the devil you (don't) know
The life of an indie author can be rife with struggles. You are—at different times—a writer, an editor, a web designer, a head of marketing, and a business owner. There’s a lot that goes into everything you do, and it can feel overwhelming at times. One thing you don’t have to worry about is distribution. You have the BIG option of Amazon, as well as outlets, like Draft2Digital, which allow you to publish to almost every digital storefront under the sun.
a question of exclusivity
The question a lot of indie authors agonize over is whether or not to enroll their book(s) in Amazon’s KDP Select program. Doing so allows KDP Select subscribers to read any KDP Select (Jesus, I’m typing that phrase a lot) title. In these situations, the writer earns a rate for every page read as opposed to outright sales. Yes, that’s a bit of an oversimplification and, if you’re considering going exclusive, I recommend thorough research. Once you’re in, you’re in for 90 days and, if you leave the auto re-enroll turned on, you’ll find yourself locked in for another 3-month period.
You’re also forbidden to publish your KDP Select-enrolled ebooks on ANY other platform during this time. Doing so can cost you your Amazon Publishing account. Paperbacks and hardcovers can remain up on other sites, but ebooks are verboten.
Plenty of writers earn good money via Amazon, many of whom utilize this program. That said, it’s not for everyone. If you’re like me, you may be hesitant to tie all of your earnings to one outlet. That’s especially true given Amazon’s continuously “evolving” algorithm and how easy it can be to fall out of favor. You could end up walking your golden goose straight into the arms of… well, a person who kills golden geese.
I’ve made decent money through the program. I’ve also seen a series of strong months lead into a royalty desert. Sure, you can tweak your book’s metadata in an effort to re-establish its profitability, but that’s more time taken from all the other things you need to get done. It also doesn’t guarantee success and can lead to further frustration.
There is, however, another option.
taking your book(s) wide
Earlier, I mentioned Draft2Digital (D2D), a platform I’ve used for years now. Much like Amazon, you upload your manuscript and cover, populate the metadata, and insert the description. From here, D2D allows you to select from a plethora of digital storefronts, including (but not limited to):
- Apple Books
- Barnes & Noble
- Kobo
- Various library services
Hell, you can even publish to Amazon through D2D. Speaking of that, you may be wondering why you shouldn’t just stick with Amazon. After all, the site gets millions of visitors EVERY DAY. That sounds great, until you question how many of those visitors came to the site looking for books, specifically your book (or at least those in your genre). Then, think about just how many books are available there.
It’s okay, relax, I’m not trying to freak you out, nor am I disparaging Amazon as a sales channel. Instead, I’m trying to paint a picture of the available options. Yes, the allure of “The Big A” is strong, but your reach can be increased by going wide and, at the end of the day, reaching more readers is always a plus.
Sometimes, it takes experimentation to find what works best for you. There’s a certain degree of trial and error, and it requires patience, something I have precious little of.
There’s also a third avenue to consider…
selling directly to readers
I’ve had a website for years, and I’ve dabbled in direct sales briefly, but I allowed myself to get discouraged before running back to KDP Select. I recently decided to give it an honest shot, because I believe it’s a great way to get your work out there. You can run sales as you see fit (like the 25% you can currently save on all of my ebooks). You can offer any type of bonus material to entice readers to buy from you as opposed to elsewhere.
But it requires more work, and a certain amount of confidence and comfort with designing product pages. Services like Shopify can make this much easier, if the subscription cost is in your budget. If you use a WordPress site like I do, you can use WooCommerce. While it’s not quite as intuitive as Shopify, it’s free, and it is adaptable. For ebooks especially, it’s easy to upload multiple files for a product, allowing you to offer ePub and Mobi versions together, as well as some of that sweet, sweet bonus content I mentioned before.
You have to consider a few things regarding your hosting plan before you dive headfirst into this. One is your storage space, since many hosts have plans that cap how much you can upload. While book files aren’t typically a major threat to this, consider any additional photos you need to add on top of those for the rest of your site. No, this probably won’t be an issue, but it could be. Save the headache and check.
While you’re doing that, see what (if any) bandwidth restrictions your plan has. When you start piling up sales, a lot of people are going to be downloading files from your site. Of course, you can use a third party to host the files, so this might be wholly moot.
the point of all this rambling
I decided to add direct sales as part of my wide release strategy because it gives me control. I can still get (most of) the benefits from the big retailers while also being able to add extra content for my readers. Even better is that, if you have the budget, you can sell physical copies directly from your site. Just remember, the packing and shipping falls on you to handle, but you can sign each copy and throw in any physical goodies (bookmarks, floor mats) you may have on hand. It add a personal touch that readers can’t get anywhere else.
Personally, I love creating extras to include for my readers. It gives me the chance to expand on a book, to give a behind-the-scenes walkthrough of how it came to be. At the end of the day, there’s no right answer, there’s only what works, and that requires time and experimentation. The best advice I can offer is to not be afraid to gamble on yourself. You know your abilities and limits and, if someone is going to buy your book (they will), they may as well get it from you, right?