The Importance of Direct Consumer Sales

Even New York publishing houses have caught on to the fact that direct consumer sales—versus retail sales—is where it's at . . . or at least where it's heading when it comes to increasing the book sales profit margin. Perhaps that's where it's always been, with some publishers choosing to ignore it and continue to push more toward retail sales.

Indie publishers, small presses, and even authors (whether self- or traditionally published) need to pay attention. And perhaps even follow suit.

According to the Shelf Awareness Pro newsletter:

In a move to expand its efforts in direct-to-consumer (DTC) platforms, data engineering, and product development, HarperCollins is promoting Kate Johnson and Alvar Jover. Johnson will become senior v-p, DTC and consumer engagement, and will continue to lead HarperCollins Christian and Focus platforms, such as Bible Gateway, Study Gateway, and the Foyer, in addition to the U.S. and Harlequin Trade platforms, including Book Club Girl and Epic Reads. She will also spearhead the unification of the company's TikTok Shop strategy as well as head the revamp of HarperCollins's e-mail and performance marketing strategy. Johnson joined the company in 2020 and has been instrumental in the growth of HarperCollins Christian Publishing's DTC business, nearly tripling revenue.

What this also means is that Kate and Alvar are changing the game. As once upon a time, direct consumer sales were done more by the authors—at events, book signings, on social media, etc.—than the actual publishers. But these two team players understand that if a publishing house continues to rely on an author's efforts alone when it comes to direct consumer sales, they could find themselves bankrupt. . . or with a warehouse full of books that aren't moving.

And not because they aren't great books, but because the consumers don't know about the great books. And, again, this can happen when publishers rely on retailers, distributors, wholesalers or, again, even the authors alone to get the titles into the hands of the consumers. But with Direct Consumer Sales—DCS—the publishers and their authors (or the self-published author) are the main ones responsible for getting the books into the hands of the consumers. They stop giving all that power to the third parties. More importantly, they stop giving away a cut of the pie.

What traditionally published authors should know, though, is that when they put the power of direct consumer sales into their publisher's hands, they typically receive a lower royalty rate per book sale (and per their contract). So, any traditionally published author seeking to get a larger return on their investment should want to be in as much control of direct consumer sales as possible. Handing over that task to the publisher is not always the smartest thing to do. Afterall, their book is their business, per Path To Publishing's CEO, Joylynn M. Ross's, upcoming title, Your Book is Your Business: Money-Making Sales Strategies. But on that same token, any publisher wanting to make a larger profit margin should redirect their focus to direct-consumer-sales. Because the more direct-consumer-sales they make, the less royalty they have to give the author. This is one of the reasons why Path To Publishing's traditional publishing imprint, PTP Press, strongly encourages its authors to go out there and dominate those direct-consumer-sales by building relationships and a rapport with their audience. That's how much we want authors under our imprint to win.

History continues to show us that when the game starts changing in the publishing industry, it's time for everyone in the publishing industry to up their game. This means that Direct Consumer Sales is an element all publishers need to start adding to—or paying more attention to—their author/publisher partnership. And in order for DCS to be more effective, all parties involved must create and identify a customer value beyond just the book itself.

As always, PTP Press is way ahead of this concept. We created a customer value beyond just the book sale or literary entertainment with its inaugural title, The Price We Pay.

But we are one of the lucky publishers who works with authors who, like the PTP Press team members, understand that it takes more than throwing marketing dollars out there to generate interest in the book. It also takes the author getting out there, in the community, as a literary artist and as a change-agent. And it takes us, the publisher, doing the same in order to make those direct connections with the consumers that ultimately lead to direct consumer sales.

PTP Press team member, Brandy M. Miller, is the brain behind the movement and products PTP Press created to add customer value to our inaugural title.

B.E. S.E.E.N. Program Offerings

B.E. S.E.E.N. Course Cover

The other PTP Press team members couldn't wait to rally behind and support Brandy's vision, ultimately creating a national movement with the now five-time award-winning book, The Price We Pay.

The B.E. S.E.E.N. movement is part of the Bias Education & Techniques training we offer to individuals and organizations in the public and private sector, as well as non-profits and youth organizations. The program includes self-paced training, in-person training and workshops, and has a companion workbook/worksheets and study guide. You can learn more about B.E. S.E.E.N. by visiting https://ptppress.com/course/b-e-s-e-e-n.

When mentioning that the publisher has to get out there in the community as well as the author, that was not just talk. Over the summer, PTP Press team member Earth O. Jallow, who took Brandy's existing concept and customized it for youth, young adults, and new adults, trained the team over at Patternz Summer Camp in Columbus, Ohio. Along with the B.E. S.E.E.N. training, each participant received a copy of The Price We Pay and companion worksheets.

Even the CEO of PTP Press, Joylynn M. Ross, along with her teenage son (as the book is for the young adult audience) attended the CCSD Teacher Community Meet-up, where she shared flyers and information about B.E. S.E.E.N. with Las Vegas, Nevada, Clark County educators and sold them copies of the book.

But PTP Press, not your average publisher (big, small, traditional, or otherwise), took it even a step further to support The Price We Pay. We built out an online fan club portal for the author to invite her fans to, and where the author can communicate with, engage, and nurture her readers. There is both a free and paid version you can learn more about and join by visiting https://ptppress.com/membership/fan-club/.

This is direct consumer sales at its best. And it's something both the authors and publishers should be doing, although very few publishers put forth the time, effort, money, team, and resources to create these types of offerings the way PTP Press did. We even went as far as putting together a three-month email sequence campaign to support the title and the movement, but more importantly, to complement any of the author's efforts. We assigned a member of our team to check in with the author weekly regarding any needs or support we could offer. Something else we did was partner with the author on submitting the title to awards and contests. You'll rarely find publishers supporting their authors to this degree, as there are typically fees involved, not to mention hard copies of books that the publisher must ship out.

Not every publisher wants to invest this kind of time, money, energy, effort, and resources into their authors and publications, but PTP Press saw it as a must if we want to achieve our measure of literary and financial literary success. And more importantly, if we want to move the messages in our books.

Plus, traditional publishers take a lot of flack for not supporting their authors in marketing, promotion, and book selling efforts. We were determined to be the exception. And we did that by being exceptional and going above and beyond simply publishing a book. And this serves as our receipts!

If you have goals and a measure of success you want to achieve for your literary and publishing business in the final 2025 quarter, or you want to position yourself to achieve them in 2026, consider signing up for our monthly Literary Consulting & Publishing Coaching program by visiting https://www.pathtopublishing.com/literary-consulting-services.

Our literary professionals and industry experts would love to chauffeur you toward literary and financial literary success . . . starting with mastering direct consumer sales . . . starting with mastering direct consumer sales and adding customer value to your book.