Looking Into 2026 and Beyond

I've been self-publishing since 2016 (and with a small press from 2008 - 2016), and while I've been pretty satisfied with where I am currently with Draft2Digital, I am considering going back to selling direct via Payhip, which I tried to do a few years ago. While it's true that I'm more likely to enjoy success selling direct if I were a more popular writer with a massive and loyal fanbase (I'm not), I still would like to offer that as an option to readers.

The main reason for this move is my royalties, which are very, very small. Draft2Digital also takes a percentage of my net sales, which leaves me with pennies at the end of the day, especially with my preferred prices for my long novellas being only 99 cents. They also recently added a threshold to their payments, which will delay what little I already earn by a month or two months or whenever my sales cross their new threshold. 

Recently their royalty rates via Smashwords shrank, and it affects authors across the board. Then their print platform also raised prices on printing each unit, further shrinking another income source (for what it's worth) for me. I rarely sell print books, really, and the argument for just ditching it as something that isn't worth the trouble is compelling, but I still would like to keep that option available.  

Draft2Digital is a business first and foremost, and I don't begrudge them this. They have the right to make these changes even if those don't benefit writers on the lowest end of the sales spectrum like me. 

So if I'm only going to be making a couple of dollars here and there, it's best if I were to keep as much of the sales as possible. One great thing about selling direct is that customers don't need to sign up for an account in order to access the books. I can also offer sales exclusively through that platform, and there's no need for sign ups or anything. 

It's going to take a while for me to get my store up and running, and when it's done, I'll post about it here. Maybe I'll end up pulling my books from all bookstores while keeping them available to check out from library services and simply selling them directly through Payhip. I've toyed with the idea again and again, and arguments can be made either way, but I suppose I'll cross that bridge when I get there.