1. Bakkerbaard

    Bakkerbaard Contributor Contributor

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    What do you know about Aerio?

    Discussion in 'Self-Publishing' started by Bakkerbaard, Nov 5, 2021.

    Hey,
    I came across this thing sort of called Aerio. I can't properly write it without automatically linking it, sorry.
    I'm still looking into it myself, but I figured I might ask around here while I read up on it.

    Anyone here familiar with it? Using it? Why or why not use it?

    I'm looking for ways to cut out the middleman. I'm getting rather disenchanted with Amazon because apparently I don't have the rights to sell in the Netherlands. Which, considering my current location, is somewhat odd, to say the least. "Worldwide" apparently does not mean "the whole world."
    Anyway, I'm guessing setting up my own publishing house is a tad out of reach, I'm interested in alternatives that help me keep my book out of the hands of those robots.
     
  2. SapereAude

    SapereAude Contributor Contributor

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    I have no idea what it is you are asking about. How does spelling it correctly (without a preceding "www." and a terminal extension such as ".com") turn the correct spelling into an active link?

    Ah ... Are you asking about Aer[dot]io? Looks like it's part of Ingram. Aren't you already using Ingram, or did you pull the plug on them completely?

    [Edit to add] I am always suspicious when there's a tab for "Pricing," and when you click the tab that's labeled "Pricing" there is no pricing information to be found.
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2021
  3. Bakkerbaard

    Bakkerbaard Contributor Contributor

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    Yeah, that. Don't wanna accidentally link to something that's a rathole.

    I'm on Ingram, yes. But because I have to, not because I want to. I have basically no control over my book. I'm finding wrongly priced items (like, beyond differing currencies) at some vendors. others have a delivery time of 2 to 3 weeks. When I tried to contact vendors they (logically) send me to Ingram, when I contact Ingram it basically boils down to a variation "your fault, dude" or "that's how we do it."

    Upon further investigation of the limited information available (another red flag) this "service" boils down to being a subsidiary for Ingram. While that might give me a modicum of extra control, I would prefer to get out from under these behemoths entirely.
     
  4. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    thats because its free to use at point of use but has a 15% transaction fee when books are bought - as its clearly stated on the pricing page

    That aside it is a legit service, but I'm not convinced it will add many sales - time is probably better spent optimising your sales page on amazon
     
  5. Bakkerbaard

    Bakkerbaard Contributor Contributor

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    Sales, in this case, aren't my main concern. My problem is that I'm at the mercy of machines that don't care. I want a place where I can send everyone and anyone to get a book at the intended price, without hassle.

    As it stands now, I have to send some people to Amazon.com, others to .fr, Dutch people need to go to Bol, but their delivery time is 3 feckin' weeks. Most vendors who get their data from Ingram show terribly wrong prices, or double listings. They all seem to prefer pushing the ebook, while I want people to easily access the paperback.
    It's a goddamn mess, is what it is, and I need one place where I can send people to buy, and a place where I can at least feel like I have some control over the book.

    Aerio seemed like a good start, even if it's still basically Ingram. I hoped to glean some information before signing up to yet another thing to see for myself.
     
  6. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    for ebooks it sounds like you need a universal book link - draft to digital offer one, but i'm sure there are others...

    for print there isn't an easy option short of getting a small print run from somewhere like clays and doing your own fulfillment
     
  7. Bakkerbaard

    Bakkerbaard Contributor Contributor

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    Have it. They do print too now, but you have to put the links in yourself, and not all the retailers are available in that section yet.
    While it helps, it still sends people to shops that have issues.

    I've been doing that with the author copies from Amazon and I do not enjoy it. I intended to just sell a couple hand to hand, to people at work, or mothers and stuff. But obviously I need to mail a few to be people further away and I feel shitty for having to add shipping on top of the price I gave them. Obviously I didn't have my mailing affairs in order yet either, so now people have to wait, which, you guessed it, I feel shitty about.
    I'm so bad at this that I actually don't enjoy it anymore when someone asks if they can buy the book. I'm sure that's just a phase until I get my stuff in order though.
     
  8. SapereAude

    SapereAude Contributor Contributor

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    It may not be a phase, and there's nothing wrong with that. Becoming a fulfillment center is work, and it takes time away from things that are probably a lot more enjoyable -- like eating, sleeping, or even (GASP!) writing. I have considered buying a box of books and doing some local fulfillment. I immediately think about an elderly friend who, many years ago, used a vanity press to publish a book her older brother had written. He died shortly after he completed the manuscript, so it had not been published. My friend and the brother's widow "self" published it (with me doing all the work, and they fronting the money) as a memorial to him. I think the minimum number of copies she could buy was 500. After she gave copies to all his friends and the members of the family, and sent two to the Library of Congress, I think she still had more than 400 copies left, still in boxes in her garage, when she died.

    I decided that there are other things I would prefer to do than stuffing books in envelopes and taking them to the post office.
     
  9. Bakkerbaard

    Bakkerbaard Contributor Contributor

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    There's an uncomfortable duality in it for me. On one hand, it makes me feel like a big shot author that everybody wants my book, even though deep down I know these are just the people who are doing it more to support a friend or colleague to actually read it. On the other hand, it grips my throat and squeezes when I have to keep people waiting for their book, even though at this point it's just beyond my control to get the book to them.
    I abso-feckin-lutely hate it when people have to wait for me.

    Thankfully I could get away with a box of 25, of which I didn't expect more than ten sympathy-sales.
    Those were gone in two days and the twenty I ordered extra, which have yet to arrive, are already mostly sold as well. Right now my ego has to wait outside everywhere, because it doesn't fit through the door.

    Eh. In my case it's just friends and colleagues. Most of my books I can drop off personally. It's the ones that I have yet to deliver that are driving me nuts.
    If we take a step back, I really just have first-world problems.
     
  10. SapereAude

    SapereAude Contributor Contributor

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    You're doing print-on-demand. My friend's foray into "self" publishing was in the mid-1980s, when the only option for self-publishing was the traditional vanity press.
     
    Bakkerbaard likes this.

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