Part 2: Retailers and Distributors
By Nancy Hellekson
Retailers and Distributors
Now that we know that Retailers are publishing companies that will sell your book only on their website. Let’s take a look at some of the largest Retailers
Amazon Publishing
Kdp.amazon.com
Amazon is probably the most recognizable name. It was the first online book seller/retailer. I remember, in 1995, when it started out in Jeff Bezo’s garage in Bellevue, Washington with $225,000 seed money from his parents. It quickly outgrew the garage and is recognized worldwide.
Amazon uses the POD concept and only prints copies of books that are ordered. Authors follow the print guidelines and upload their cover and interior.
Online Help: Extensive help center at https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help
Pricing: Free to Upload
Royalties: 60% of (List price – Printing costs)
Print or e-Book? Print books
Kindle Direct Publishing
Kdp.amazon.com
KDP is a division of Amazon Publishing that publishes e-books exclusively. It is the largest e-book retailer. Authors must upload their e-books as a pdf or ePub. And the cover as a pdf. KDP is no longer accepting Mobi files.
ePub vs. PDF
Perhaps, now is the time to discuss the difference between an ePub file and a pdf and why you should always upload an e-book as a followable ePub file.
EPub stands for Electronic Publication and PDF is Portable Document Format which was created by Adobe in 1993. Essentially, a pdf is a photograph of your document. If you upload your e-book as a pdf, it will appear exactly as you formatted it and will not flow easily from page to page. It will not read well on e-readers. In fact, some e-readers won’t accept it. EPub files, on the other hand, can be created with flowable text which allows the reader on any device to have a good reading experience.
Online Help: Extensive help center at https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help
Pricing: Free to Upload
Royalties: 70% if the e-book is more than $2.98; 35% if the e-book is below $2.99
Print or e-Book? E-Books only
Apple Books
https://authors.apple.com/
Apple Books (formerly iBooks) is the second largest retailer of e-books. To publish directly on Apple Books, you must have a Mac device and upload in epub format.
This link will tell you everything you need to know about publishing to Apple Books.
Agreements, Tax and Banking
Set up Users
Create Your Book
Proof Your Book
Publish Your Book
Manage Your Book
Update Your Book
Manage Rights and Pricing
Market Your Book
Your Book on Apple Books
Sales and Payments
Online Help: Available at https://itunespartner.apple.com/books/
Pricing: Free to Upload
Royalties: 70%
Print or e-Book? e-books
Barnes & Noble Press
https://press.barnesandnoble.com
Barnes & Noble Press (formerly known as NOOK Press) is the self-publishing arm of Barnes & Noble. Books published through Barnes & Noble Press are only available online at https://www.barnesandnoble.com/ or in their physical bookstores.
Online Help: Extensive online help at https://help.barnesandnoble.com/app/bnpress/main
Pricing: Free Upload
Royalties:
Print Book – 55% royalty rate of the List Price, minus the per book printing cost
E-Book – $0.99 – $2.98 — 40%
$2.99 – $199.99 — 65%
Print or e-Book? Both
Kobo Writing Life
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/p/writinglife
Have you never heard of Kobo? Then it’s likely you don’t live in Canada. Rakuten Kobo is a Canadian company that’s a subsidiary of the Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten and as such, reaches the international market.
Kobo Writing Life is Kobo’s self-publishing arm. Self-publishing on Kobo does not require any exclusivity to their site. You can publish on multiple sites.
Online Help: Extensive online help at https://kobowritinglife.zendesk.com/hc/en-us
Pricing: Free to Upload
Royalties: 70% on books priced more than $2.99 ; 45% for books priced below $2.99
Print or e-Book? e-book only
Google Books
https://books.google.com
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search and Google Print and by its codename Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned. It also includes current e-books that are submitted through the Partner Program.
Google does not ask for exclusive rights to sell digital editions of your books: you can sell your book through Google Play and other retailers at the same time.
Online Help: https://support.google.com/books/partner/?hl=en#topic=3424344
Pricing: Free Upload
Royalties: 70%
Print or e-Book? e-book
I think we’ve covered enough for today; my brain is spinning.
Yes, self-publishing isn’t easy. If you do it once, it’s overwhelming. After you’ve done it for a while like we have, you figure out the tricks, shortcuts, and pitfalls of publishing and are able to create an attractive book that will hold its own against any large publishing house.
