Writing and publishing a book has never been easier than it is now. Back in the day, before I even considered being a writer, writers would have to pitch their novels to big-shot literary agents who lived in Los Angeles or New York in hopes of getting their books on bookshelves.
Yeah, we’re going back, back in the day.
It doesn’t stop there. You would have to query an agent, and if you were lucky, really lucky, after submitting hundreds of query letters, one agent would like your book enough to want to represent you. Your agent would then have to go to a publishing house, say, for a bidding war meeting, and pitch your book to all the publishers. Many people don’t know this, but in these pitch meetings, your agent would be fighting to get one of the publishing houses’ attention amongst a slew of other agents also waging for a book deal. If you’re even luckier, a publishing house will see your book as a good investment and offer your agent a book deal, basically a loan to gain your book’s copyright (intellectual property) to sell in the U.S and international markets.
Then, the publishing house would sign you to a book deal, and your book would undergo a lengthy round of editing. This process doesn’t ensure that your book will go the same way. An editor you don’t know could alter what you’ve envisioned. Because here’s the thing: you don’t own your work anymore. The publishing house does. What they say goes, and that applies to the book cover and hits packaging. You would have little to no say in the matter. Your book is sold where the publishing house deems a good fit. An elite marketing team is in charge of the marketing of your book. The same goes for the official release date and the cost of your book.
When you give over intellectual property, you are no longer responsible for how your product gets sold and distributed. And this entire process could take up to a year, two, maybe three, before all your hard-earned work was officially available to the public.
Back in the day, this was the only way a writer could get their books into buyers’ hands. They had to go through this process. But times have changed, thankfully.
Nowadays, any regular Joe can write a book and publish it for millions of readers in the comfort of their home without ever needing a literary agent, a publishing house, a book deal, marketing, or a sales team to become a famous author, thanks to the internet.
I’m sure the question you want to know is: How do I get my book into readers’ hands? Where do I start?
The first thing you need to understand about selling your book online is what a distributor is and which options you have for where you would like to sell your book.
A distributor is a host. This host runs a platform that allows entities (you) to sell your merchandise on their site. I’m talking in business jargon because once you decide to sell a product, your book, you essentially become a business. A small company, sure, but a business nonetheless.
When you list your book on their site, the host takes a percentage based on their services. For example, Amazon offers a program called KDP that lets writers sell their books on the platform. To entice writers to do business with them, Amazon offers to present your book to their pool of daily shoppers, promote your book, print it in either paperback or hardcover, and publish an ebook. Amazon will handle all your shipping needs. This includes international shipping and overseeing customer concerns, refunds, and claims for damaged or lost goods. All Amazon asks in return is to take a percentage of your revenue. You pay a portion of the shipping cost, but you get the lion’s share of the profit, with a 60/30 print split and a 70/30 ebook split in your favor.
Not bad. Compared to a publishing deal, most publishing houses would typically offer you a 10 to 15% royalty rate for your book. Your literary agent would also take 10 to 20% of your book advance to negotiate your book deal and represent you. Then let’s not forget that in a book deal, the advance needs to be paid back in full before you receive your royalty, which may take years or never happen.
I just had to throw those facts in there.
So the question is, where do I publish my book?
I recommend selling your book everywhere. At any distribution site available to you, please use it.
When I was a young writer in my early 20s, I took bad advice from a popular YouTuber who told her followers to sell their books on only one or two book distribution sites. This YouTuber went on to say that new writers should start small and practice selling their books on one platform at a time. I have no idea why I listened to this person’s advice, but I was young and naive, and I probably missed out on thousands of dollars in revenue. The key here is to be and go where your buyers are. You might like selling your book on Amazon, but your particular audience might be on a completely different distribution platform, and because you did not cast your net wide enough, you missed out on sales. Take it from me: sell your book wherever you can. Then do what I’ve done here: create a website and link all sites where your book is for sale, so that if your buyers are interested in your book, they have more than one option to buy it.
So, what are the distribution sites where I can sell my books?
There are more sites where you can publish your readers, but I recommend one. Here I’ve listed nine sites where you can sell your book. Be mindful that every distribution platform is different, and the requirements for publishing your book on each platform will vary. Go on their page and research this before selling your book.
1. Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), owned by Amazon
2. iBooks, owned by Apple
3. Barnes & Noble Press
4. Kobo (Canadian market)
5. IngramSpark
6. Smashwords
7. Draft2Digital
8. Lulu