01 - The Case for Direct
Should you even be selling direct?
Is this a real trend, or is it hype? Are publishers like you doing this, or just the big ones? Here are nine reasons why this generation of publishers isn't waiting anymore.
DRM finally works the way it should
Adobe's DRM meant readers creating accounts, installing software, clicking through steps most gave up on halfway. The LCP standard, maintained by EDRLab, does the same protection job invisibly. The reader opens the book and reads.
The infrastructure cost and lock-in have collapsed
Direct-to-reader used to mean a high setup cost and a long contract behind it. There's still a setup cost - but it's mitigated, and there's no long lock-in sitting behind it. If it's not working, you're not stuck paying for it.
Retailers are giving you less data, not more
Amazon, Apple, and Kobo tell publishers almost nothing about who's actually buying their books - and that gap is widening, not closing. Every year direct sales stay a smaller share of your business is a year retailers know your readers better than you do.
Readers already buy direct - this isn't a strange ask anymore
Substack, Patreon, and creator subscriptions have spent five years normalising paying a publisher or creator directly. Asking a reader to buy from you rather than a retailer doesn't need explaining the way it did a decade ago.
It's already working at scale
Brandon Sanderson raised $41.7 million directly from readers in 2022. HarperCollins, IPG, and Penguin Random House have all launched direct reader channels in the last two years. This isn't a bet. It's a pattern.
Quality is about to matter more than it has in years
AI has made it cheap to flood marketplaces with low-effort content. That's good news for publishers readers already trust enough to follow direct - a relationship an algorithm can't manufacture and a competitor can't copy.
Audiobook no longer means playing by one retailer's rules
Audiobook has been the most locked-down format in publishing - one retailer controlling distribution, DRM, and the terms of access. A direct channel is often the first time a publisher can sell audiobooks on their own terms, in the format that's growing fastest.
The retailer's cut has gone up, not down
While the cost of building direct has fallen, the percentage retailers take hasn't moved in the other direction. Every year that gap widens is a year the comparison gets stronger - it isn't standing still while you decide.
Amazon can out-algorithm you. You can out-human them.
No algorithm can replicate the relationship between a publisher and the readers who genuinely care about what they publish. Your editorial voice, your community, your trust - these are moats Amazon cannot cross. Direct is how you build on them.