In my adult life, I’ve watched self-publishing evolve so much. These days, authors have a wealth of options to get a book out into the world, many of them surprisingly economical thanks to print-on-demand. It’s easier than ever to produce and distribute books in the same league with big traditional publishers.
This is kind of great for art-making, taste-making, and representation, but with choice comes responsibility. Because we have so many options, authors considering self-publishing now have to educate ourselves in literary citizenship. What looks like the best choice for us financially in the short term, for this book, may end up harming our long-term career (or even sales on that book).
I saw a post on Reddit this morning where an author asked about considerations for a self-published literary novel. They’d read up on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), but had a feeling KDP wasn’t the only viable option and wanted to hear about others’ experiences. I couldn’t resist wearing out my thumbs with a long reply, but then I thought: why keep it under a bushel? So this post is a considerably expanded version of the thoughts I shared there.
First: some context
For those not in the industry currently or lurking on relevant subreddits, I’ll give a brief rundown of the mechanics of self-publishing.
First of all, some indie authors, especially very prolific ones, release most of their books in electronic formats only. The 6 Figure Authors podcast talks a lot about this rapid release, ebook-heavy business model. As far as I’ve seen, most of these authors focus on Amazon’s KDP platform, which offers a simple process, high royalty rate, and perks for selling exclusively through them. This makes sense given Amazon’s dominance in the ebook market.
If you’re publishing in multiple formats, you have a choice. KDP supports physical formats and Amazon has taken over a significant share of the physical bookselling market. However, there are multiple services who also offer print-on-demand (POD) books, each with their own pros and cons. Big names include IngramSpark, BookBaby, and Lulu.
POD really revolutionized self-publishing, in my mind, because it removed the burden of funding your first print run and subsequently storing and distributing all those physical copies yourself. In fact, I have to wonder if it will one day become the industry norm. When my business partners and I founded our small press last year, we never even considered traditional print runs over POD. It removes so much risk and potential waste.
Distribution is key
At the end of the day, I think the physical quality of books produced by the various big POD players is pretty comparable. If you invest properly in pre-production — engaging in critique, doing rigorous developmental editing, contracting out copy editing and cover design work — you will end up with a professional final product. The big sticking point that got me fired up enough to stay on the couch in my pajamas, tapping my little sermon into the reddit comment box when I should’ve been working, is distribution.
With ebooks, I think a lot of people assume — rightly — ebook is synonymous to Kindle book in the average reader’s mind. We expect to find big-name, traditionally published books available through the library or Apple Books. Indie authors, not necessarily. Amazon exclusivity is much more acceptable here, or at least much more the norm.
And it can be the norm for a lot of physical books, too! Most people I know outside the industry buy books on Amazon. They might not notice if a book was unavailable somewhere else. A book has to get pretty big before we expect to see it in a Target or a Hudson News, and most books don’t get that big.
If, as an author, you want to quietly put your book out, continue a reclusive lifestyle, and if it sells, it sells, maybe KDP will feel right for you. I have a couple author acquaintances who operate this way, though I should point out “being an author” is not their full-time day job.
However, career authors are part of a larger literary ecosystem, and it’s one we ignore at our own peril. If we cast our lots with Amazon in the physical book market, we cut ourselves off from the lifeblood of our community. This might make us some money in the short-term, but long-term, I personally cannot endorse it.
On-the-ground connections help, and they last
My first book, Order from Chaos, was self-published and has enjoyed excellent longevity with sales. Many people try to play the algorithm game with Amazon. If your book sells for them, they will reward you with higher positioning in search results, placement in the stripe of “customers who bought this book also bought…” suggestions, etc. There is a whole industry around keyword and metadata optimization research for books published under KDP. I did not really play this game at all. I’m sure Amazon suggests my book plenty often to people its algorithm thinks will buy it, because it is a successful book. However, I don’t believe it is a successful book because of Amazon’s algorithm.
In fact, I’ve done very little “online” promotion for the book. I tried to pick appropriate keywords and categories, and I paid for an ad here or there, but overall, I’ve done next to nothing compared to what other authors do. Where I did focus my efforts were in the offline, physical world. I had a good relationship with our local bookstore. When our local NPR station interviewed me about my book, I used this exposure to pitch an author event at the store. The radio station offered to re-run the interview the day before my event to help drive attendance. I’ve also interviewed on several relevant podcasts. Before I even wrote the book, I took my role in my niche community seriously and maintained relationships with trusted experts who would review and recommend it when the time came. In other words, I took a very traditional approach that relied on relationships and word of mouth, not algorithms and advertising.
It seems to have worked, not only for that book but possibly for my next one. Even though She’s Not Home is in a different category, with a small press, under a pen name, I can return to these same in-person connections to promote the book. That’s because they’re based on relationships with me as a person, not just metadata and sales figures on a product. People may not know my book or my pen name yet, but they know me. That context makes them more willing to work with me on launch events, pre-launch publicity, etc.
As an elder Millennial, I’ve been around to see a lot of internet platforms come and go. I’m thus very hesitant to place my fate in the hands of a platform I don’t own. Whenever Instagram or Facebook or Amazon make changes to their algorithm, people whose livelihoods depend on the visibility those algorithms provide go into a panic. I don’t want to live like that. Given the brouhaha over Twitter this past month, it’s a good time to remember: anything can happen. I want to own and control as many variables affecting my success as I can.
Literary citizenship is important
More than my own personal success, I think it’s crucial to be a good literary citizen, and to be aware of our impact on the larger ecosystem. Thanks to Google Alerts, I happen to know Order from Chaos is in a good many libraries and independent bookstores around the country and the world. This is not the result of individual outreach efforts — no one person has time to pitch so many bookstores and still do other things — but it is also not by accident.
When I self-published Order from Chaos, one of my highest priorities was to make it as accessible as possible. It has kind of a vulnerable audience, many of whom will at some point struggle financially. I wanted the book in the library.
I also wanted it in the bookstore. This will only become more important with She’s Not Home. Like the Redditor who got me started on this whole jag, that book is more literary — I often describe its genre as “book club fiction.”
And where do book club type people love to hang out? The local bookstore. I know this because I am a book club type person. We go to readings. We read shelf-talkers written by our trusted booksellers and will buy a book based on their recommendations. Yes, lots of younger readers are on TikTok and Instagram. We might find books this way, too, but many of the Gen X and elder Millennial readers I know are much more offline. I discover most new books based on word of mouth, traditional media, or recommendations from my local bookseller.
This makes an author’s relationship with these entities completely unexpendable, in my mind. Especially if your work is more literary. Casting your lot with KDP and Amazon is already risky for the reasons I mentioned above. Using KDP as your print book distributor also supports a system — and a multi-billion-dollar corporation — that actively harms libraries and independent booksellers. It undermines the lifeblood of our community and creates barriers to a book being sold or promoted in these spaces. As an author, I would never want to place myself apart from bookstores and libraries, or put up barriers to my book being found there.
How I do it
First as a self-published author, and now as an author and a partner in a small publisher, I’ve always tried to show up as a professional and a team player. When it comes to book distribution, this means doing things in an industry-standard way and never passing burden or risk on to a bookseller.
Bookstores order their books at a wholesale rate through just a few major distributors, one of whom is Ingram. Authors and small publishers with a POD business model can gain inclusion in Ingram’s wholesale catalog via IngramSpark. They can also set their wholesale discount rate to whatever they want, within a pretty wide range. However, choosing between 53-55% of retail will ensure your book is offered to booksellers at the standard trade discount they expect on traditionally published titles. This is crucial, because it places POD titles on a level playing field with books from big publishers.
Yes, bookstores can order a book through other channels. Whether they will is another story. Even if you choose to allow wider distribution through KDP, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a bookseller willing to order from Amazon. It doesn’t make sense financially or ideologically. Likewise, a lower trade discount would require a bookseller to accept a smaller profit margin on a book that may not even sell. They may not be able to do this, let alone willing.
In my opinion, the best bet for authors is to use IngramSpark for print distribution, with a 53-55% wholesale discount. For ebooks, IngramSpark will get you into Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and other non-Kindle retailers. I haven’t had huge sales from these platforms compared to Kindle, but I still think it’s worth it, especially because Ingram distribution allows all formats of your book to make it into public libraries. I want my book to show up everywhere you’d expect a book from a big publisher like St. Martin’s or Penguin to show up. This wide availability at an industry-standard price point gives my book a fairer shot. It also presents me as a professional, conscientious person who has taken the time to understand my industry.
The one place I do use KDP is for Amazon ebooks. There doesn’t seem to be any downside to this, and Amazon allows you to upload your ebook files with no setup fees (unlike Ingram, which charges $49). Distributing Kindle books via KDP doesn’t harm anyone or make your book unavailable to other retailers. What it does do is return a 70% royalty rate on ebook sales. Given the profit margins on print books, this is huge. It creates a little more accounting work every month, but it’s totally worth it.
Your mileage may vary
Perhaps it should go without saying, but since few things seem to these days, I will say it: this is based on my experience, in my community, within my niche audiences. Different authors will have different needs. As an author writing for a book club audience, I feel a need to meet that audience where they are. As an author who wants to stick around a while and build a respectable career, I don’t care about my income next month as much as how I present myself as a member of the literary community. I place high value on in-person events, traditional media, and industry relationships. Having a book that’s only available on Amazon cuts me off from all of this and severely limits my reach and my legitimacy. Plus, if Amazon makes changes to their publishing and bookselling platforms in the future, I don’t want my career and presence as an author tied up in this.
Unglamorous as it sounds, I’d honestly much rather be at the library.
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