Publishing
“More control” is often just a polite way of saying “more admin”.
Direct sales looks simple from the outside. Build the store, keep the money, own the customer relationship. Then you remember VAT, fulfilment, failed parcels, inboxes, refunds, and the fact that someone has to actually run the thing every week.
That’s the bit worth weighing, not the setup. A store can be a useful part of a business, but only if the ongoing work still leaves enough time and headspace to write the books in the first place.
Direct sales looks simple from the outside. Build the store, keep the money, own the customer relationship. Then you remember VAT, fulfilment, failed parcels, inboxes, refunds, and the fact that someone has to actually run the thing every week.
That’s the bit worth weighing, not the setup. A store can be a useful part of a business, but only if the ongoing work still leaves enough time and headspace to write the books in the first place.
Sometimes the admin is the business, though. For some writers that’s fine, because they want a shopfront and a direct line to readers. For others it’s just a second job with worse hours. The trap is pretending those are the same thing. They aren’t.