Today was spent releasing my book The Great Heist to all the
e-readers (in addition to Kindle, in which it was already available.) I
was intending for this pots to be the announcement that it's available on all
these readers, but I had forgotten what a bureaucratic mess it all is, and how
long it takes for the book to become available on the other sites.
First, I should explain the top places to release your e-book.
They are:
Kindle
Smashwords
Google Play
Goodreads
Drivethru Fiction
Scribd
I have placed them in the order in which I do them based on a
delicate balance of value for you vs. how much of a headache they are.
Below I list each one and how I feel about them.
Kindle is the number one spot for independent writers/publishers.
It just is. There are other places with a great independent spirit,
like Smashwords, but the simple fact is that Kindle makes it easiest for
independent writers/publishers, and they help promote them the most. By
placing our books in Amazon alongside larger publishers' books, we get the same
respect and potential sales as anyone else. Amazon also recommends our
e-books when someone buys something similar. But most important to this
particular blog post, the publishing process is easy. First of all, it's
a very streamlined process. The amount you need to do to prepare your
document is rather minimal, and when you upload it, their program will help fix
little problems you may have, and you can check it right away, seeing how it
looks on various readers immediately. And if there are any problems, you
can call them and they'll actually talk to you! Many other distributors
complain about Kindle having unfair competitive policies, but there's a reason
they're ahead, and rather than complain about them, other e-readers and
distribution channels should learn from Kindle and maybe do what they do.
It's for these reasons that I typically start my books on the KDP Select
exclusive deal with Kindle for the first 90 days before making it available on
other readers. I'd love to open up to the other sites right away, but
Kindle is just simply the most supportive and easiest to deal with.
Smashwords is the second place to go. And in some ways, one
could go with just being on Kindle and Smashwords and be fine. When you
publish something through Smashwords, it goes out to just about everyone except
Kindle, so everyone you want to carry the book has it. It's run by Mark
Coker, probably the largest supporter of independent books. It's because
he's so supportive of independent artists that I want to go to Smashwords
first, but in order to upload to them, a publisher has to go through a whole
bureaucratic process that's extremely complicated and frustrating. The
good news is that when you finally get it right, it's formatted for a whole
bunch of different readers, so you only have to do it once. This is true,
and it's nice to not have to do it multiple times, but by the time you prepare
this one file, you'll feel like you've done it a bunch of times.
Smashwords provides a guide to help you prepare your document... that's
literally more than a hundred pages long. And if you get lost, there's no
one to call; just a note that tells you that it's wrong after you upload it.
You can't even preview it to see what it looks like and where the problem
is exactly. The excuse for this is simply that it's publishing, and
therefore complicated. I would accept that if it wasn't for the fact that
Kindle is so easy to publish onto. I don't blame Coker or the team at
Smashwords. I think they're doing their best to make it easy on us.
I think it's the fault of the companies it gets distributed to, like
Barnes & Noble, Sony, etc.; these companies that complain about Amazon
having unfair business practices rather than learning from them and improving
their services.
Google Play is fast becoming an important distribution platform,
particularly because of the Android tablets they sell to. Also, the way
Google is growing, it's got its fingers in many areas. Personally, I like
the convenience. I know some people feel like it intrudes on their
personal lives, but I really like the way I can connect all my various projects
and jump between them with ease. I can have a book trailer on Youtube
that connects to these blogs which connect to my calendar which connect to my
email, etc. And now my books can be part of this mix. The biggest
problem has been a very poorly organized site with which to upload the books.
Every single time I used the system I had problems. Links were broken,
instructions were incorrect, it was a mess. Worst of all, they had no
phone number to call for help. I could email and maybe get a response
sometime that week, but that's all. I often begged the people to give me
some phone number because the issues were usually easily solvable in less than
a minute over the phone, but they took more than a month by email. I
write all this in past tense, however, as they seem to be solving their
problems now. Let's hope it gets better... and that they start to have
phone support!
Goodreads is of course the place where people generally go to talk
about books, but they now have an option to purchase e-books directly on their
site. This is a great thing, as the majority of people on there are book
fans. If they can instantly purchase books they've been recommended, so
much the better. The problem with this is that these services are just
being implemented, and it needs vast improvement to work properly. Like
Google Play, there's no phone service, and issues that could be resolved in
minutes take over a month.
Drivethru Fiction is a personal favorite of mine, but the number
of people who know about it is limited. It's nice because it's connected
to several other game and comic book sites, so it attracts a lot of fantasy and
sci fi fans. What's wonderful for writers is that they have a great
method of advertising. Every month you get a certain number of points you
can use to advertise. You can get more points by doing various activities
that help the community, such as reviewing other people's work. Also,
don't let the name fool you. Just because it says "fiction"
doesn't mean you can't sell non-fiction on it.
Scribd hardly needs mentioning if you do Smashwords. It's
supposed to already be distributed there if you go through Smashwords.
However, I haven't noticed many sales through Scribd when I went through
Smashwords, but I have seen sales when I put things on directly, so I always
upload here separately. Scribd is a great place to get noticed.
Every time I upload I instantly get dozens of reads. I usually have
10 to 20 before I switch from the uploading screen to the reading screen.
It seems to be the perfect place to get people to notice you so they then
start purchasing. Plus, it's easy to upload! No bureaucratic nonsense!
Google, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Goodreads, these guys could learn a few
things from Scribd and Drivethru Fiction.
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