Chris A. Baird | October 5, 2020
Can You Sell Self Published Books On Etsy?

You maybe self-publishing and you want to go wide with your book distribution. Can you sell self published books on Etsy? Let us find out here.

Today's question has three answers and you're going to want to stick around. Because the third answer is a secret as to how you can win at self-publishing on Etsy. And it's not something you might be thinking about.

Now, let's get into it. The question that was sent in today was, can you sell self published books on Etsy? This is an excellent question and most likely it's from somebody who's either self-publishing books already or you're somebody who's selling things on Etsy.

I Didn't Start With Etsy

You're selling crafts or other types of projects on Etsy and you're wondering, maybe I could write a book on how to do some of this. This is definitely worth considering and we are going to explore that today.

But before we get into the answers, check out my absolutely free Self-Publishing Checklist to make sure you aren't skipping any of these secret steps. To make as much off of your self-publishing books as possible.

So, can you sell self published books on Etsy? Well, let me tell you a little bit about my story and some other people's. When I first got started, I started with Amazon KDP or Kindle Direct Publishing.

Check out this related article: How To Start Self Publishing With Amazon Kindle?

I put my books onto the market that way. With regard to Etsy, I was familiar with some other things that people had done with. Looking at Fiverr and seeing projects there and then placing them on Etsy.

So, there were some aspects that I had seen concerning Etsy. I had also seen self-published books being put on Fiverr. Some people were saying they were making a killing by going that route.

See Also: How to Market a Self Published Book

I sold some copies of my books on Fiverr as well. So, there are ways of making money on different platforms. But each platform has certain advantages and disadvantages if you're going in that general direction.

It is not a matter of getting any book you possibly can imagine. But I can say, 1 group, 1 person or family that I heard about, they started their entire business actually on Etsy. They discovered there was a selling market.

I believe if I remember correctly, it was Scrabble Jewelry where you would be making like your name or whatever and running lines through Scrabble Jewelry. And they found somebody on Etsy who was selling self-published books showing how to do this.

You Can Self-Publish On Etsy

They were making a ton of money, like a $100,000 a year or something off of just selling low-quality self-published books. So, that was something that's worth taking notice of. And they began doing it and made a killing.

Until they discovered that just doing a fad will only be popular and only work for a while. You've got it simply going along with that fad and then when the fad dries up, you're going to have a serious problem making money. Because nobody wants to buy your product at that point.

So that was something that they had discovered. But it was in fact through Etsy that they were selling their book. I thought that was a very interesting story that they discovered from their standpoint there.

Can you sell self published books on Etsy? Let's get into today's answers. The first answer is yes, you definitely can self publish on Etsy.

There are already self-published books on Etsy but not too many which means that there's going to be a market for it. They do not want major self-published companies to come on there. So it's not about dumping all of your books on Puppy Training onto Etsy.

That is a terrible idea. It's best to stick with books that match the target audience that you're going to be reaching on Etsy. That would mean craft projects are in high demand there.

If you have books that tell people how exactly to go about crafting those books, this is what exactly you're going to need to do, if you wish to see those books sell. Because those books are going to be hitting the target market that's already there.

Check out this related article: Learn What are the Benefits of Self Publishing

The third answer of the day which is our third answer is the key to winning itself. Publishing is a massive distribution. Lots of self-publishers won't tell you this secret.

They'll say, oh no just get your books on KDP or over this platform. That is a huge mistake, you're going to lose lots of money if you are not putting your book on as many platforms as humanly possible. Etsy may be a perfect match for your audience.

The best part of it is that if you're using a good tool like Jutoh which I use to ensure perfect formatting, you're going to be able to put your book into a PDF. Using the exact same formatting that you use for your paperback books and just push that book right on through Etsy.

The Beauty Of Mass Distribution

You lose absolutely nothing. You've already got your cover and you've got your manuscript on your paperback version that you've got on Ingram Spark, Lulu, or KDP Print. I like all three but let's just at least say KDP Print, you're losing money if you don't have your book there.

Then you just take that very book and you make sure the cover is included on the print copy. That is on the inside of the print copy. It's just a selection, a little hack it off on Youtube, and then check it off and put it right on to Etsy.

Read Also: Self Publishing vs Traditional Publishing

Your readers are going to love your book because they can just get the PDF for it so they can print out themselves. If you want to do the other version, you can just post a link that would then directly lead them to your KDP Print book. Then they can purchase it from there.

You could print the books out and then send them to people but I would not recommend that. I would recommend only doing the digital copy of your book in PDF format for those readers. It's very easy they can purchase and immediately get access to your copy of the book which you've already got.

This is the beauty of mass distribution. Assuming you're using a tool like Jutoh or if you may be found a better tool that I haven't found but maybe you have, then you've got everything you need.

You've already done all the formatting and all the work that's necessary to win at this game. So, do not be discouraged. Just take your book, put it out there on Etsy and let's see what happens only though if it's in your target market.

If you want to know if it'll work, see what other books are already out there and see how well they're selling on Etsy, this also dovetails.

Check out this related article: Self Publishing Low Content Books?

Conclusion

If you've already got crafts on there and you want to sell the instructions on how to put together those crafts in the exact way that the people who are already buying your crafts would maybe want to do it themselves.

Then they'll have your secret formula for those crafts and that combination is very powerful when it comes to sales. They buy one of your crafts and love it, they will then say maybe I could do this myself. That would be perfect, they buy your book but they are both together under the same profile.

It is an outstanding way to make money in addition to distributing in these other channels that we've discussed in previous blogs. So, can you sell self published books on Etsy?

What have you found? Have you actually done that? Have you made money? Let me know below in the comments. Check out my other self publishing blogs and videos for more answers to your self-publishing questions.

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