Book Distribution For Self-Publishers

Book Distribution For Self-Publishers

eBook Distribution

Many people associate self-publishing with ebooks only, but there are other formats that many self-publishers use, and quite a few of them are seeing outstanding results. Print is the established traditional method, and while it is still difficult for most self-published authors to break into the brick-and-mortar stores, they are starting to open up to indie authors. That hasn’t stopped indies from pursuing other avenues, including audio books. We’ll be covering audio in detail later. For right now, we’ll focus on print and ebook.

There are a lot of choices when it comes to ebook distribution, and these aren’t trivial decisions. The retailers and distributors you opt into, or out of, can have a huge impact on your bottom line. Publishing—regardless of whether it is traditional publishing or self-publishing—is a business. As an author who self-publishes, that means you are a business, and the decisions you make need to reflect that.

Comparisons

I will be posting information on new distributors, new retailers, and changes to existing ones so that you can keep up to date. If you hear of new resources, or changes to existing ones that you don’t see listed here, send me an email and I’ll update it as soon as possible.

Print Distribution

There aren’t as many logical choices when it comes to print book distribution for self-publishers, but you’d be surprised at the options available. Most people think of CreateSpace as the only option, or CreateSpace and Ingram, but there are others. And for some authors, those others might be the perfect choice.

Comparisons

Print options are much more complicated than ebooks, and they have a big effect on your profits, as well as the number of books you sell. Some authors set up the book and plug in a price and think they’re done. But there is so much more to consider. Discounts, returns, getting into independent bookstores, libraries, shipping, international shipping, online stores…the lists go on and on.

And let’s not forget about quality. When it comes to print, quality might be even more important than it is with ebooks.

I will be posting information on new distributors and changes to existing ones so that you can keep up to date. If you hear of new resources, or changes to existing ones that you don’t see listed here, send me an email and I’ll update it as soon as possible.