You wore all the hats, or found someone who wore it better. However you got to this point, you made it to the last leg of the self-publishing journey. So let’s get your book out to the world!
A plus side to self-publishing your own book is that you get to decide how it’s distributed!
After countless research, and long hours sorting through options, I’ve found the easier (and perhaps the best) way for you to distribute your book is through ebook retailers, like Amazon and Nook. They make it easy, with a few steps, you can find your book sitting on the same platform as some of the most renowned authors. With little to no upfront cost, you get to reach a global market. You also get to keep up to 70% of the profit — which is not bad considering most published authors get less then 10% from paperback sales.
So how do you achieve this feat?
You can choose ebook readers yourself. Deciding which offers the best option, if their are incentives to being exclusive. Or you can use an “aggregator’ which makes your book available across multiple retailers.
Some of these aggregators, like SmashWords and Draft2Digital, make your book available for sale on sites like Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Noble. The services these aggregators offer are convenient, and convenience costs money, so be prepared to hand over a cult of your revenue if you decide to use one of them.
Rather do it yourself?
This is a hat you can wear too! And with ebooks, it’s an easy one!
With a few hours, and some clicks on each website, you to can get your book onto all of ebook retailer sites! But before you close this email out, and jump onto the closest browser, there are some things to should consider. Like if you want to be exclusive or not!
Most ebooks are non-exclusive. They can be found across multiple platforms and potentially reach a wider audience, whether they’re Kindle readers, Nook owners or iBook worms.
However, there can be perks to being exclusive. For example, Amazon’s KDP Select program. This program offers authors a slightly better deal on royalties, plus access to promotional opportunities, in exchange for 90 days of exclusivity. This means you can’t upload your ebook to another retailer. You might see the plus side to this, you might not. But guess what, your self-publishing, so it’s YOUR decision!
Another thing to consider? The need for an ISBN!
ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. This number is not a requirement if your choosing to stick exclusively with the retail giant, Amazon. Amazon, which I’m sure comes to no surprise, has their own internal tracking number that they assign to your book ones it’s uploaded. Which means, no need for an ISBN! But if you ever want to sell your book somewhere else, you’ll need one. SO I recommend you get one!
With that said, tomorrow we’ll talk about other ways to distribute your book!
Recommended Read:
Self-Publishing on Amazon by Chris J. Brode