This excerpt from 150 Self-Publishing Questions Answered, written by ALLi’s Outreach Manager M.L. Ronn, offers practical guidance drawn from years of indie publishing experience. You can purchase a copy from our bookstore at selfpublishingadvice.org/books/150. If you’re an ALLi member, you can download this and all of our guidebooks for free—just log in and go to “Publications”.
“Getting your book pirated is a rite of passage. As I heard an ALLi member say once, it means you’ve finally arrived!” — M.L. Ronn
We are fortunate as authors today to live in the greatest era of book distribution. Excellent distribution options are available to indie authors for e-books, audiobooks, and print-on-demand. If you can dream it, you can get your self-published book distributed there with ease: Amazon, Apple, Google Play, Kobo, Overdrive, to name a few.
Publishing platforms like Kobo have relationships with book retailers in countries all over the world. Through IngramSpark, it’s possible to get your book into bookstores worldwide too. There are challenges to this route, certainly, and it’s hard work, but it is possible.
ALLi’s guiding policy for the most effective distribution plan is to be in as many formats as you can—e-book, print, and audio—and in as many stores as you can, while making your own website the core of your bookselling operation.
Those who don’t want the hassle of dealing with multiple platforms individually can use a service known as an aggregator. Aggregators are companies like Draft2Digital, PublishDrive, and StreetLib that allow you to upload your book onto one single dashboard, which then automatically distributes it to hundreds of outlets all over the world.
In short, there is an abundance of distribution options for your book.
I’m confused about distributors, wholesalers, and retailers. Who does what?
Some of the platforms open to indie authors are production, distribution, and bookselling platforms. And some companies refer to themselves as publishers, when they are really printers or author services. As a result, authors can confuse the different parties involved in self-publishing.
Here’s the deal:
- You, the author, are the publisher.
- The platforms you use for production, printing, distribution, marketing, or other aspects of the publishing process are self-publishing services.
- The wholesalers, distributors, and aggregators that supply books are all distribution channelsas far as an author is concerned.
- Bookstores, including online stores, and libraries are outlets.
- Some self-publishing services like IngramSpark are both a publishing service and a distributor. Others like Amazon KDP, Apple Books, Google Play, and Kobo are self-publishing services and distributors with online retail store outlets attached. It is for this reason that ALLi recommends you should go directly to these companies, rather than through an aggregator. Kobo, uniquely, in addition to being service, distributor, and online retailer, also partners with other book retailers and distributors around the world, like Walmart in the United States and WHSmith in the United Kingdom.
What is the difference between a book wholesaler and a book distributor?
These services grew up in traditional publishing and are less relevant in digital self-publishing. A wholesaler works for bookstores and libraries and other book outlets. They buy books from a publisher and sell them to their customers. A distributor works for the publisher, supplying books to the market and taking a fee and a percentage for the distribution service. They may also provide other billable services.
How should I price my book?
People talk about pricing a lot and often make the assumption that pricing cheaper means more readers and more profit in the end. Not always.
Some retailers, like Amazon, attract bargain hunters, while others like Kobo and Apple are far less price sensitive. An e-book under 50,000 words priced at $2.99 might be considered too expensive on Amazon, but may do well on Apple Books or Kobo.
On those platforms, the psychology of pricing relates to quality and value. Certain readers comparing two books may go with the higher-priced option and may assume it’s a better book.
There’s no hard guideline for pricing your book, but there are some universal rules of thumb.
For e-books, the general sweet spot for indie books is between $2.99 and $9.99. Most books fall between $2.99 and $5.99, with box sets and omnibuses priced more toward $9.99. The best way to find your pricing sweet spot is to see how other, well-selling self-published books in your genre are priced. That’s direct evidence of what readers are willing to pay.
Why is $2.99 to $9.99 the best price point? Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, $9.99 is the last price point where Amazon offers a 70 percent sales commission for self-published writers. For all price points under $2.99 and over $9.99, you’ll only receive a 35 percent sales commission on Amazon. Some retailers such as Kobo are more generous with their sales commission above $9.99, so you should take that into consideration if you have a book that you feel may be worth more than that.
Also, many traditionally published books are priced north of $9.99, so you’ll make your book more attractive by comparison if you price it slightly lower.
For e-books, I recommended pricing lower than traditionally published titles. For print books, that’s still true, but you can and should charge more than for your e-book. Readers will pay more for print books. Higher-priced print books also make your e-book look cheaper by comparison.
For print books, you also have to think about making them attractive to booksellers, which means pricing them high enough that they can make a decent profit (for you and the bookseller). This generally means somewhere between $10 and $20 for the book, depending on the length and printing requirements.
For audiobooks, it depends on where you publish. You cannot control your pricing on Audible audiobooks, which is unfortunate because Audible (owned by Amazon) is the largest audiobook retailer at the time of this writing. Pricing there is based on the length of your book. But if you distribute to other audiobook retailers, you can set a price.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with promotional pricing on all your formats. Sometimes breaking the rules can work. Be flexible and be open to trying different things.
What matters most is what readers think is acceptable and reasonable. They’ll pay $2.99 to $9.99 as long as your book matches the market.
Of course, don’t be silly with your pricing. Don’t offer a fifty-page book for $9.99, for example. Readers will punish you in reviews, or not buy your book at all.
As a very general rule, longer books can be priced higher. They take more time and money to write, edit, and produce—and you should be compensated for that.
If your book is way longer than comparable books in your genre, then maybe you can get a dollar or more extra for it. If it’s way shorter, then maybe you can charge less as a value to readers. But I wouldn’t make length your primary consideration.
For nonfiction like self-help and business books, and for poetry, the length of the book matters less than its effect or perceived value. If your book is short, but the reader feels it could profoundly change their life, or inspire them, or enable them to make more money, they will be willing to pay a higher price.
And of course, established authors have fans who are often willing to pay more. They know what to expect and they can’t wait. But don’t price your book lower just because you’re a beginner—you will leave money on the table.
As with most things in publishing, you need to know your genre and reader expectations to make the wisest choice for you.
A final pricing tip is to use “pretty pricing” for the major international currencies (such as pounds, euros, yen, pesos, US dollars, Canadian dollars, and Australian dollars). Don’t use the automatic currency conversion that retailers offer. For example, instead of selling your book for 2.84 euros, round up to 2.99. It looks more professional and will probably convert better.
I want to make changes to my book. Do I need a second edition?
New editions are common in fiction and nonfiction.
You may decide to refresh your nonfiction book with more up-to-date content several years after publication, or you might add, remove, or improve sections in your novel.
The general rule is that if the edits you’re making would render the book substantially different, then a new edition is needed.
For second editions, should I unpublish my first edition?
If a new edition is needed, then yes, you should unpublish the first edition so that readers don’t accidentally buy the wrong edition. It’s also your opportunity to refresh the book by putting the new edition number on the cover and in your book description. Think of it as a new marketing opportunity.
Readers of the older edition might even be interested in falling in love with it all over again!
How do I get my book into libraries?
Libraries have strict purchasing guidelines, and they use special catalogues to buy their books. You can get your book into those catalogues—all it takes is having the knowledge. Don’t visit your local library with copies of your book. In a librarian’s eyes, only an amateur would do that.
Pricing your book at the right price for librarians is also another helpful tip.
Library distribution is beyond the scope of this book but ALLi has a guide called Your Book in Libraries Worldwide which is referenced in the Resources section. I’ve included some other links there to help you explore this further.
Help! Someone is pirating my book!
Every writer gets pirated. It’s an unfortunate consequence of publishing books in the digital age.
E-book piracy is rampant, and there isn’t much we can do about it. Trying to get your books taken down from pirate sites is like the worst game of whack-a-mole ever. You’ll waste a lot of money trying to sue infringers too, especially if they live in other countries.
As much as I’d like to advise you otherwise, the best course of action is usually to do nothing.
To make matters worse, just because a piracy website says your book is available doesn’t mean your book is available. Some sites are notorious for using a book cover as bait to get someone to download the “book,” only for the downloaded file to be a virus instead… with no book to be found. Unless you want to risk getting a virus yourself, you have no way of verifying that your book is actually being pirated.
Combine this with the fact that you’re not battling pirates anymore—there isn’t some shady person uploading your book to the cloud. These days, it’s sophisticated bots and scripts. That makes the battle all the more unwinnable.
If your book is pirated, some argue that downloaders would have never bought the book in the first place, which I think is true.
If you explore that argument further, downloaders could be a completely different audience who might appreciate your work, if you accept them as they are. It’s hard to really know for sure.
Getting your book pirated is a rite of passage. As I heard an ALLi member say once, it means you’ve finally arrived!
A publisher has republished my self-published book because I signed a deal. Should I remove the original book from the market?
So a traditional publisher has bought the rights to your already-self-published work. Great!
If the publisher holds the rights to the book, you can no longer sell it yourself on retailers. Your contract should stipulate when you need to bring it down. Earn your sales commissions until the last minute if you can, and then make sure you fulfill your contractual obligations.
What is hybrid publishing and should I consider it?
A hybrid publisher is a publisher who provides a mix of traditional and self-publishing services, usually in the same contract. It is commonly confused with the term “hybrid author,” who is an author who has both traditionally and self-published books.
A hybrid publisher helps an author self-publish their book, for example, but may take a percentage of royalties in exchange for the assistance.
This is a relatively new field that is fraught with contractual dangers, so always use ALLi’s Self-Publishing Service Ratings Directory when deciding on whether a hybrid publishing service is legitimate or not.
Amazon won’t remove my old book, even though it’s now listed as “unavailable.” What can I do?
There’s nothing you can do, unfortunately. Amazon prides itself on being the biggest bookstore on Earth. That means cataloguing and carrying every book in existence, whether it’s in print or not.
Amazon will not remove older editions of books for one simple reason: someone might have a used copy to sell. Removing the title from sale deprives someone somewhere in the world of that opportunity.
Many authors have “unavailable” books. It’s a rite of passage. My best advice is to focus on writing more books.
Help! Amazon is threatening to shut down my account!
Amazon may occasionally take action on accounts that it feels are violating its terms of service. Sometimes this is driven by Amazon employees; sometimes it’s driven by an algorithm.
Assuming that you have not violated the KDP terms of service, contact Amazon to get more information about why your account is being terminated. They may not give you very much information. Be prepared for that—Amazon generally takes a “guilty until proven innocent” mentality on account terminations, probably because it’s effective for eliminating the bad actors. It’s not much consolation to innocent people caught in a misunderstanding, though.
Be persistent. Use every avenue that you can, and explain your side of the matter, with as much evidence as possible that you are not guilty.
If you’re an ALLi member and can’t seem to reverse the termination, write to ALLi in confidence using the form on our contact page at selfpublishingadvice.org/contact. ALLi has a mediation relationship with Amazon and can help advocate on your behalf (yet another reason you should become a member!).
It goes without saying that you should always make sure you follow the KDP terms of service to the letter and don’t deviate from them. Every once in a while, new and shiny marketing techniques emerge that promise to make you money but may be a violation of KDP’s terms. Resist the temptation, even if everyone else is doing it. If Amazon takes action on your account one day, you won’t be able to defend yourself.
Being on the verge of termination is not a position you ever want to be in. It can ruin your author business, especially if you’re exclusive to Amazon.
Thoughts or further questions on this post or any self-publishing issue?
If you’re an ALLi member, head over to the SelfPubConnect forum for support from our experienced community of indie authors, advisors, and our own ALLi team. Simply create an account (if you haven’t already) to request to join the forum and get going.
Non-members looking for more information can search our extensive archive of blog posts and podcast episodes packed with tips and advice at ALLi's Self-Publishing Advice Center.
