September 22, 2022
Hello, BFFs!
We’re on to Day #2 of Week #3 of Christmas in September, where we’re announcing new features just as fast as we can finish them! This week is all about selling direct. On Tuesday, we announced checkout delivery pages, the all-in-one, automagical delivery link that lets your buyers download their book immediately after purchase without having to check their email! This is exactly the experience that authors—and their readers—want when selling direct.
Authors on BookFunnel are setting up full-blown stores, dabbling with one-off bundles, presales, quick sales, all kinds of stuff, all the time. There’s a whole world of direct selling options out there to explore, and it doesn’t have to be complicated, technical, or time-consuming.
Some of the sales platforms we integrate with make it really easy to do quick sales and one-off bundles. Others require a bit more time investment to get a store up and running. We want to make sure we’re supporting a variety of platforms so that you can combine awesome selling features with the world’s best ebook and audiobook delivery. That’s BookFunnel, by the way.
But, it’s been a while since we added a new sales platform to direct sales. We even lost one, Selz, because Amazon bought them and ate them. We’ve wanted to add more sales platforms for a while, we just had to find the right ones.
Which brings us to…
Announcing Gumroad Integration
Gumroad is one of the biggest selling platforms out there for indie creators (including authors). We know a lot of you are already using it because you’ve been asking us for this. And, we’re so happy to be able to connect Gumroad’s simple sales platform with BookFunnel delivery.
If you’re not familiar with Gumroad, they’re one of the easiest ways to get started with direct sales and have been around for over a decade. To start selling on Gumroad, you create an account, add a product, connect it to BookFunnel, and you’re off and running. And, HUGE bonus, you can integrate your Gumroad store with BookFunnel in just one click!
Here’s what you get with Gumroad:
- Simple, straightforward setup
- Uncomplicated personalization options
- Custom domain support
- Memberships and subscriptions
- Coupon codes, discounts, whatever you need
- Optionally build and host your author website
- VAT is 100% handled
- US sales tax is calculated (tax is not collected or remitted, but Gumroad will record your taxable sales, which makes filing less of a chore)
And, you can’t beat their pricing. No monthly fees, at all. They take a small percentenage on each transaction, and that percentage goes down, down, down the more you sell. It’s completely free to get started, and fast to set up.
Easy Selling, First-Class Delivery
Now that you can deliver your Gumroad sales (ebooks, audiobooks, and PDFs!) with BookFunnel, you can set up a quick sale or a small store with very little time commitment.
And, using Gumroad + BookFunnel Checkout Delivery Pages, your readers can have a seamless sales-to-delivery experience. Enable a simple checkout redirect on your ebook and audiobook products and Gumroad will bounce your buyers to BookFunnel to get their book immediately after purchase. Buy→Bounce→Boom, got your book!
Available Today
Gumroad is available as a sales platform on ALL BookFunnel plans today. Yes, even our $20-per-year First-Time Author plan.
Sales delivery has always been available on every BookFunnel plan. We think selling direct is that important for indie authors, no matter where they are in their author career. Every author can give it a shot and, hopefully, find deeper connections with their readers… while also earning a little—or a lottle—extra scratch. Maybe Gumroad is the platform that will make it possible for you to dive in?
Learn more about using Gumroad and BookFunnel.
That’s all for today! We’ve got one more announcement before we wrap these not-an-actual-holiday-but-should-be Christmas in September festivities up!
Our CEO Damon Courtney is at NINC (Novelists Inc Conference) this week and will be giving a talk on… direct sales! How conveniently timed is this??
If you’re down in St. Pete’s for NINC, stop in and say hi! Drop in on his talk too. He’s got oodles to say about direct sales and will be sharing (with permission, of course) some of the wildly successful sales strategies—big and small—we’ve seen this year. Ooh, and karaoke! Can’t forget that. BookFunnel is co-sponsoring a big karaoke bash with Draft2Digital and it’s always a good time.
Until tomorrow, authors!
