Direct sales is a form of ecommerce.

And the "e" in ecommerce stands for "electronic."

So there are a ton of mouse-clicks involved in building, testing, optimizing, and operating a direct bookselling enterprise.

If you're the kind of person who calls your daughter or grandson to help you order stuff from amazon... 

I would recommend against direct sales.

On the other hand, if you don't mind computer work, or if you actually enjoy it...

Come on in -- the water's just fine :).

Have you worked your tail off to accomplish hard things in the past?

Do you usually find yourself going the extra mile?

Are you driven toward personal and professional excellence?

Are you kind of bad at relaxing?

Are you compelled from within to do more, grow more, learn more, earn more?

Do you usually work harder than your competition?

If so, you're probably going to be a rock star at direct sales. :)

If you're not already making a million dollars a year as an author, there's only one reason:

You haven't yet cultivated the skills or created the assets.

Acquiring new skills is a form of growth, and is one of my favorite parts of being alive.

If that describes you as well, it's likely you're going to do very well in direct sales.

But if you're a person who routinely says things like "I can't do ____," or "I'm really bad at ____," you're likely to have problems.

Every important breakthrough in each of my careers has first occurred between my ears.

If you're able to combine a professional's work ethic with a beginner's mindset -- eager for new knowledge, skill, and experience -- then I wouldn't bet against you in a month of Sundays.

People want things to come easy, fast, and cheap.

Course creators often tell people that profound, life-changing results come from easy solutions.

That's 100% bullshit.

I'm not telling you that selling directly to your readers is going to be easy.

I am telling you the opposite.

Being a professional independent author means that you're an entrepreneur.

Here's the true job description of an entrepreneur:

Happily and joyfully work harder than seems reasonable for longer than seems possible, while getting your ass kicked a few times every day by the market, by your customers, by your competitors, and by random bad luck, from now until forever.

And I am also telling you from the bottom of my heart that it will be worth it.

You can't help but become a better version of yourself.

And along the way, you just might create a beautiful and profitable business doing what you love most.

Most people aren't accustomed to tackling projects that take longer than a few weeks to finish.

Most people aren't accustomed to achieving goals that require long periods of hard work with little visible or tangible reward.

Most people are accustomed to day jobs. I've had many day jobs, and I'm not being unkind when I say that they are all designed to be performed successfully by people with minimal skill and motivation.

So most people lack the patience to do hard things.

Because doing hard things requires investing far more effort over a far greater timeframe than the average employee is accustomed to investing.

Quitting is the main reason most would-be entrepreneurs fail, and it's the main reason most aspiring authors never sell more than 1,000 copies in their lifetimes (source: creativindie.com)

But if you can exercise the patience to focus on daily excellence and continuous improvement, you can achieve shocking results by selling directly to your readers.

On the other hand, if you're looking for a career-level income after a few weeks or months of effort, you're in for an unpleasant surprise. 

Most people who know me, think of me as a disciplined person.

I have six-pack abs and can do 20 pull-ups at 52 years of age, for example.

I can stop at three bites of dessert, and I can even skip dessert entirely.

But here's what I didn't realize that I sucked at:

Doing "boring" work.

I always felt that I should have "graduated" by now from doing the basics.

I always felt that I should eventually "level up" and leave behind all of those annoying parts of running a successful enterprise.

Here's what a smart young mentor of mine has taught me:

Masters don't do advanced things. They're just virtuosos at the basics. Every day, forever.

Which I knew already, because I have never "graduated" from having to exercise, or having to eat right.

I just had to apply my knowledge and experience from one domain to overcome my misconceptions in a different domain.

This is what I mean by daily discipline: masterfully and joyfully doing the boring work.

It really, really, REALLY helps to be able to laugh.

At yourself.

At the flaky ad market.

At the crazy book market.

At the precious, naive assumptions our younger selves made about life and business.

A sense of humor is a superpower.

Laughter changes your body chemistry, makes your brain work better, and makes your soul feel good.

Being able to laugh about the hardships and ridiculousness of entrepreneurship is a powerful painkiller.

Which is useful in a game that involves regular ass-kickings. :)

If you're feeling like you're up to the challenge of building a truly phenomenal life as a professional author selling directly to your readers...

And if you'd like more information on the process of growing your career through direct sales...

And if you'd like to see how you can save a boatload of cash and gain lifetime access to our acclaimed live coaching calls and exclusive FB group by paying in full...

Or if you'd prefer to choose the lowest monthly payment option in AMMO history...  

Here are a few more resources to help you sell more books.

Read this brief article for more on the six components of the AMMO Direct Sales System (and see how Ben and Patty Wallace used our AMMO system to earn $212K in their first six months).

Read this article if you're not sure whether you have enough books for direct sales.

If you're ready to take your book ads to a professional level of quality and effectiveness, check out this article on our book ad creation process.

If you're wondering whether you should use deadlines in your book sales efforts, check out this article on buying psychology.

If you'd like more information on which formats to offer in your direct-to-reader sales system, read this brief article.