Journey into ePublishing: Where to Publish?!

As I will be venturing into the wide world that is for the most part saturated with self-published writing... I will also be putting myself among them as I start my journey. I know it isn't going to be easy, in fact it's probably going to be really hard... but I know that with will power and determination, I could possibly find a way to make it work.



In this segment of my "Journey into ePublishing" I'm going to be talking about where YOU can publish if you choose to self-publish your writing, and maybe you guys can help me by giving me your opinions on each of the places that I'll be listing below.



This post can also be seen as a follow up post to one I did nearly a year ago "Self-Publishing: Your Options" but believe me, I've learnt so much since then, and I've matured so much.




eBooks


Here are 3 ePublishers that I would recommend publishing your eBooks through as each of them have access to a different market and a different set of people with different eReaders. I'll go through each and say what I think about them, although I haven't used them all I've had a look at what they're offering in terms of royalties, and how easy it is to upload the files.




Kindle Direct
This place is a must for anyone who plans on trying to make a success of self-publishing their work. And no, you do not need a Kindle to publish to Kindle direct, although having one is nice, or just the app on your phone, and they even do they app for laptops as well... so, anyone can buy a Kindle book, they're not just reserved for Kindle users.



Amazon Marketplace is available to those in US, Canada, UK, France, Spain, Germany, and Italy. (So far.) When I wrote about this in the past they didn't have France, Spain, or Italy... and it looks like they're going to continue to expand. Almost forgot to mention the 70% royalties on things $2 and over or if it's below then it's around 30% royalties.



Okay, now, onto formatting for Amazon, it's hard, but at the same time there is also a lot of easy to read, and no jargon, step-by-step information available and also a quick Google search on how to format won't hurt, and it is definitely worth it.



Amazon have recently started the "KDP Select" << explained. But I'll also say a little about it here: KDP Select is a 90-day program where you put your book into the KDP Select scheme exclusively, meaning that you're not allowed to distribute your eBook anywhere else other than Amazon. There is also a lending library which is available for Amazon Prime members and a monthly pot of money, and at the end of that month the money is distributed according to how many books were available during that month and also how many times your book was downloaded. I'd suggest reading the link above, it might shed more light on it.

(Kindle Direct -- Sign In)





Smashwords
I've used Smashwords in the past when I published my poetry anthology, Illumination and Of the Blood, and then I unpublished them to revise them (and I guess that just never happened). But I do know that this is the easiest formatting that I've ever had to do (and they have their own FREE formatting guide, so don't sweat it), and with great formatting gives you access to the Premium Catalog.




The Premium Catalog? YUP! This allows your eBooks to hit several high distribution channels: Barnes & Noble (although a direct route is discussed below the heading "Barnes & Noble"), Kobo, Sony, Apple, Diesel, and Scrollmotion.




With Smashwords, just like all self-publishing places you get to set the price, the minimum being $0.99 and you get around 58% for each book sold at that price on Smashwords, they do say that if sales come in from distribution sales the percentage may be lower. If you go to the link below it should be direct to the "Publish" section of Smashwords, and if you scroll down a bit there's a "Pricing" section, just have a play around with that, see what you'll get for each eBook sold at certain prices etc.

(Smashwords -- Upload)





Barnes & Noble
I have yet to use this, but I know a lot of self-published authors who have used this and I'm guessing that it's been great. However, as one of Smashwords distributions is Barnes & Noble, I'm not sure whether going this route is worth all of the hassle and by hassle I mean, financial stuff which is obviously there to complicate stuff... but it's only complicated for me because I'm from the UK. They also have their own Formatting Guides and software so that you can look at what your Nook, eBook etc. is going to look like, and it does seem fairly easy to use! So try it out, maybe?

(Pub It! -- Barnes & Noble)






PoD (Publish-on-Demand)



As well as publishing eBooks I do also want to get my work in a HARD form as well. There are a lot of options that people can choose with this and I just want to go through with you guys all the different things that I've been looking at and going through to see which is the best choice for me.



Before that, I think I'll go through something which you guys should know, PoD is very different to vanity publishing, vanity publishing involves you buying 500 - 1,000 of your own book and then selling them all on your own. Where PoD will only publish your book when someone orders a copy, and they'll sell copies of your book on their site etc.




CreateSpace

I've been playing around with CreateSpace since last year as it's owned by Amazon and would be a perfect match to have both an eBook and a paperback available on Amazon. I've had fun reading their guides and formatting to their trade paperback standards etc.



With CreateSpace I've found that you're not pressured into buying anything, except a PRO pack, which looks like it's totally worth the one off fee, especially if you're going to be using that PoD quite often. So the PRO pack offers to decrease fees when you're ordering your own book, and also your royalties go up... so it's a win-win! I've heard really good reviews from it, and the service that they offer is quick and good.

(CreateSpace)





Blurb
I've not yet used this, but I know that in future I do want to use this, even though with the CreateSpace I'm going to have a great marketplace to use, but with Blurb I feel that I'll have more control and I'll also be able to get everything as I like it. Among that is that the price won't be extortionately high for me ordering as I'm in the UK and Blurb has a UK site (in fact, they have a whole bunch of international sites, including you guys over in the US).



They have an easy to use selection of "Book-making tools" from simple: "make your book in minutes" to the professionals who have full creative control over how their book looks. Also, including a handy add-in for Microsoft word which gives you a handy layout to work from. It all looks very good and very promising so far! In my opinion, definitely worth checking out, even if you're just publishing your book in paperback or hardback just for you!



Side note: they do also offer the creation of eBooks.

(Blurb)








Lightning Source
I'm not really sure if Lightning Source work with authors on their own, but I don't see why not. It says that it works with publishers, but it's a PoD service and all clients are welcome I would presume. I know of a few self-published authors who have taken Lightning Source and gone down their distribution route.



Lightning Source quotes these as distribution partners:

US: Ingram, Amazon.com, Baker & Taylor, Barnes & Noble, NACSCORP, Espresso Book Machine

UK: Adlibris.com, Amazon.co.uk, Bertrams, Blackwell, Book Depository, Coutts, Gardners, Mallory International, Paperback Shop, Eden Interactive Ltd., Aphrohead, I.B.S - STL U.K



It asks for $12 a year for each title that you have with them, so that's $1 a month, which isn't bad if they've got all of the above distributors. They offer a very wide selection of book sizes, including hardbacks with dust jackets (mmm, I want one of my books to be in hardback with a dust jacket. LOL).



There is a little disclaimer: "Please note that Lightning Source does not provide design, file work, editorial, promotional or marketing services. These are solely the responsibility of the publisher." -- that means you need to design your cover, format your book and edit it... or if your publisher is using LS then that will be their job. It looks good.

(Lightning Source)




Lulu

I've also had a go at playing around with this. Every page you turn to (more or less) is trying to sell you something, they have a lot of packages, and they all look great, but you don't have to be fooled into buying them because you could probably piece the cover art and get an editor yourself (probably costs less). The plus for me, is they charge and pay in any currency there, including £. And formatting seems very easy as they offer a similar thing to Blurb, where they give you the layout and how the cover of your book will look wrapped around.




They also have an online store. Check it out, see what you think! There are a lot of things to play with, I could have hours of fun just seeing the potential it had.
(Book Publishing -- Lulu)




I hope you liked this post, and I hope that it was informative... if it wasn't, then I'm afraid that I've done something very wrong.




Have you used any of the above?

What are your thoughts?



-Joseph





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