I Gave Up on Publishing Direct

For those of you not in the indie publishing biz, there are two ways to get onto a site like Amazon, B&N, Apple, and Kobo. You can publish directly with them, or you can go through a distributor like Smashwords or Direct to Digital.

I was determined with the release of Warriors to go direct with Kobo, Apple, and Barnes & Noble (I already go direct with Amazon and Google Play). But a funny thing happened on the way to that plan … The cold dark anvil of reality landed on my head. 

I had thought that going direct would mean faster service for my customers.

… And then I discovered that Apple took longer to publish books direct than Smashwords takes to publish through Apple. So Apple was out.

… And then I learned that Kobo only paid twice a year and ONLY if you earned $100 in the six months previous. I had a six month stretch when I earned less than $100 with them. I decided to nix the idea of going direct with Kobo. 

That leaves Barnes & Noble. I got all the way through the account setup process and then I realized that their system wouldn’t accept my files, and I’d have to create a special file just for them. I have heard some authors say Barnes & Noble Nook publishing system is a breeze, but it won’t accept the file I use on Google Play and SmashWords. Which meant not only one more place to upload each and every new book, it meant seven* new files I’d have to create each and every time I publish because I have to update the back and front matter** on every ebook every time I publish.

I could go direct, honestly, I could figure out every system … I know especially at Barnes & Noble it would make some of my fans happy. All I would have to do is pay for more child-care and see less of my children, get a less sleep, or do a little less design and coding work which is my bread and butter income, or I could give up some writing time and write a few thousand less words a month. None of those tradeoffs make sense for me at this time. When I start selling a thousand books a month on those other retailers, I’ll have to change. Of course, at that point, I’ll be able to hire an assistant.***

 

* of course next time I publish it won’t be seven updated files, it will be eight, and then nine, and then ten; you get the picture.

** back matter and front matter is where you list all your books for sale at the front of a book. I still haven’t done this yet for all my files on Amazon, SW, or Google Play.

*** at this point going through Smashwords means I miss out on about $30/month at Barnes and Noble (that’s $30 total if I decided to go back and make all my titles direct with them). That isn’t enough money to hire an assistant with.