Why Amazon.au Is Good For Australian Authors

The Australian site of Amazon has been up and running for a while now, although many people have chosen not to swap over from the .com site. The main disadvantage of the Aussie site is that it is digital content only. So if you wanted to buy a physical book or some other product you would have to go back to the US site to do so. Given the favourable exchange rate at the moment, there is no price disadvantage in not swapping over either. Whether Australian readers do swap over or not, I am excited about the AU Amazon site. Because as an author, it means much better royalties. Previously any sales to Australian buyers on the .com site only paid a 35% royalty because we did not have a local store. Given that most of the people purchasing my book are Australian this cut into my royalties quite significantly. Now we have our own site authors are paid the full 70% royalty and I noticed an immediate jump in earnings. The other big advantage is that it is much easier to get to the best seller lists on the local site, which can then translate to more sales because your book is actually noticed. Sounds like a good deal all round.