In this episode, Jodi explains why direct sales have become the future of independent publishing and a must-have strategy for business-owner authors. She shares the pros and cons of selling books directly, why it offers more control, and how it helps you increase ROI by using customer data, sales multipliers, and bundling strategies.

Time Stamps:

00:00 – Welcome and episode introduction

01:00 – The shift away from Amazon and third-party sellers

03:00 – Industry insight from Joanna Penn on direct sales as "the future"

05:30 – Why control matters for business-owner authors

09:00 – Print-on-demand eliminates storage headaches

12:00 – The real costs of selling direct (and why they're manageable)

15:00 – The pros: customer data, retargeting, and sales multipliers

20:00 – Bundling strategies and increasing the value of each sale

24:00 – Comparing royalties: direct vs. Amazon

29:00 – Why third-party sellers don't care about your business growth

34:00 – The ROI of direct sales and next steps for authors

38:00 – Final thoughts and wrap-up

Keywords:

direct sales, book marketing, author profit, sales multipliers, bundling, print on demand, self-publishing, independent publishing, ROI for authors, author platform, business ecosystem, book as marketing tool, customer data, Amazon alternatives

Resources Mentioned:

Coffee + Commas signup: https://bit.ly/coffeeandcommassignup

Ready Set Write Challenge: www.jodibrandoneditorial.com/readysetwrite

LINK TO FULL EPISODE (RAW) TRANSCRIPT:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CKCFcVHZun2eNGJeHefygLh0Vzm0qu0aDpVk52ttaP0/edit?usp=sharing