Not for the first time in my freelance career I have writing advisor and author Simon Whaley to thank!
It was he who suggested, in a previous post on his brilliant The Business of Writing blog, that writers who’ve self-published ebooks through Amazon should consider widening their distribution through other networks.
The prospect of doing this individually to all the various non-Amazon ebook stores out there may weaken your resolve, especially if you have multiple books in your catalogue, but there are online distribution services which can do most of the legwork for you, for a small percentage of your royalty.
Welcome, then, to Draft2Digital.
I have just published my three Mistakes Writers Make guides using D2D — they’re now available through Apple, Barnes & Noble, Scribd and others — and the process has been straightforward. This is partly because I registered last and uploaded one of my self-published allergy books through D2D in the autumn. Applying for an account and registering your details initially is a bit more of a time investment, but there’s nothing complex about the process overall. D2D do most of the graft.
If you haven’t yet published your ebook through Amazon, then an option to publish on it through D2D is also available, albeit for a nominal charge, but if you have already published your book in Kindle format you can (and must) opt out of doing so through D2D.
Be warned that if your book is enrolled on the Kindle Direct Publishing Select program, you have effectively given Amazon exclusivity to your book, and cannot distribute it through other channels such as Apple and Kobo. You can leave the KDP Select scheme, but it takes up to 90 days to take effect, depending on when you first enrolled or renewed your enrolment. Enrolment is on a per-book basis, so you can have one book enrolled, and not another, if you wish.
If you want more guidance on Amazon exclusivity or non-exclusivity, I’ll steer you towards Simon again — read his advice here.
Perhaps the most useful feature is a universal ‘holding page’ for your book on Books2Read.com, offering you a URL which serves as a link-through to all the available outlets and formats for your book.
Here’s the page for 50 Mistakes Beginner Writers Make.
Here’s the one for 50 More Mistakes Beginner Writers Make.
And here’s the one for 50 Mistakes Writers Make.
I’ve not published my Writing Your Non-Fiction Book through D2D as I have that one enrolled on KDP Select, so it remains exclusive to Amazon, from where it can be not only bought, but loaned and read by Kindle Unlimited subscribers.
There are options to publish print and audio too through D2D, which I’ve not yet explored, but which you may like to.
There’s also a Refer a Friend scheme (click below for mine), where you get a small royalty on books sold by fellow authors you recruit for a limited period — at no cost to the author, of course — and various author tools which look to be useful, such as options to add automated end-matter to your books, and set up contributor profiles.
I’ve sold only a modest quantity of books so far, but given the short time investment, I feel it has been worth it.
If you want to explore Draft 2 Digital, you can learn more and sign-up here.