Draft2Digital offers ebooks and paperbacks.
Cost: You can upload your covers and files at no charge. There are no fees for reformatting or updating your book.
Rights: You retain all rights. Draft2Digital offers free ISBNs numbers when uploading through their site. Their ISBN can only be used for their versions and approved vendors.
Distribution: They offer distribution through Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble Press, Kobo, Scribd, Tolino, OverDrive, bibliotheca, Baker & Taylor, Hoopla, and Vivlio.
Services: They offer promotional opportunities through Books2Read. You can schedule price promotions and free promotions, except through the Amazon which does not allow books to be free. They offer information on audiobooks, editing, cover design, marketing programs, Author Advocate partners, directory services, and a digital storefront. They do not provide direct interior or cover design, editing, or marketing services.
Payment: Their fee at most digital stores is approximately 10% of the retail price (technically 15% of the net royalties). They get reports from the distributors and must wait to be paid from each store front before they pass along the payments to you minus their cut and any expenses the vendors incur for printing, delivery, etc. They will pay by check, PayPal, Payoneer account, or direct deposit and deduct fees for those services.
Google Play offers ebooks only.
Cost: There is no cost to upload your files. There are no delivery fees on books priced below $2.99 or above $9.99.
Rights: You retain all rights. You can make changes. You provide the ISBN number or they will provide a Book ID” number.
Distribution: They distribute worldwide on their platform and advertise 75+ countries and 2 billion Android users.
Services: You upload your own files in EPUB or PDF format. You need an associated Google account. If you don't use Gmail, you’ll have to create a Google account. They do offer promotion opportunities and promo codes for free or discounted books.
Payment: Except in cases where Google is acting as your agent or where Google is required to sell at a price set by the publisher, Google has the discretion to set prices as it sees fit. However, they share the revenue from any sales according to the list price that you provide. Google Play “price-matches” your book if they see a lower price available elsewhere. For percentage off and fixed price promotion codes, the author will earn the usual 70% royalty on the final price of the ebook after the discount.
Ingram Spark offers ebooks, paperbacks, and hard cover.
Cost: The cost to upload a print and ebook at the same time with IngramSpark is $49. If you don’t want to upload both formats, a print book costs $49 to upload alone, and an ebook is $25 when uploaded alone.
Rights: You retain all rights and can reupload at any time. Ingram offers a free ISBN. Each format of each book you publish must have its own unique ISBN. ISBNs can be purchased from Bowker directly through your IngramSpark account for $85 each or you can purchase your own elsewhere. You can use IngramSpark’s book cover template generator to get a free barcode.
Distribution: IngramSpark claims to help you reach 40,000 independent bookstores, online stores, chain stores, ebook retailers, Libraries, and Universities. Amazon, B&N, Walmart, and Target in the US as well as global markets.They make no promises the store will order your book.
Services: They offer links to "experts" in file formatting, cover design, interior design, marketing and publicity.
Payment: IngramSpark also has two different pages for their “buying copies” and shipping versus “royalties” formulations which is anywhere from 40% to 50%, depending on the bookstore. They receive payments from the storefronts who deduct their cut, printing, and shipping costs. Compensation payments for ebook sales is 40% of the list price of your ebook. If you opted out of the Amazon agreement, you will earn 45% of the list price. Payments are made via direct deposit or PayPal 90 days from the end of the month in which the sales are reported. Separate reports are generated for wholesale ebook sales and agency ebook sales. Ebook retailers have 25 days after month end to report sales to Ingram/CoreSource.
Kobo offers ebooks and audio books. Kobo has an ereader.
Cost: Kobo does not charge a fee for distributing your eBooks. Kobo will also convert your manuscript to the ePub standard format entirely for free.
Rights: You maintain all rights. You can make changes.
Distribution: Your book is added to the Kobo catalog. Through Kobo’s strategic partnerships, your eBook will be available around the world in the online bookstores of leading retailers in over 190 countries. By publishing with Kobo, you can opt-in to enroll your eBook in Kobo Plus. Walmart – one of the largest chain stores in the world – carries Kobo tablets. This means that your book could be targeted specifically to their global stores.
Services: You upload your files to Kobo in EPUB format. Their Writing Life User Guide offers details about the various steps in your publishing journey. Complaints most frequently mention customer service and credit card problems. Kobo Books ranks 65th among ebook sites. They have promotion options. Your book must be approved by Kobo for the promotion and you’ll have to pay for it. Kobo offers Kobo Plus, an eBook subscription service similar to Kindle Unlimited.
Payment: Kobo pays via direct deposit. Royalties are paid 45 days after the end of each monthly period provided they have met a minimum threshold of $50 USD. Sales from your books in all countries are amalgamated to reach the threshold. You will receive 70% of the list price for the book (the price the customer pays not including taxes) for each copy of the book that is sold, provided it adheres to their pricing rules. For original works priced below this threshold, you will receive 45% of the list price. For books that are a part of the public domain, you will receive 20% of the list price. They have a reporting dashboard.
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Posted by Diana Hurwitz, author of Story Building Blocks: The Four Layers of Conflict, Story Building Blocks II: Crafting Believable Conflict, Story Building Blocks III: The Revision Layers, and the YA adventure series Mythikas Island. Her weekly blog, Game On: Crafting Believable Conflict explores how characters behave and misbehave. Visit DianaHurwitz.com for more information and free writing tools. You can follow her on Facebook and Twitter. |
Yesterday evening, I was talking with a friend who follows BRP. She mentioned how much she is appreciating the self-pubbing info you are sharing because she is about to embark on that journey for the first time. Thank you for sharing, Diana.
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