm control, limited pricing—but argues that Amazon serves as a crucial credibility and social‑proof layer. She explains how readers, potential clients, and bookstores default to Amazon for reviews, rankings, and sales data, and how the absence of Amazon presence can create doubt and limit bookstore shelf space. Broad contrasts this with a direct‑sales model, noting that only authors who are already skilled high‑level direct‑response marketers with an existing audience and robust funnel infrastructure can realistically rely solely on website sales and IngramSpark. She illustrates her points with two case studies: Jason Guinard, who raised $230k on Kickstarter and sold 21,000 copies yet still launched on Amazon for broader impact; and Alex Hormozi, who sold hundreds of thousands of copies directly but still listed his book on Amazon. The core recommendation is a mixed strategy: use Amazon for visibility and validation while leveraging direct sales for profit and deeper reader connection. She concludes by inviting viewers to join her free community at booklaunchers.com/authorlab to develop a tailored book‑business strategy.
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I've had more and more conversations with authors that don't think Amazon is worth it. They change their algorithm, they take a ton of the profit, they don't even let you set the price fully. But should you skip Amazon? If you're wondering if you should just go direct or give your business to Amazon, this video is for you. Hi, I'm Julie the Book Broad, founder of Book Launchers and your host here at BookLaunchers.tv. Book Launchers is your first choice for all things related to writing. Writing, publishing, and promoting nonfiction books. Everyone— well, maybe not everyone, but a lot of authors love to complain about Amazon. And some of them are not willing to face the reality that is true about Amazon as well. And one of those people I was just on the phone with, and they said, I don't want my book on Amazon. And you know what? I get it. Amazon takes a cut, controls reviews, can shut accounts down, takes some of your control away. All true. So the logic is sound. And this author was like, I'll just sell direct from my website and use Ingram to skip over Amazon. And that's only sort of gonna work. Now, if you're great at paid ads, great at funnels, great at writing copy, you're really good at upsells and backend offers, and you have an existing audience and network that's going to go there for your book, you can absolutely build a great business selling direct. But what I'm saying is you're not just another author. You're already a high-level direct response marketer. And most authors, are not that. Most nonfiction authors are not trying to build a book business. They're trying to gain authority or speaking or clients, or they just really want to have impact with their story. For all of that, there's a very important piece of the puzzle that you need. It's called social proof. And whether you like it or not, Amazon is the default place people look for to see if a book has social proof. When someone hears about you, what do they almost always do? They go to Amazon and check your book or look you up on Google or ChatGPT. But usually, if they have a book, they go to Amazon. And if your book isn't there, it has no reviews, it has no ranking, it has no validation. And that creates doubt. Not because your book is bad, but because it's missing a really important signal. Now, you might be thinking, I don't care about Amazon. I just want bookstores. So, I'm going to go through IngramSpark. Okay, cool. Let's say you want your book in bookstores. Well, bookstores will check BookScan sales. Amazon reviews. And if all your sales are direct, you don't exist in those places. So from their perspective, you have no traction, no demand, no proof. So they're not gonna give you some of their valuable shelf space. I wanna talk about the IngramSpark piece because a lot of authors think I'm just going to use IngramSpark and avoid Amazon. But that's not how this works. You can't realistically avoid it even if you tried. Because third-party sellers, they will list your book anyway. Now Amazon's still selling your book and you're not even a part of that transaction. Yeah. I'm not saying only sell on Amazon. I think that's kind of lazy and very limiting. But what I am saying is Amazon is your credibility layer. Direct sales, well, they're your profit and connection to your reader layer. And the best authors, well, they're doing all the things. Ultimately, they're looking at their book as the gateway, and putting the book wherever readers may find it is part of the strategy to making that gateway to clients, speaking, deals, authority as big as possible. Because if you're doing any of that, or even if you want impact, you need visibility and validation. Books that are read, reviewed, and recommended are the ones that build for an author, build that income, build that impact. You can skip Amazon if you have a large audience, you run high-converting funnels, or you have a strong backend offer. Or if you're somebody like Jason Guinard releasing his book called Community Made, he spent, I don't know, 15 years building a massive network and a really strong community, and he's using the principles in his book. He doesn't have a big email list or a big social media following, and yet he's raised $230,000 on Kickstarter for the launch of his book and sold 21,000. And he could skip Amazon if he wanted to, but he's not. When he launches his book, he will be releasing it on Amazon and in all the bookstores because he knows that he will have further impact and reach by doing so. Alex Hormozi, with his giant Guinness Book of World Records launch, he can skip Amazon still. He ultimately put his book on Amazon even after selling hundreds and hundreds of thousands of copies direct. You're not avoiding Amazon when you do that. You're avoiding visibility. Amazon's not your enemy. You don't have to love it, but ignoring it, that's a questionable strategy. Now, if you want help building a strategy that works for your goals, not just writing a book, but turning it into authority and clients and impact, come on over to our free community over at booklaunchers.com/authorlab. The goal here is not just to publish a book, it's to make sure people actually trust it when they find it, and that they find it in the first place. I'll see you there.
