Marketing tip: Make it easy for people to pay you
You never know when you’re going to meet someone who wants to buy your book, so it’s always smart to have a copy handy. But not everyone carries around cash or a checkbook, so I highly recommend the following three payment options:
- PayPal
- Venmo
- Square
PayPal
If you have a free PayPal account (www.paypal.com), others who have a PayPal account can send money directly from their account to yours without a transaction fee. They can also send money through a credit card, in which case you can decide if you or they pay the transaction fee. (This is a judgment call you will have to make.) With PayPal you can also send someone a “payment request” via email, which is essentially a stripped-down invoice.
Venmo
All the rage with Millennials and also free, Venmo (www.venmo.com) account holders can send each other money on their mobile phones at no cost by entering in the recipient’s phone number, email address, or Venmo username into the Venmo app. Payments can also be made through the Venmo website.
Square
With a free Square (www.square.com) card reader that plugs into your mobile phone, you can swipe credit cards for a small per-transaction fee. As with PayPal, it’s up to you to decide whether to pay the fee or pass it along to the buyer. In my experience, most people are happy to pay a little extra for the convenience of using a card.
If these options seem like too much of a hassle, look at it this way: You want to make it easy for those who express a sincere interest in buying your book to do so. Yes, they can always go online later and order a copy, but even those with the best of intentions can easily get busy and forget. I’d put that percentage in the ballpark of . . . very high. Why take that chance?
-Maria
This blog post originally appeared on CreateSpace.com. Reprinted with permission. 2018 CreateSpace, a DBA of On-Demand Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved.