Stay with KDP or look for another POD publisher?

Crunchyhippo · Apr 6, 2020

I'm relatively new to POD, and I originally published through Amazon's service in 2016. Then they moved their publishing arm to Kindle Direct Publishing. So my novel has been "out there" now for about four years. My book has a somewhat small market - Christian historical fiction. I promoted it to a few influential people within the genre, and one of my issues with KDP was that when some of these individuals examined my book, they noticed that there was no publisher information on it. When asked, I said that I published it myself, and the response was invariably, "Oh, ok." In other words, you published it in your basement. Dismissed. KDP has no publisher icon, nor did they ever offer one.

Anyway, I know publisher info isn't a big thing, but I did get a rep at KDP tell me that as long as it was tasteful, I could create my own KDP logo to put on the book spine and back cover. Just so I could give it a little more legitimacy in my mind and when promoting it instead of a blank space.

Has anyone else published with KDP, and do you just publish with no publisher info on the book? I don't necessarily want "self-published" to be the first message my book says to potential readers.

cool pop · Apr 6, 2020

I think you're confused. KDP is NOT a publisher. It's a retailer and distributor for indie authors. When you use KDP, YOU are the publisher. Amazon Publishing is Amazon's trade publishing arm where they actually publish books. So if you are an indie using KDP they won't be offering you a publishing icon because they aren't publishing you. You have to decide, do you want a publisher or to self-publish. Seems to me you are ashamed of self-publishing but there is no shame in self-publishing and many of us do it well and proudly. It's a completely legitimate form of publishing and most readers can't tell a self-published books from one by a publisher these days. Also, I gotta say your attitude toward self-publishing got old almost ten years ago. No one cares if a book is self-published or not these days. As long as the book is of quality, that's all that matters. Many self-published authors are successful and killing it and even writing full-time on what they make from their writing. Again, it's a legit choice to self-publish. You're in the self-publishing forum so it would be nice not to denigrate self-publishing (by saying stuff like you don't want your book to look "self-published") to the people on his forum who actually do it. Not a good way to get advice or help. You might didn't mean to come off that way, but you have.

I was a trade author for years and I am now a proud self-published author. Again, there is no shame in it but you gotta decide if this is what you really want. I don't agree with self-publishing while trying to fool people into thinking you have a publisher. That doesn't work especially if the reader has never heard of said publisher before.

Before going further, I'd suggest you decided what method you want to try because again, it doesn't seem like you really want to self-publish and if so then you would be doing yourself a disservice to try.

Al X. · Apr 7, 2020

One thing I notice is that many apparently self-published authors list a publisher, which is an option in the setup process. I don't know if they actually have a publisher (which is pointless if you are self-publishing) or they just list a bogus publisher for the creds.

Crunchyhippo · Apr 7, 2020

cool pop said:
I think you're confused. KDP is NOT a publisher. It's a retailer and distributor for indie authors. When you use KDP, YOU are the publisher. Amazon Publishing is Amazon's trade publishing arm where they actually publish books. So if you are an indie using KDP they won't be offering you a publishing icon because they aren't publishing you. You have to decide, do you want a publisher or to self-publish. Seems to me you are ashamed of self-publishing but there is no shame in self-publishing and many of us do it well and proudly. It's a completely legitimate form of publishing and most readers can't tell a self-published books from one by a publisher these days. Also, I gotta say your attitude toward self-publishing got old almost ten years ago. No one cares if a book is self-published or not these days. As long as the book is of quality, that's all that matters. Many self-published authors are successful and killing it and even writing full-time on what they make from their writing. Again, it's a legit choice to self-publish. You're in the self-publishing forum so it would be nice not to denigrate self-publishing (by saying stuff like you don't want your book to look "self-published") to the people on his forum who actually do it. Not a good way to get advice or help. You might didn't mean to come off that way, but you have.

I was a trade author for years and I am now a proud self-published author. Again, there is no shame in it but you gotta decide if this is what you really want. I don't agree with self-publishing while trying to fool people into thinking you have a publisher. That doesn't work especially if the reader has never heard of said publisher before.

Before going further, I'd suggest you decided what method you want to try because again, it doesn't seem like you really want to self-publish and if so then you would be doing yourself a disservice to try.

Wow. You come across so forcefully, it's like I'm having to defend myself. I evidently touched a nerve with you, but I was merely asking questions. I don't feel like I owe anyone an apology for it. I hope this isn't indicative of the forum in general.

veinglory · Apr 7, 2020

There is nothing wrong with giving your Kindle account a publisher name. I am not sure there is any need for a log, but sure--if you want one.

lizmonster · Apr 7, 2020

Crunchyhippo said:
Has anyone else published with KDP, and do you just publish with no publisher info on the book? I don't necessarily want "self-published" to be the first message my book says to potential readers.

I will assume what you want to say here is that you don't want your book to say "amateurish" to potential readers.

That's entirely within your control, and has to do with your cover art (really, really important, in a way that I think a lot of people new to the self-pub game don't understand), your editing, and how you present your work for sale.

A publishing imprint? Not important. If you're hitting reviewers who won't review self-published books (and there are some), slapping a name on the cover isn't going to fool them. I know the names of nearly all the trade imprints, big and small, within my genre, and if I run into one I don't know I'll google it. Having an imprint name of your own can be good for branding, but it's not going to fool a reviewer with a "no self-pub" policy.

Your remark about the forum's defensiveness I'll take, for now, as a rookie mistake. Self publishing is as valid and legitimate a career choice as trade publishing, and here - especially on a sub-forum devoted to assisting writers with the self-publishing portion of their journey - we don't tend to warm to suggestions it's a "lesser" choice in any way. We're all writers here; we can choose our words with more care.

Polenth · Apr 7, 2020

You are your own reputation in self-publishing. Rather than trying to hide that you're self-published, look for ways to make yourself a name to trust. If you want to make a logo for your name, that's up to you (don't make a logo for Amazon or KDP... make one for you). But the main thing is having a book that looks like it's decent quality, so good cover, lack of typos, and all the rest.

AW Admin · Apr 7, 2020

cool pop said:
I think you're confused. KDP is NOT a publisher. It's a retailer and distributor for indie authors. When you use KDP, YOU are the publisher. Amazon Publishing is Amazon's trade publishing arm where they actually publish books. So if you are an indie using KDP they won't be offering you a publishing icon because they aren't publishing you. You have to decide, do you want a publisher or to self-publish. Seems to me you are ashamed of self-publishing but there is no shame in self-publishing and many of us do it well and proudly. It's a completely legitimate form of publishing and most readers can't tell a self-published books from one by a publisher these days. Also, I gotta say your attitude toward self-publishing got old almost ten years ago. No one cares if a book is self-published or not these days.

Crunchyhippo said:
Wow. You come across so forcefully, it's like I'm having to defend myself. I evidently touched a nerve with you, but I was merely asking questions. I don't feel like I owe anyone an apology for it. I hope this isn't indicative of the forum in general.

Knock it off, both of you. I'm not in a place where I'm willing to put up with attitude—and both of you are rife with it.

Read the forum description again.

Informed choices. Hard truths. No us-vs-them.

Both of you go read The Newbie Guide to Absolute Write.

I'm not going to tolerate idiocy.

Stay with KDP or look for another POD publisher?

Crunchyhippo

cool pop

It's Cool, Miss Pop if You're Nasty

Al X.

Crunchyhippo

veinglory

volitare nequeo

lizmonster

Possibly A Mermaid Queen

Polenth

Mushroom

AW Admin