One of the questions I get asked the most is this:
Where do I publish my book?
The question comes in different forms, such as “Should I just publish on Amazon?” or “Do I publish my ebook on Amazon, but my print book on Ingram?” or “Where’s the best place to publish an ebook?”
But regardless of the form of the question, it all comes down to simply, “Where do I publish my book?”
Now, of course, this is a tricky question to answer because there are a lot of factors involved (cost, your location, etc.), but my hope for this blog is to lay out a simple plan. I’ll list the options, but lay out my recommendation for what I feel is the best way to go!
So, let’s dive in!
Ebook
There are two common routes to go with ebooks: 1) Publishing with Kindle Unlimited, or 2) Publishing Your Ebook Everywhere.
1) Publishing with Kindle Unlimited (Kindle Select)
When you publish an ebook with Amazon Kindle Unlimited (KU), it means your book is available for free for people who pay the KU subscription fee and then you get a small amount of money for each page of your book that is read.
This can work out well for you if you get a lot of people reading your book through KU. For your readers who do not have a KU subscription, they can simply purchase your book for the full price and own it (the normal way to purchase a book from Amazon). One of the big limitations with KU is this: if you go with the KU option for your ebook, Amazon requires that you sell your ebook EXCLUSIVELY through Kindle. That means you can sell your print book wherever you want, but ebooks cannot be sold or given away anywhere other than through Amazon.
Signing up with KU tends to work really well for the Romance genre. For other genres, it seems to be hit and miss. Some authors make a lot with KU. Some authors make next to nothing with KU. I would recommend if you are thinking about whether or not to use KU, sign up your book for a 90 day commitment (that’s the term they require) and see how it works for you! If you get next to no page reads, switch off of KU.
2) Publishing Your Ebook Everywhere (Go Wide)
The other option is to “Go Wide” with your ebooks. That means you’re selling it everywhere you can. It also means that you have no restrictions, so you can give it away for free through sites like StoryOrigin or Book Funnel (I highly recommend StoryOrigin), and you can sell it on all sorts of sites.
Although Amazon is massive and holds a huge chunk of the market, Barnes and Noble actually still sells a tonne of ebooks in the US and Kobo is still the biggest ebook retailer in some countries (like Canada). So, selling your book through those sites can be quite a smart move.
If you’re going to “Go Wide” with your books, I recommend that you set up your ebook with the following sites:
1) Amazon KDP (but not Kindle Unlimited)
2) Kobo (but don’t distribute to Overdrive through Kobo)
3) Google Books
4) Draft2Digital/D2D (distribute to Overdrive, B&N, Hoopla, Apple Books, etc. through D2D, but NOT Kobo or Amazon)
This approach will get your ebooks out there through a huge amount of channels!
NOTE: the reason you should distribute your books to Overdrive (the library system) through D2D and NOT Kobo is because D2D sometimes offers some extra options for Overdrive such as getting involved in free giveaways and more. This happened in the spring of 2020 with the pandemic. The reason to distribute to Kobo directly (rather than use D2D for Kobo) is because you can run special promos through Kobo if you sign up through Kobo’s site.
My recommendation is this: If you think you want to try out KU, give it a 90 day run (that’s the commitment they require). If it works for you, keep it. If not… Go Wide.
However, going wide (in my opinion) is a better move for most authors.
Paperback
The best way to distribute your paperback book throughout the world is to use both Ingram and Amazon KDP. Amazon has a huge reach as a massive book seller, but Ingram reaches all sorts of places that Amazon does not. On top of this, libraries and stores will often avoid purchasing books through Amazon. They don’t like purchasing from the competition. If your book is available through Ingram (which has a huge reach of its own), then Libraries are more likely to purchase your book!
One of the other limitations with Amazon Print is they do not, at this point, offer the opportunity to setup pre-orders for print books, but Ingram does. That means if you want your print book setup for preorder, then you’ll want to use Ingram. The way to use BOTH Ingram and Amazon is to setup your book as a preorder through Ingram, then, when your on-sale date arrives, publish the same book (same ISBN) on Amazon KDP, and Amazon will start providing your book through their channels, and Ingram will take care of the rest of the world.
To answer a question that pops up in our heads at this point: Yes, you can publish your book in multiple places (Amazon and Ingram) if you own your own ISBN and use that ISBN in all locations.
Now, if you use Ingram, you need to own your own ISBN. That means you cannot take the free ISBN offered by Amazon or anyone else. It has to be a properly purchased ISBN in your country. You can then use the SAME ISBN with Amazon, Ingram, and anywhere else you publish your book (even if you decide to offset print your books). Owning your own ISBN can be expensive, but is generally a wise way to go.
For many, however, the cost of purchasing an ISBN is prohibitive. As such, a lot of authors just want to publish with Amazon (and use their free ISBN). If you do this, you can enter your book into what Amazon calls, “Expanded Distribution” which reaches a few more places than normal Amazon KDP does. This opens the doors to some libraries (those who purchase through Baker and Taylor) but not all.
For me, I usually recommend that you purchase your own ISBN and publish with both Amazon and with Ingram. I recommend you set up your book with Ingram first as a pre-order, and then publish it with Amazon KDP on the day the book releases.
Hardcover
Now, hardcover is a little trickier. There may be some new options opening up in the near future for authors, but in the meantime, the three common places authors turn to for Hardcovers are Blurb, Lulu, and Ingram. You’ll want to own your own ISBN again with the hardcover, but the best option out of the three (Blurb, Lulu, and Ingram) for simple hardcovers and for wide distribution is Ingram. If you want to do some really fancy stuff (with really shiny paper and more) and don’t mind the high cost, you’ll likely want to explore Lulu a little more, but otherwise, Ingram is the way to go!
I would recommend you publish your hardcover through Ingram. You can also set it up for pre-order and have the book ready to go for when the book releases!
So, there you have it! A quick simple look at what options are there for you as you try to get your ebook, paperback, and hardcover books out there!
Now, go for it!
Comment below with your experience publishing your book!
Shawn
