Writer Sanctum
Writer's Haven => Publisher's Office [Public] => Topic started by: MelanieMRodriguez on October 10, 2018, 02:02:36 PM
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I can't figure out where different distributor talk is supposed to go. If I picked the wrong spot, you can move my thread. I think since it says publisher's office it's my closest choice though.
I haven't published an ebook in some time and a lot of things have changed since then I'm sure! I am going to be taking my books wide so is there any advice anyone can give about distributors? Any new ones? Any I should avoid? Of course there's Amazon. Is smashwords still worth it?
I am publishing sweet fantasy mainly on that pen name.
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I recommend Draft2Digital. Great customer service, easy to use, etc. No regrets.
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Seconding Jeff's recommendation.
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Draft2Digital beats all other aggregators hands down.
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D2D absolutely. When I came out of KU, I didn't hesitate to go back to them.
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My advice is if you intend to take your books wide (you mentioned plural so I'm assuming multiple) then go directly to each platform where you can. This is pretty much everyone that matters, but if you don't have a MAC then go to D2D for them. It's exactly how I work and it's brilliant. I have so many sets of figures to check daily I end up fulfilling my innate need to procrastinate for up to five hours a day.
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Thanks everyone. It looks like draft2digital is the winner.
My advice is if you intend to take your books wide (you mentioned plural so I'm assuming multiple) then go directly to each platform where you can. This is pretty much everyone that matters, but if you don't have a MAC then go to D2D for them. It's exactly how I work and it's brilliant. I have so many sets of figures to check daily I end up fulfilling my innate need to procrastinate for up to five hours a day.
It's multiple books but I don't have a Mac.
So smashwords isn't even on the radar anymore? Hmm. Okay, I'll just stick to D2D then. Thank you!
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I still like Smashwords, and also use StreetLib for the tiny stores, but D2D is my absolute favorite to work with. It's extremely simple to use, and they're always coming up with new stuff to offer their authors.
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I still use Smashwords for most of my books, but I also use Draft2Digital. Thus far, I like both of them. If you don't mind learning the style guide for Smashwords, then I don't really find them specifically hard to work with. Lately, I've had pretty good customer service with Smashwords, too. So I still plan to use use Smashwords for a while, at least for my main series.
There are a few places that one distributes to but the other doesn't, but nothing too terrible, and D2D seemed to have reasonable customer service for the couple questions I had for them, as well.
The benefit of D2D is that creating a simple ebook is relatively smooth. (I say relatively, because if you're using images as chapter headers you may still run into a few issues). Then again, for both places I already was using the formatting I created for Smashwords, since it seems to clear up quite a few issues across all distributors.
That being said, I'm thinking of testing going directly through Kobo once I get a stand-alone story ready to try (while using the distributors for other retailers). I would try going direct to iBooks except for the lack of a Mac to work from.
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I've tried D2D, Smashwords, PublishDrive, and Streetlib. All of them are manageable, though I preferred D2D's interface, and it generally seems to get things done a little faster.
I've never been a fan of the Smashwords meat grinder. I submit an epub to them instead, which gives me greater control over the formatting.
If you don't want to go direct to Google Play (or can't because it's in one of its periodic not-taking-new-accounts phases), both PublishDrive and Streetlib are good options. The advantage of not going direct is that both have a way of avoiding Google Play's automatic discounting. Streetlib has an ancient agreement, and PublishDrive makes manual adjustments until the price ends up where you want it.
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Streetlib are good options. The advantage of not going direct is that both have a way of avoiding Google Play's automatic discounting. Streetlib has an ancient agreement, and PublishDrive makes manual adjustments until the price ends up where you want it.
Streetlib lost a whole section of my google sales right in the middle of a Bookbub. so, you can appreciate I'm not an advocate of their antiquated system that seems highly suspect.
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Though I've never used Google Play due to hearing of issues with it randomly changing the price, if you want to go direct, I've heard one author suggest to go ahead and apply for an account even if they aren't technically opening new accounts. They still ended up being accepted soon after they applied.
(But that is second-hand information, so take it with a grain of salt).
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My advice: Go direct to Kobo. Apple and B&N, go direct if you have a Mac (for Apple) and a tolerance for glitchy setup processes (B&N; I guess once you're set up, it works well, but I've heard getting your tax info put in can be a huge pain.) Also, for Kobo, there's a super secret special routing code you have to have for your bank to get international payments (unless you're in Canada, I guess) and there's no obvious place in the payment info to put it so you have to email them. But Kobo's customer service is very responsive and helpful, and Kobo is worth the trouble for their in-store promotions, though you do have to email them to ask for the promotions tab on your dashboard.
Anyhoo. Direct to Kobo. Maybe to Apple and B&N. Do Overdrive (library distribution) via Kobo, since that company also owns Overdrive (I need to move my Overdrive distribution there.) D2D for anything you aren't direct at. Then still do Smashwords for their own storefront and whatever small stores D2D doesn't have. Oh, and Bibliotheca on D2D is the same as CloudLibrary on Smashwords. So do one or the other but not both.
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Though I've never used Google Play due to hearing of issues with it randomly changing the price, if you want to go direct, I've heard one author suggest to go ahead and apply for an account even if they aren't technically opening new accounts. They still ended up being accepted soon after they applied.
(But that is second-hand information, so take it with a grain of salt).
It's accurate!
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There's macincloud.com that works as a virtual Mac for Apple submissions. They support your own Vellum license too.
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Thank you everyone. :banana: You've all been helpful.