Indie Writer Resources

eBook Distribution

Posted on by Rebecca Dalton

This post is part of the Publishing Resources Guide.

When you indie publish you have the option of publishing directly with a particular retailer by uploading directly to them, or using a distributer. Publishing distributors are websites that act as the middle man between you and the ebook retail outlets. You publish your book to the distributor and they in turn publish it with the retail stores you select. It is possible to publish direct with some places, and use a distributor for the rest.

Why publish through a distributer? It’s more efficient to publish to one site and have it show up on many different stores. It’s easier to manage changes from one site, too, instead of having to manually change them at many different places. So every time you change your cover, description, or price you only have to do it once. I personally think you should always at least publish direct to Amazon, but if you live in a country where you can’t do that a distributor lets you get on the site. There are tons of smaller ebook retailers that you can’t really reach any other way but to go through these sites.

On the flip side, you lose some ability to control your metadata when you go with a distributor, and that can have an impact on discoverability – most notably with Amazon. (Although the new Amazon Author Central will let authors change categories through them, as I understand it.) Some promotional opportunities are only available when you go direct with the retailer, which can also affect discoverability. There is also an additional charge for the service (usually a 10% take from your sales, which is taken out automatically). So it’s a trade-off, and you have to decide up front which direction you’ll go with each particular book. Here are the main ones:

*Access to libraries – these retailers or distributers allow you to opt into library distribution right from their dashboards.

+Royalty Splitting – these retailers or distributers will allow you to assign multiple authors to a work and will automatically split the payments between the authors and pay each author individually each month.

#Print on Demand – these retailers or distributers provide access to Print On Demand services so you can publish print books.

Direct Retail Stores

Distributor Sites

  • Draft2Digital*+#: Draft2Digital.com (Affiliate Link)| Help  Draft2Digital can help you get into libraries, and a number of other retailers. They have a Print On Demand option in beta that will get your print book into the Ingram catalogue, which can make it available to libraries and bookstores. They will also do royalty splits between multiple authors (anthologies, co-written works, shared worlds).
  • PublishDrive: PublishDrive.com  | Help  This one charges upfront for the service, but doesn’t take a cut of your profits. It’s best for those with a large backlist to support the upfront payments.
  • PubShare+ (formerly BundleRabbit): PubShare.com | Help PubShare was the first site to do royalty splitting for multiple authors. They’re a good site, but they don’t distribute to as many places as Draft2Digital. They will submit to Amazon (ebook and print), Kobo, Apple and Barnes and Noble.
  • StreetLib*: StreetLib.com | Help StreetLib offers global distribution through their extensive network of retail stores, including some subscription services you can’t get anywhere else.

You’ll notice that there’s one big name missing from this list: Smashwords. That’s because Draft2Digital recently bought Smashwords and the two companies are merging. Pretty soon you’ll be able to access both company’s distribution networks by signing up with Draft2Digital. Read more here:

Read more about Publication.