WHERE DO YOU SELL BOOKS OTHER THAN AMAZON?

[Mark]

You would get a marginally higher royalty rate if you went directly to iTunes or B&N, but then you'd have to manage it all yourself. Going through Smashwords streamlines the process, and they really don't take that much of a percentage. The only thing I've found that I wish could be better is the sales reporting. Because you can't simply log into B&N and see how many you've sold in realtime, you have to wait for Smashwords to report it via your dashboard. And the distributors seem to delay reporting sales numbers to Smashwords for some reason.

Other than that, it's really a choice of convenience. Selling on Smashwords and to other places through them has been fine for me so far.

As for where else to sell, there's the Sony ebook store and the Diesel ebook store. I think you can even sell them through Goodreads, but I haven't really looked into that.

[Debbie]

There's also OmniLit, which is another evenue my publisher has me hooked up with. We use Amazon (don't forget to include the foreign divisions, such as England, France, Spain, Japan, etc.), B&N and Smashwords. There is also Kobo for Canada, which currently takes 46% of the Canadian ebook market. You can either go direct (my recommendation) with Kobo, or through Smashwords. Good luck.

[Paula]

My novel Night Sea Journey is on Amazon (horror/occult), B&N direct, Smashwords and just added to BestIndieBookstore.com. So far (since October) Amazon has the most sales. I get nothing from Smashwords at all; not sure why except that I think my novel is so buried there. Best Indie Bookstore is a test (smaller pond approach) and my book does have better visibility there. Too soon to tell if it's worth it.

I was on the KDP Select and did some freebie offers. I got 1300 downloads ... but it did NOT spark any increase in sales. And the book hit #26 in horror free books, so exposure was good for about 24 hours. Big deal, right?

With all the bad press freebies are getting these days in the industry, I fear that boom is over as a vehicle of sparking sales. I expect that out of the 1300 freebies, maybe 10 or 20 people are actually reading the book. And so far, no increase in reviews have happened either.

[Darryl]

BookBaby is the way to go. They set your book up at Barnes & Noble, Amazon (which you should do yourself), Sony Reader, Kobo, iBooks - about a dozen places in all – and they're continuing to add new places. It costs a flat fee of $99 for them to do this and they take none of your royalties.

[Loretta]

I have 2 books on Apple, but people are only likely to find them if they look for them by their titles or my name. I don't think I've sold any there yet though. I can't afford to put my book on Amazon as I don't have ISBN's so I sell from Blurb.com (my publishers) and my website. I have made a few sales on twitter (4 members of Team GB bought one of my books - I was so proud, especially when 2 of them medalled in the winter world championships this year) and quite a few on Facebook. I'm a bit of a technoklutz so Blurb was the only way I felt I could do things.

[Theodore]

I published my first book on B&N, Amazon, and Pothi. Pothi is the only one which has moved any, probably because it is free there, but maybe also because there are an increasing number of readers in India and a decreasing number here.

[Rakesh]

I used to sell my book on Lulu but have now opted for Amazon Select because of certain advantages (70% royalty for sales in India and allows me to set a different price in India)

[Dianne]

I use Lightning Source to hit a number of distribution channels including B&N and libraries. Also have it on Kobo, iTunes as well as CreateSpace and Kindle. Honestly, Amazon has been my biggest seller... but I get a higher royalty on B&N and other LS distributors... so I make the same amount selling almost half the books.

[John]

My latest novel, "Blinders Keepers" keeps popping up all over the place other than Amazon ...



As a Nook Book from Barnes & Noble . . . http://bit.ly/17MtgjE
As an iBook from the Apple Store . . . http://bit.ly/11WqJiv
As an ebook from Kobo . . . http://bit.ly/18wHki2
As an EPUB ebook from Sony . . . http://bit.ly/11GNrLz
Every popular ebook format at Smashwords . . . http://bit.ly/190zmgs
As a paperback from the printer . . . http://bit.ly/10SPPyS
Melange Books (publisher) . . . http://bit.ly/14j2VGy

Much of the presence is the result of achieving Premium Status approval at Smashwords. If you can get beyond the fastidiousness of their Meatgrinder ebook converter, it opens up a lot of channels of distribution.

[C.J.]

C.J. Heck

Besides all of the obvious online sellers and physical bookstores, I set up an Etsy store for selling autographed books to people to buy for themselves or as a gift.

So far, about the only time it does well is during Christmas, but it's another avenue for us for those buyers who want autographed books.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/CJHeckBooks

[Steven]

Use Draft2Digital to distribute to B&N, Apple, Kobo, etc.