TIME TO GET SERIOUS

 Or, "SELF-PUBLISHING 101". 

If you want to self-publish, you'll come across the expression "go wide". What this means is you send your book (print/e-book/both) to as many sites as possible. This is done via aggregators, who are to publishing what Distrokid is to music releases. 

Whereas Distrokid and similar companies send music to Spotify et al and collect your streaming plays royalties, publishing aggregators take a cut of your sales. These amounts vary, but here's what I've found out recently:

IngramSpark

From all accounts, this is the company other aggregators use, especially if you're doing print books. This suggests that you're best off going direct to IngramSpark, but I will say that they seem expensive compared to other companies. 

For example, selling a 400 page paperback at $15 supposedly nets a $5 payment. However, this does not take into account any taxes or other relevant costs.

It's also pricey if you want to buy copies direct from them. For example, buying a 400 page paperback to, let's say, send to the US, costs YOU $17. Granted, this price should drastically reduce the more copies you buy, but if you're self-publishing and not hitting up conventions, how many are you going to get?

IngramSpark do apparently pay 85% royalties on e-books, but it's worth noting that as a company they're focused on print, so make of that what you will.

They do, however, allow distribution to an insane amount of retailers, from big-name bookstores to independents. Note that you still need to make those retailers aware of your book - IngramSpark don't actually send your book anywhere unless it's been ordered.

Draft2Digital

The other big name in self-publishing, D2D incorporates the reputable company formerly known as Smashwords. D2D are more user-friendly than IngramSpark, but they only pay 45% royalties on print books (again, minus print costs, tax, etc). 

For example, if you sell a 400 page paperback at $15, you'll make $0.10 after costs. Yikes.

However, ebooks pay roughly 60% royalties through D2D. It's worth noting that they use IngramSpark and can distribute to Amazon, so let's look at this company now. 

Amazon

Amazon aren't an aggregator because they only focus on themselves, so they haven't cornered the market on self-publishing, but they're still a heavy-hitter for a reason. They pay 70% royalties on ebooks, 60% on print (minus costs) and run the KDP Select service for authors.

KDP Select makes your book exclusive to Amazon for 90 days. In that time, your ebook appears in Kindle Unlimited (for readers) which pays you on approximate page views (since it can be downloaded for free). You also get access to exclusive promotional tools, the ability to stagger discounts, etc. 

It's an attractive prospect, but at the expense of using any other service. Amazon has a lot of clout thanks to accessible customer/reader reviews, and its Goodreads site, so KDP Select may provide a headstart for a newly published ebook, at least. It's free, so that's undoubtedly an incentive, plus you get slightly increased royalites. 

Barnes and Noble

Also not an aggregator, but the biggest bookstore chain in the US, who now have B&N Press, their self-publishing arm. They are at least a bit more transparent than these other companies in that they make it clear ebook royalties are 70%, with print technically being 55% BUT minus costs it ends up closer to 25%. 

For example, if you have 400 page paperback sold at $15, after print/distribution costs, you'll get $2.17. That's not bad, considering. However, you can only sell your book (print/ebook) through B&N; they don't distribute to any other site/company.

Leanpub

I'd never heard of this company until I started researching self-publishing avenues, and they offer a whopping 80% royalties (on ebooks - they don't do print). Again, they only sell on their site, but that's a good payout. I have no idea if they're a reputable company though, so I'm currently looking into that.

So there we have it

This is just the first part of my research, so I'm still deciding on who exactly to use to publish the book. It seems to make sense to use sites like B&N on their own, but also use aggregators to reach sites with less royalties/that don't offer their own self-publishing services. But it can't be as straightforward as that, I'm sure. 

NEXT: I draw up a marketing schedule and look into ARC (Advance Reading Copy) services. I'll also be unveiling my actual proper website!