Carla King interview with Chelsea Bennet of Lulu.com

Direct sales allows authors more control, enabling them to own the customer journey, including gathering data unavailable through traditional sales channels such as Amazon.

Having an author website is critical, so that readers have a hub to visit—and because it can act as a platform for direct sales, which keeps readers on the website versus sending them to another platform.

Lulu facilitates direct sales in conjunction with Shopify.

There are two ways an author can leverage Lulu’s Shopify integration: 1) for authors without access to the back end of their sites, through Shopify itself, which acts as the e-commerce engine and takes care of transactions, or 2) for authors who do have access to the back end of their sites, via a Lulu .api, which acts as the e-commerce engine without a need to go through Shopify.

For authors without a website, a Shopify widget can be used on Facebook and Instagram to facilitate direct sales.

Direct sales ideally complements other distribution options, e.g., Amazon, Ingram, etc., as opposed to replacing them, the goal being to make things as easy as possible for potential customers.

Chelsea Bennett is the brand engagement manager at Lulu.

Lulu.com created the first open source publishing platform allowing authors to publish and distribute their books globally. Our publishing platform allows creators to publish a book in a few easy steps, while offering unmatched flexibility and control. Since 2002, Lulu.com has empowered creators in over 225 countries/territories to produce over 22 million books and counting.

Podcast editing and episode notes by author and podcast producer and host Matthew Félix (matthewfelix.com).