a single source, nothing corroborates it

Sell direct so the platform's cut stays with you

A platform taking a sixth of every sale can make an otherwise successful product not worth promoting, which is a calculation to do before you build the launch on it. Selling through your own storefront alongside the marketplace pays materially more per copy for the same work. On a deal site, negotiate the price rather than the revenue split, since a digital product has no unit cost and what matters is not undercutting your own page.

The method

1. 01

   Check the platform's cut before you build a launch on it - a fee near 15% of sales can make an otherwise successful product not worth promoting.

2. 02

   Sell the book through your own storefront alongside Amazon, because the direct channel pays materially more per copy.

3. 03

   Negotiate the deal-site price, not the revenue split: a digital product has no unit cost, so what matters is not undercutting your own page and insulting your earliest customers

What it returned

• 15%

  The Build Your Audience course launched to five figures, then Justin stopped promoting it because the course platform took almost 15% of sales.

• $10

  Sold at $10 on AppSumo bundled with a second book written for that deal, against list prices of $12 and $8, a 50% discount

• Justin sells Jolt on both his Podia store and Amazon, and earns considerably more from Podia.

Sources

• 2014: a year of making stuffJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · What were my biggest hits of 2014? · undated
• Publish your ebook as PDF, MOBI, and ePub all at the same timeJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Self-publishing steps: · undated
• $39k in eBook Sales Part 2: Design, Testimonials, and TrafficNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · Selling with AppSumo and Dealotto · 2012-10-08