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Steve Weber
It provides your book with the same exposure as titles from other
publishers having wide distribution and big marketing budgets.
Amazon shows your title as available for “one-day shipping,” which
boosts sales.
You can apply online for the Advantage Program and submit your
title for consideration. If approved, you’ll list your book in Amazon’s
catalog, provide descriptive content, and ship books to an Amazon
warehouse. When customers purchase your title, Amazon processes the
order within 24 hours. Amazon tracks your inventory and sends e-mail
requests for more copies according to customer demand.
If your title is enrolled in Advantage, it will also appear for sale on
other Web sites such as Borders.com, Target.com, VirginMega.com and
Waldenbooks.com.
Publishers must retain North American distribution rights to
participate in Advantage, and your book must have a scannable barcode
and valid ISBN.
Amazon Marketplace
Most publishers use a distributor to get books into the hands of
retailers. Some small publishers and self-publishing authors prefer to
handle sales fulfillment themselves, for a variety of reasons. Handling
the shipping provides access to buyer information, giving publishers who
sell a line of related books the ability to upsell and pitch new titles
directly to those buyers. When bookstores or Amazon handle sales, the
publisher doesn’t know who’s buying the books.
Anyone with a U.S. bank account can open an Amazon seller account
to list copies of books for sale. One advantage of Marketplace is that
Amazon handles payment collection. Funds are deposited to your bank
account in about a week, and sellers receive a shipping credit to help
cover shipping costs.
Sellers pay Amazon a 15 percent commission on Marketplace sales
and miscellaneous fees of $1.23 and 99 cents per transaction. The 99-
cent fee on each sale is waived, however, if you become an Amazon Pro-
Merchant subscriber. If you sell more than 40 books per month, the
subscription pays for itself. Having a Pro-Merchant subscription also
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