In 2023, ALLi published a comprehensive guide to selling print books directly from your website, emphasizing author autonomy and the values of Self-Publishing 3.0. Two years later, the conversation has evolved. While print remains essential, today’s direct-selling landscape is increasingly defined by digital strategies, reader data, and deeper fan relationships.
Damon Courtney
That shift was the focus of a recent ALLi webinar with Damon Courtney, founder of BookFunnel, who emphasized that direct selling is no longer just about cutting out the middleman. It’s about building a sustainable author business through better margins, early access, and the cultivation of superfans.
The Platform Squeeze and the Creator Response
Courtney draws a direct line between today’s publishing climate and what happened to musicians in the early 2000s. “If you want to see what our future looks like, we can look to the music industry—and that’s not necessarily in a good way,” he said.
He recounted how Apple’s iTunes store enabled consumers to buy single songs for $0.99, undermining the economics of albums. It wasn’t just about piracy—it was about platforms reshaping consumption, reducing artists’ control, and ultimately taking a bigger share of revenue. “The platforms that exist today are forcing you as authors to take less money,” Courtney warned. “Amazon is always changing the rules of Kindle Unlimited. They’re forcing you into exclusivity if you want that pool of readers that's on their platform.”
And the pressure isn’t only from Amazon. “A lot of the other platforms are starting to reduce the fee, or tack on fees, and add things,” he said. He expressed skepticism that Spotify would save indie authors from Audible’s grip: “If you look at the music industry, I wouldn't look at Spotify as a savior.”
Courtney also flagged the looming threat of AI-generated content, suggesting that some platforms may seek to eliminate the need for human creators altogether: “AI is going to let a lot of these platforms create unlimited works, and some of them are already looking at ways that they can maybe factor that whole artist thing out of it, because then we have to pay royalties—and that’s really annoying.”
Faced with this shifting landscape, indie authors are pushing back—not by abandoning platforms entirely, but by reclaiming their audiences. Direct selling isn’t just a revenue move, Courtney emphasized; it’s a response to a system that increasingly treats creators as expendable.
The 1,000 True Fans Model
Courtney champions the “1,000 true fans” theory popularized by Wired magazine's Kevin Kelly. According to the theory, an artist doesn't need millions of casual buyers to build a viable career—just 1,000 “true fans” who are willing to spend $100 a year directly on that creator’s work.
“That’ll get you about $100,000 a year,” Courtney said. “And inflation is not so great, but in general, that is a living, right? That’s a full-time living in most parts of the world.”
But Courtney emphasized a crucial detail that authors often overlook: “This is not 1,000 fans who read your books in Kindle Unlimited. That’ll get you about $8 a year. This is 1,000 fans who buy directly from you through whatever mechanism that you've allowed them to do that.”
He drew a sharp distinction between passive readers and true fans—what indie authors often call “superfans.” A KU reader may finish your book, move on to the next, and forget your name entirely. A true fan will preorder your book without knowing the title. “It’s not about volume. It’s about depth of connection and ownership of the relationship.”
Courtney cited the example of Brandon Sanderson’s record-breaking Kickstarter campaign, which raised nearly $42 million from 185,000 backers for four surprise novels that hadn’t even been announced yet.
“He didn’t tell you the titles. He didn’t tell you what they were about. He just said they’re in my universe,” Courtney said. “And 185,000 people said, ‘Shut up and take my money.’ That’s what superfans can do.”
Similarly, he noted that Taylor Swift fans—many of whom weren’t lifelong diehards—became devoted after just one immersive experience.
“If you have a group of people who’ve given themselves their own name… you’re heading in the right direction,” Courtney said. “I went to one concert and came back with a gold Reputation bodysuit.”
Building 1,000 true fans doesn’t happen overnight. “It takes time to build a sustainable career. It takes work,” Courtney said. “Writing the books is only a very small piece of what we have to do. If you want superfans, you have to invest in those relationships.”
You Don’t Need a Full Store to Start
Direct sales can begin long before you build a full-fledged online bookstore. As Damon Courtney explained in the ALLi webinar, selling direct isn’t all-or-nothing.
“Most people think that selling direct is going out and setting up a big bookstore and doing it all yourself, and that is one way, and that is one of the goals that you might have, particularly if you have a larger backlist. But that is not necessarily the only way to do it.”
Courtney grouped the most common approaches into four “pillars” of direct selling, each scalable depending on your goals and resources:
- Pre-selling (Early Access)
This means giving your readers the chance to buy a book before it launches elsewhere—even if it’s going into Kindle Unlimited later. “This is where you are selling the book directly to readers before you have published it everywhere else,” he said. “This works even if you’re exclusive to Amazon or another retailer. Really, it’s Amazon—it’s the only one who has exclusivity.” Courtney clarified, “You are not… your book is not in Kindle Unlimited yet, until it’s published, you don’t check that little box and… you’re not bound by that same agreement. So you can sell this book direct from your website or from Kickstarter or however you want to sell it.” - Deals, Bundles, and Special Editions
These are effective both for attracting new readers and rewarding loyal ones. Bundles encourage binge reading and help boost the average order value, while special editions appeal to collectors. “If you can get them to buy three or even five or six books, depending on how deep your series is, if you can get them to buy in one go, there is a much greater chance that they’re going to read one, then two, then three, and actually start becoming a fan,” Courtney said. He added, “If I’ve already got you here, I don’t want to sell you one book. I want to sell you a whole series of books.” He showed how authors like AnneMarie Meyer and Naomi Rawlings use deep discounts on bundles to drive conversion: “If you’ve already paid to get someone to your site… you should be doing everything you can to get the maximum order value.”
- Subscription Platforms
Some authors use services like Patreon or Ream to deliver content directly to paying readers on a monthly basis. Courtney noted that this model is particularly effective for those with a loyal fan base and a strong backlist. “You really need a loyal fan base,” he said. “You could absolutely go and start a subscription from nothing, and you will start getting a trickle of fans, but it’s going to work a lot better if you already have a fan base and a backlist of content out there that people want to consume.” Authors like Dakota Krout and Matt Dinniman have seen significant monthly income from superfans eager to receive early access. “If we assume that everyone on that’s a paid member is only following him for $3 a month, and I guarantee you that’s not the case, then good old Matt here is sitting at $24,000 a month with over 8,000 super fans who are paying him every month just to read the chapters before everybody else gets the books.”
- Full Bookstores
If you're ready to scale, you can build your own online bookstore using platforms like Shopify. Courtney emphasized the benefits of control: “You control every pixel of the page, from the top left corner to the bottom right. And that is very, very powerful… you design the sales experience. Everything that your readers see and every step they go through belongs to you.”
This isn’t just theoretical. Courtney pointed to authors like Katie Cross and Emily Kimelman, who have made their websites the hub of their publishing business. “She does publish her books on the other platforms, widely… but if you go to her website and you click on any of the books, the only thing you’ll find is that you can buy them right there on her website,” Courtney said of Katie Cross. “That’s a bold way to operate.”
In short, authors don’t need to leap directly into full-scale retail. As Courtney put it: “You can just use a simple landing page to send your readers… Send it to your newsletter and say, ‘Hey, I’ve got a special running this weekend. You can pick up my whole series for $10 or $20. Click here to go buy it.’ And that can just jump right to a single landing page. It doesn’t have to be a store.”
The Real Advantage: Reader Relationships and Data
Courtney emphasized that the real value of selling direct isn’t just in profit. It's in knowing your readers: “The value is not in the sale, it’s in the relationship and the data.”
When someone buys from you, you gain their email address, know which books they bought, and can market to them directly in the future. That’s not possible through Amazon or Audible.
What About Customer Service and Sales Tax?
Authors raised common concerns during the webinar, including customer service and tax compliance. Courtney explained that BookFunnel handles all digital delivery issues, while fulfillment services like BookVault or IngramSpark can ship physical books. For tax, authors can use “merchant of record” platforms like Gumroad or Lemon Squeezy to offload that burden.
You Don’t Need to Be Exclusive to Succeed
Many webinar attendees asked how to balance success in KU with a desire to sell direct. Courtney’s advice: use your direct channel to pre-sell to superfans. Then shift the book into KU after the early access period.
“We’ve seen that readers will buy direct, then still download the book in KU or buy it again on Audible. They’re superfans.”
Own the Connection
Courtney's message is clear: “Fans love their authors. They want to support you—if you let them.”
You don’t need to start with a full store or abandon Amazon. But every step you take toward direct selling helps you build a reader-first, platform-independent publishing future.
Thoughts or further questions on this post or any self-publishing issue?
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