Ask 50 experts, and you’ll likely get consensus that one of the hot publishing trends for 2025 is direct sales. It’s a trend carrying on from previous years but expected to explode in 2025. We’re fresh back from attending the Superstars Writing Seminar in Colorado Springs last week, where we spoke with hundreds of authors on all points of the writing and publishing spectrum, from working on their first book to 20+ years experience and wisdom to share. It was obvious that direct sales (and along with it, building an engaged community, which we’ll discuss in a future blog post) is not only here to stay, but can be a major factor in publishing success this year.
Why Hot Publishing Trends for 2025 Include Direct Sales
Ever since ereaders, and with them ebooks, came on the market, the publishing industry has been in constant flux. They were a major industry breakthrough that not only led to indie and self-publishing becoming a viable path to publication, but a profitable one. This created new opportunities for authors to reach readers, while also bringing millions of new books to market. While any bibliophile can be excited for more books, there are also challenges.
When any industry experiences soaring revenues, unethical players join in to take advantage of consumers and grab as much money as they can. So not only are there more legitimate producers, but exponentially more scammers loading books on the retailers, pirating from other authors, stealing intellectual property, and all kinds of other nefarious activities. As a result, the market is flooded, making it a challenge for real and good books to stand out.
Legitimate authors, publishers, retailers, and other vendors are continuously changing systems and practices, including technology, to keep up. Unfortunately, sometimes the tech turns against the good guys, removing legit books from the market and even shutting entire accounts down, effectively cutting off major revenue sources for honest and hard-working authors and publishers. Relying solely on other retailers to get our books into readers’ hands, without any control or ability to contact them directly, sounds less and less appealing.
Now bring in new vendors that allow authors and publishers to produce hard covers and special editions at affordable costs, other companies that provide support services to offer books directly to readers without a third party retailer, and even more service providers that facilitate direct contact and engagement with readers. With these services and systems in place, it’s easier than ever for authors and publishers to cut out the middleman and eliminate the risk of losing primary sources of income.
Direct sales to readers not only ensures you better control of the entire process from writing to publishing to sales, it also means you keep more of the revenues. Additionally, this sales channel gives you direct connection with your readers, facilitating conversations, engagement, and community building – making marketing of your next books so much easier and more profitable. When you have an active reader community that is vested in your stories, you, and each other, it can even make writing your next books easier and more fun.
What Direct Sales Means and How to Get In on These Hot Publishing Trends for 2025
Direct sales simply means exactly how it sounds: selling your books directly to readers. There are several paths for capitalizing on these hot publishing trends for 2025:
Your Website / An Author Store – If you’re a published author or soon-to-be one, you should already have a website in place as the “home base” or HQ for readers to find you. You can add a shop to your existing website (depending on your hosting service) or move it or create a new site using an ecommerce specific SaaS (software as a service), such as Shopify. You can sell print books, and you either directly ship them yourself or use a fulfillment service that works with your online store’s system, such as BookVault. You can also sell ebooks, using services like BookFunnel for protected delivery of the files, as well as book and author related merchandise.
Crowdfunding Sites – Kickstarter and other crowdfunding companies are another way to reach readers directly. Not only can you create a campaign for a new project, but you can add your backlist in your rewards and as add-ons.
Your Reader Community – If you already have a reader group on Facebook, Discord, Patreon, and/or Substack, let your imagination and creativity lead the way for how to sell your books directly to these super-fans. Perhaps a paid membership allows access to your books, whether whole or a chapter at a time. Or maybe you offer a book-of-the-month subscription plan, either as ebooks or print books. Or direct them to your online shop with a coupon code and/or give them early or exclusive access to sales.
In-Person – There are a variety of ways to sell your books live and in person, too. Conventions, such as book signings and comic cons, are popular with authors and readers and a common in-person direct sales approach. You may also consider other avenues, such as local farmers markets and crafts fairs, where you may be the only author, allowing you to stand out among the other vendors. Consider doing home book clubs/parties, where a hostess gathers her reader friends and you get to present and discuss your book over drinks and snacks, then offer sales of signed copies and other merchandise. For non-fiction authors, offer to present to local groups relevant to your topic, which in turn can lead to direct sales.
Marketing Direct Sales
Of course, like sales on the major retailers, you still have to do the marketing to drive readers to your point of sale (e.g., your website, Kickstarter project, community, event, etc.). This isn’t necessarily much different than how you’re already marketing your book: engagement with readers, networking with authors and professionals, your mailing list, social media, paid advertising, and online book promotion companies, like CraveBooks. You simply provide a link to your shop or landing page rather than to a retailer. For example, when you sign up for a promotion with CraveBooks, you decide which links to include and one of them (or even the only one) can be to your online author store.
Direct sales may be one of the hot publishing trends for 2025, but there are some drawbacks to consider. Primarily, going the direct route is a business in and of itself (beyond being an author). You have to order, be able to store, and manage inventory and/or arrange for direct fulfillment. You’re responsible for delivering the product, whether that’s using third-party fulfillment or managing packaging and shipping yourself. You’ll need to work with an accountant to ensure you meet sales tax requirements for different states and even different countries. And all of this is in addition to what you already do as an author.
Fortunately, you don’t have to do it alone – and you really shouldn’t. There are many services ready to help you take your book directly to readers, such as those mentioned above. Join our Facebook group and others, such as Wide for the Win, to learn more before deciding whether direct sales is a viable option for you. If you’re up for the challenges, selling your books directly to readers can be more profitable than other options while also providing more security to your long-term career.
This trend has been growing for a reason, and if you haven’t already jumped on the bandwagon, this year may be the time to do so. If you’re interested in learning more about direct sales and other hot publishing trends for this year, let us know in the comments.
