And now I’ve got that song stuck in my head. You’re welcome.

I’ve demonstrated before that I don’t sell much print when it comes to my books. The five copies I’ve sold on Amazon this month is a pretty rare occurrence (normally it’s 2). And I sold a couple signed copies through my own store this month as well, with the release of The Biker’s Wench. The difference is, in my BSB store, I have the paperback bundled with the digital copy – so if someone buys a paperback, they can download a free copy of the eBook and start reading immediately while they’re waiting for the signed paperback to go through the mail.

I do have them available separately as well, of course. But both readers who ordered chose the bundled option, which I think is very telling. I think (and this is total postulation on my part, with no factual backing whatsoever, so take it as you will) that a lot of people who still want signed print (collectors) copies would rather read the actual contents of the book in digital form. Simply because it’s more convenient (esp. with the trade paperback sizes that my books are). I know I’ll often do that – buy a digital copy and a signed paperback if I’m a big fan of the author. It would be the coolest thing ever if more authors would bundle their books that way – with the ebook and paperback included in one price. I fully plan to offer this option with all of my books – and I’m playing around with some other bundling options as well.

Not only is it more convenient to read an eBook (far more portable), but including the eBook with the print copy gives both more of a perceived value, in my opinion. It’s like any “two for the price of one” deal – and customers love a bargain. This is marketing, people, and pretty basic marketing at that, but it’s also showing customers generosity. Which gives them a good feeling about buying from you. And that much more likely to buy again.

Marketing isn’t always just social media stuff, even though we seem to like to think so. It’s about giving customers (in our case, readers) something at a good value and building a good relationship with them, so they *want* to do business with us. This is something that stores do through sales and bundling items, and it’s something that as an independent, I can easily do as well. I’ve noticed that All Romance eBooks does similar things (buy x amount, get one free, etc), and I appreciate that. Unfortunately, agency pricing restricts many other online stores from doing the same (and I think that’s bad for business).

In any case, that’s just one more reason I love being my own publisher. I make all the marketing decisions for my company…and I’m certain that bundling digital and print copies together is a good marketing decision. I’m going to see about getting some banners made up, and check out advertising on *gasp* non-reader sites soon. As much as people say traditional marketing for books doesn’t work, I’m not sure I agree with that. I know for me, a nice poster, commercial, heck, sometimes even a Facebook or banner ad will entice me to check out a book. And I’m steeped in the industry.

So, I have to see for myself. It may be a case of just “learning the hard way”, in which case I’ll have lost a bit of time & money. If it does happen to pay off, I’ll be glad I took the risk.