Wow. My head started spinning halfway through your highly informative article. I'm going to finish reading it later. (Yes, I bookmarked it.)
I had been thinking that you just submitted an ePub to Kindle with some cover art and that was it. I'm not as ready to publish as I thought I was. Thanks for the info, Dale.
Important information is gathered into one story. Writers should also keep in mind that POD vs traditional publishing makes almost any of these companies attractive. Trad pubs pay less than 10% royalties, and you still have to promote your own work. I've done it both ways--POD makes more sense financially and ecologically. I sell more ebooks directly via Payhip than through any other method, BTW.
"Draft2Digital, Kobo Writing Life, Apple Books for Authors, Google Play Books Partner Center, IngramSpark, and the other wide distributors send your ebook to Amazon without taking a cut for file size."
I'm fairly certain Kobo, Apple, and Google Play don't send your e-books to Amazon (unless I've missed something). And I would never use IngramSpark for an e-book; their $25 revision fee would've cost me hundreds—if not thousands—already in back matter updates! It's D2D for my e-book aggregator all the way.
Unfortunately, D2D has recently made Amazon distribution by invitation only. I have one e-book distributing to Amazon via D2D (all the others are direct with KDP), and I do love it for things like the ability to schedule price changes and simply having everything in one place. I wonder why D2D is moving away from e-book distribution to Amazon.
I could’ve worded that better. Yes, IngramSpark and D2D distribute to Amazon, not the others. The point is that none of them have delivery fees. I’ll clean that up, because that is worded wrong.
This is such great information. I am in the process of editing my first novella and am planning on self-publishing it, so this was very helpful. Thank you.
So the options you mentioned would have your books in Amazon anyway? I’m going to read your full book but this is fabulous news. My first book is with KDP but I’m about 30 days out from book 2. I’d love to see a better system.
I'd have to go back through the post to refresh my memory, but from my recollection, you should be able to reach Amazon. You can reach Amazon through IngramSpark, Draft2Digital, PublishDrive, Lulu, and Streetlib (those are off the top of my head at the moment). How has KDP treated you so far? Good, bad, in the middle? And when did you publish your first book?
well I thought they were treating me "okay", until I read your piece. I always thought it was weird that the different marketplaces (countries) paid differently, but now I understand why. I've kept my prices under $9.99 for the paperback, but wanted to charge more. Now I have to do your Amazon Math to make sure I'm making the right choice. I do a lot of public speaking, and I always get a surge after I've been somewhere talking about Values Based Goal Setting (subject of my book). I publishedin 2020. But life, and COVID, got in the way of working on my second book. Now I'm back with a passion. Books 3 & 4 are already mapped out.
I haven’t looked in a couple years, but they used to do ebooks. I don’t do them myself, so I’m not the best source in this case. Perhaps someone else knows?
I looked more carefully and it seems they have ebook publishing although they mention print on demand more often so it is easy to miss they have ebook publishing too.
Phone Support gave me a modicum of hope for a problem with my book versioning. But Amazon/Kindle inflexibility at the Corporate level rendered the problem unsolvable. So, not a fan—and so thankful that I did NOT go the KDP route.
Glad you didn’t try to force a square peg into a round hole. I often hear authors complaining about KDP, but staying with them. Glad to see you weren’t willing to roll over or turn the other cheek here. I hope you are crushing it on the other platforms!
When Amazon removed the category list from the Kindle landing page, creating a firewall of top selling books readers had to navigate in order to search for other titles, discoverability on the platform became problematic for many authors. Coupled with the fall in KDP Unlimited earnings, wide distribution makes more sense than ever. Thanks for showing the options.
Thank you for this valuable information. I self published my memoir in 2013 and I was clueless about distribution. I’m retired from bar and grill ownership now and plan to write a lot more books. I’m so glad I found you on Substack. ☺️
Wow. My head started spinning halfway through your highly informative article. I'm going to finish reading it later. (Yes, I bookmarked it.)
I had been thinking that you just submitted an ePub to Kindle with some cover art and that was it. I'm not as ready to publish as I thought I was. Thanks for the info, Dale.
Happy to help, Tom!
This breakdown is overdue. Transparency around the math helps creators make better decisions — appreciate you putting real numbers behind it.
Happy to help!
Thanks, Dale! I appreciate the info, plus the link to your books. Be well! ~TK
Fantastic advice, thank you.
My pleasure!
Important information is gathered into one story. Writers should also keep in mind that POD vs traditional publishing makes almost any of these companies attractive. Trad pubs pay less than 10% royalties, and you still have to promote your own work. I've done it both ways--POD makes more sense financially and ecologically. I sell more ebooks directly via Payhip than through any other method, BTW.
I love Payhip!
Wow! So many eye opening points here. Thank you for your constant service to inform authors.
Hey, thank YOU! More to come.
"Draft2Digital, Kobo Writing Life, Apple Books for Authors, Google Play Books Partner Center, IngramSpark, and the other wide distributors send your ebook to Amazon without taking a cut for file size."
I'm fairly certain Kobo, Apple, and Google Play don't send your e-books to Amazon (unless I've missed something). And I would never use IngramSpark for an e-book; their $25 revision fee would've cost me hundreds—if not thousands—already in back matter updates! It's D2D for my e-book aggregator all the way.
Unfortunately, D2D has recently made Amazon distribution by invitation only. I have one e-book distributing to Amazon via D2D (all the others are direct with KDP), and I do love it for things like the ability to schedule price changes and simply having everything in one place. I wonder why D2D is moving away from e-book distribution to Amazon.
Fixed. Thanks for the heads up.
I could’ve worded that better. Yes, IngramSpark and D2D distribute to Amazon, not the others. The point is that none of them have delivery fees. I’ll clean that up, because that is worded wrong.
This is such great information. I am in the process of editing my first novella and am planning on self-publishing it, so this was very helpful. Thank you.
Perfect! Good luck.
Oh, and I bought all nine books. Great marketing. What you say really works. 🤣
Oh my gosh! Thank you so much! Much appreciated.
So the options you mentioned would have your books in Amazon anyway? I’m going to read your full book but this is fabulous news. My first book is with KDP but I’m about 30 days out from book 2. I’d love to see a better system.
I'd have to go back through the post to refresh my memory, but from my recollection, you should be able to reach Amazon. You can reach Amazon through IngramSpark, Draft2Digital, PublishDrive, Lulu, and Streetlib (those are off the top of my head at the moment). How has KDP treated you so far? Good, bad, in the middle? And when did you publish your first book?
well I thought they were treating me "okay", until I read your piece. I always thought it was weird that the different marketplaces (countries) paid differently, but now I understand why. I've kept my prices under $9.99 for the paperback, but wanted to charge more. Now I have to do your Amazon Math to make sure I'm making the right choice. I do a lot of public speaking, and I always get a surge after I've been somewhere talking about Values Based Goal Setting (subject of my book). I publishedin 2020. But life, and COVID, got in the way of working on my second book. Now I'm back with a passion. Books 3 & 4 are already mapped out.
Well, you’re on the right track. Explore IngramSpark and Draft2Digital first, then expand out. You’ve got this!
I haven’t used KDP Select for almost a decade. I share similar advice. Thanks for laying it out logically.
Thanks so much for weighing in.
You’re welcome!
But what is the alternative? Amazon allows to make books available for readers and earn something. It is seems that Amazon is the best option any way.
I covered alternatives in the full article.
They are print on demand and I publish ebooks mostly. So I don't see any alternative to Amazon. It allows to publish and sell at the same time.
Lulu does ebooks and will distribute thru Amazon when global distribution is enabled.
Thank you! I visited Lulu but it looked like they did only print on demand (probably, promoted it more on their homepage).
I haven’t looked in a couple years, but they used to do ebooks. I don’t do them myself, so I’m not the best source in this case. Perhaps someone else knows?
I looked more carefully and it seems they have ebook publishing although they mention print on demand more often so it is easy to miss they have ebook publishing too.
I should check them.
Yep. Check them out. All the options were not just print on demand.
Love working with D2D. Conversely HATE working w/Amazon/Kindle—particularly, their Non Support team.
Yeah, their email support has been trash for as long as I’ve been in the biz. Phone support is the best option with Live Chat coming close second.
Phone Support gave me a modicum of hope for a problem with my book versioning. But Amazon/Kindle inflexibility at the Corporate level rendered the problem unsolvable. So, not a fan—and so thankful that I did NOT go the KDP route.
Glad you didn’t try to force a square peg into a round hole. I often hear authors complaining about KDP, but staying with them. Glad to see you weren’t willing to roll over or turn the other cheek here. I hope you are crushing it on the other platforms!
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts.
1. Put my book in library
2. Library digitizes
3. My book is now free training data for an lm
Cite your source.
When Amazon removed the category list from the Kindle landing page, creating a firewall of top selling books readers had to navigate in order to search for other titles, discoverability on the platform became problematic for many authors. Coupled with the fall in KDP Unlimited earnings, wide distribution makes more sense than ever. Thanks for showing the options.
Thank you for this valuable information. I self published my memoir in 2013 and I was clueless about distribution. I’m retired from bar and grill ownership now and plan to write a lot more books. I’m so glad I found you on Substack. ☺️
Happy to help!