Kindle Direct question

Emermouse

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Okay, currently downloaded the Smashwords guide everyone suggested and am in the process of reading it. But after looking at the Smashwords site, I was wondering whether I should publish there or on Kindle? Anyone know which works better?
 

WriterBN

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Okay, currently downloaded the Smashwords guide everyone suggested and am in the process of reading it. But after looking at the Smashwords site, I was wondering whether I should publish there or on Kindle? Anyone know which works better?

You could do both, as long as you're not enrolled in KDP Select, which requires being exclusive to Amazon for e-books. However, if you're considering using Smashwords as a distributor, I'd recommend Draft2Digital (D2D) instead. I use them both, for different reasons, but D2D's customer service is much, much better.
 

MiloMinderbinder

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I am on Amazon through KDP and have Smashwords distributing to everyone else.

So far all my sales have come through amazon. So I was considering putting one of the books into KDP Select just to see what kind of bump I'd get from lending. I know I would have to remove that book from all other online stores. Just wondering if anyone has done this and can tell me how long it would take for the book to disappear from the Smashwords distribution chain?

I'd hate to end up with a nastygram from Jeff Bezos for violating the exclusivity clause.
 

Polenth

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I am on Amazon through KDP and have Smashwords distributing to everyone else.

So far all my sales have come through amazon. So I was considering putting one of the books into KDP Select just to see what kind of bump I'd get from lending. I know I would have to remove that book from all other online stores. Just wondering if anyone has done this and can tell me how long it would take for the book to disappear from the Smashwords distribution chain?

I'd hate to end up with a nastygram from Jeff Bezos for violating the exclusivity clause.

I've done this. It would have gone smoothly, except for Kobo. One of Kobo's affiliates didn't take the book down. I had to go through Smashwords support, and eventually Kobo did something. It's important to check every site, and subsite of those sites, listed in the Smashwords guide to distribution. Then Google search to make sure you haven't missed any others. Don't assume they'll take it down. Check to make sure they've taken it down.

After all that, once I was in Select, Kobo decided to start selling my book again. This meant Amazon gave me a deadline of five days to get it removed. I got there, but it was close.

So the answer is it depends, but it could take a few months, you might need to get Smashwords to help with troublesome retailers, and you need to keep a close eye on Kobo. But if it does go wrong, Amazon is not going to blacklist you forever because it messed up. (I didn't have any issues with Smashwords during this... they were quick to respond, and did sort Kobo out.)
 

Skabr

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Hi,
I've also recently started self-publishing my short stories. So far I've only published on Kindle. And I thought Kindle was the only worthy platform. My situation is such that I don't have much of an author platform so I'm wondering if I should bother publishing my short stories through something like Smashwords.
Or does it really automatically lead to more exposure?
 

WriterBN

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So the answer is it depends, but it could take a few months, you might need to get Smashwords to help with troublesome retailers, and you need to keep a close eye on Kobo. But if it does go wrong, Amazon is not going to blacklist you forever because it messed up. (I didn't have any issues with Smashwords during this... they were quick to respond, and did sort Kobo out.)

Speaking of troublesome retailers, I just saw that SW is ending their agreement with Flipkart, for the very reason you mentioned...people going back into Select got slapped down by KDP because their books were still listed on Flipkart. I had the opposite problem--mine never showed up in Flipkart's catalog. In the end, it turned out to be a good thing, because it made it easier for me to go back into Select.
 

Polenth

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Speaking of troublesome retailers, I just saw that SW is ending their agreement with Flipkart, for the very reason you mentioned...people going back into Select got slapped down by KDP because their books were still listed on Flipkart. I had the opposite problem--mine never showed up in Flipkart's catalog. In the end, it turned out to be a good thing, because it made it easier for me to go back into Select.

I'd heard people had issues with Flipkart, but I got lucky. Never again on the removal thing though... now I'm going to start in Select, and only make stuff available elsewhere later. It saves a lot of trouble.
 

WriterBN

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Interesting. So people are *only* doing KDP and no other e-retailers?

KDP Select is different from KDP. It is a voluntary program that requires your e-book to be exclusive to Amazon for 90 days; you can choose to renew the term or not. For some authors, the additional revenue from being in Select far outweighs the revenue from other channels. For others, that may not be the case.
 

Sagml John

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All I knew was KDP. Thanks to AW, I heard of Kindle Scout (a little closer to real publishing it looks like) and Smash Words. I got on Smash Words and I really like their navigation. You can get SM to the Kindle by downloading in Kindle format and copying it in using the USB. I'm going back to KDP (since, like the Hotel California, you can check out but you can never leave) -- but not as Select.
 

Carradee

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All I knew was KDP. Thanks to AW, I heard of Kindle Scout (a little closer to real publishing it looks like) and Smash Words. I got on Smash Words and I really like their navigation. You can get SM to the Kindle by downloading in Kindle format and copying it in using the USB. I'm going back to KDP (since, like the Hotel California, you can check out but you can never leave) -- but not as Select.

There are many others, too.


  • Draft2Digital (another aggregator—goes to fewer stores than Smashwords, but has a slicker interface and faster response time).
  • OmniLit / All Romance Ebooks (same place, just different branches of the site; the latter is only for romance, obviously)
  • StreetLib (Italian aggregator for many sites you've not heard of)
  • XinXii (German; mostly aggregator; I've heard nonfiction does best there, but I'm not sure English does)
  • Google Play (can cause some issues with their discounting practices)
  • Drive Thru Fiction (for speculative fiction [sci-fi, fantasy, horror])

And I'm sure I'm missing some I'm familiar with, and even more I don't know about.
 

tbrosz

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Hi Arianna,

I just went through this same dilemma myself when I published my first book last month. Here's what I learned:

It's possible to publish directly to Kindle and Nook (Nook's version is called PubIt), which I recommend doing because you then have complete control over how the end product looks. You also have instant feedback on sales through their dashboards, which is very nice if you're impatient like I am. :)

I thought that I could publish to other formats on my own as well, but over time learned it wasn't as easy. You can only publish to iBooks if you have a Mac, otherwise you have to go through an aggregator like Smashwords. Kobo has a new service that supposedly allows authors to publish directly, but my experience was not good. They were slow to answer emails and they require an ISBN (which would cost $125 to buy yourself). And other readers, like Sony, don't allow authors to publish direct at all. I tried Google Books, since they sell ebooks, and that was a disaster that I don't care to repeat.

So in the end, I used Smashwords, and I'm pretty happy with it. Their meatgrinder wasn't as hard to get through as I had feared (formatting a Word doc takes a little time to get right, but it was worth the trouble). My ebook through them is less "pretty" (no images - it was too much hassle), but the words are all there, and that's what's most important. I'm still waiting for them to send the book to Sony and Kobo, but it went up on iBooks almost right away, and has been sent to Diesel and another one (I forget the name now).

As for ISBNs, that was an issue that had me confused at first. This is what I learned: you need one for sites like Kobo and iBooks, but not for Amazon or Nook. Those sites supply their own numbers (Amazon's is an ASIN and B&N's is called a BN ID). If you use Smashwords, they give you an ISBN for free. You can't use the Amazon ASIN or B&N"s ID on other sites, and can't use the SW ISBN outside of their service. However, if you do choose to buy an ISBN for your ebook, you would then be able to use it for all the different sites, since you would own it outright. But it costs $125 to buy one from Bowker.

I don't know as much about libraries, but I don't think every ebook on Kindle is available to libraries. The recent news about Kindle is that OverDrive (the major provider of library ebooks) now supports the Kindle device. But to get a book in OverDrive's catalog is probably a different matter entirely, and I don't know how friendly they are to self-pubs.

I hope that wasn't too confusing. I tend to get wordy when I try to explain things. I've been told I would be a terrible teacher. ;)

It should be noted that while Bowker charges $125 for one ISBN number, you can get 10 of them for $295, which is a much better deal, and most self-publishing projects will require more than one or two. Also, they don't expire, so you can hang onto the remaining ones for future books.
 
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And all day I've been going crazy for the layout, the paper version, of a collection of my writings and poems, on Amazon.

What program do you use to layout correctly, for printing?
 

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And all day I've been going crazy for the layout, the paper version, of a collection of my writings and poems, on Amazon.

What program do you use to layout correctly, for printing?
I use InDesign. Affinity Publisher is also pretty good and is a one-time payment product.
 
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Al X.

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What to use for print layout depends on your needs. If you're just writing straight prose, with no frilly graphic treatment in the margins or gutters, etc... Word works perfectly well. Otherwise I would give another nod to InDesign, which our marketers use to produce proposals, but it does have a steep learning curve.
 

Kahtai

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This is a super interesting thread. Is the information on self-publishing still accurate, given it was first written almost a decade ago?
 

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This is a super interesting thread. Is the information on self-publishing still accurate, given it was first written almost a decade ago?
Which particular bits of information do you mean? (I don't think anyone's going to slog through five pages of this thread and comment on every single bit of it.)
 

Kahtai

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Which particular bits of information do you mean? (I don't think anyone's going to slog through five pages of this thread and comment on every single bit of it.)
Yes, good point. Sorry for the noob mistake—I’ll ask more specific questions next time! 😀
 

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Yes, good point. Sorry for the noob mistake—I’ll ask more specific questions next time! 😀
:) No worries! Feel free to quote the bits you're keen on. Somebody with current experience will wander along and offer advice.
 
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Brad Smithson

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I'm publishing with KDP (not Select) and also through an independent retailer who provides downloads manually.
Yesterday I finally set up a plugin on my own site to allow the automated sale and delivery of ePub files and I had my first sale there today.

Honestly, I didn't expect that to be so easy.

I'm not sure why more authors don't do this themselves. Not only do I get more of the sale, I get to control it all, and I get the opportunity to have those customers on my newsletter list for future marketing.

Sure, Amazon might be great for paperback and hardback sales, but for digital sales I can send customers straight to my own website and get more out of it.
 
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Brad Smithson

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You need to have an audience first for that to work. How did you find yours?
This is very true.
I spent ten years building a community website which then led me into publishing fiction for them a few years ago, so I have that audience to promote to. I never planned it that way, the fiction kind of naturally followed from running that community.

The community site currently enjoys a few thousand unique visits per day but fewer than 1% convert. That's something I need to work on.

I would suggest authors try to build a community related to their own work. Depending on your genre it's easier said than done, but finding reasons for someone to sign up to a newsletter is a good option, like offering exclusive content.

You can password protect content so it's only available to subscribers, or you could install a lite membership option. Promote this in the back of your books to attract more readers to come and join in. Offer them polls, give them sneaky peeks into the next book. Maybe offer contests for signed paperbacks.

This is the issue with being self-published, we spend more time promoting our work than actually writing it.
 
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