Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Twenty years ago, it was nearly impossible for independent authors to get their books distributed to stores. Today, thanks to companies like BookBaby, indie authors can sell their printed books and eBooks in the biggest stores in the world. In fact, self-published authors have just as much access to retail stores as their traditionally published peers.
If you’re looking to self-publish and distribute your eBook and printed books, this article will tell you everything you need to know to get started. We’ll also discuss our book distribution services that offer a comprehensive strategy for breaking into e-commerce and retail distribution.
What is book distribution?
Although writing a book can be its own reward, most authors want to also sell the books they write. Sure, you can sell your books at your local shop, but if you want to make real money, then you’ll need to reach a national or even international audience, which means you’ll need to work with a book distributor.
Book distribution makes your eBooks and printed books available for sale in retail stores like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple iBooks, Kobo, and beyond.
In order to get distribution, you can go directly to the vendor (for example, you can publish your book through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), which will give you distribution to Amazon and Amazon alone) or you can publish your book through an aggregator like BookBaby, which will distribute your book to the 60 biggest bookstores in the world, including Amazon.
What do I need to do before I can distribute my book?
Before you can sell your book in the world’s biggest bookstores, there are a few things you need to do beyond simply finishing your manuscript.
Editing
If you want to sell a professional product, you need to make sure your book is professionally edited first. After all, nothing will turn a reader off faster than finding spelling and grammar mistakes when they read a sample of your book. BookBaby offers fast and affordable book editing services for independent authors, including proofreading, copy editing, and line editing.
Cover design
Your book cover is going to be your best advertising tool, so be sure to hire a professional designer who is experienced in designing book covers. The good news is you don’t have to spend an arm or a leg. BookBaby offers fantastic, eye-catching book cover design for just $399.
Interior formatting
In order to sell a book, you need to first format your manuscript for eReaders, as well as for printed books. Although you can certainly produce the necessary files through your word processor, the process is confusing, time-consuming, and the results are probably going to look amateurish. This is especially true if your book has lots of graphics.
So, for professional results, you are better off hiring someone who handles eBook conversion and formatting on a regular basis. BookBaby offers eBook conversion for just $99, and professional formatting, which includes selecting font families, designing an eye-catching title page as well as gorgeous chapter headings, for just $499 ($399 for print).
Once you have edited, designed your cover, and formatted your eBook, you are ready for global distribution.
How do I distribute my self-published book?
As we mentioned before, there are two basic paths to print book and eBook distribution: direct to the retailers or through an aggregator like BookBaby. Either way, you’ll have the ability to sell your eBooks and print-on-demand books in some of the biggest bookstores in the world.
Distributing directly through the retailer
On the plus side of going straight to the retailer, there are no upfront costs. Each retailer, Amazon (via KDP), Kobo, Apple, Barnes & Noble, etc., will take at least 30% of each sale, but that is going to happen no matter what. The downside of dealing with each individual retailer is just that: you have to deal with each individual retailer, and in the end there are still dozens of bookstores you will miss out on. The other downside is that you have to either do or farm out a lot of the work (cover design, formatting, etc.) ahead of time, which can be time consuming and headache-inducing.
Distributing through an aggregator like BookBaby
There are two major benefits of working with an aggregator. One is that you only have to deal with one vendor. When you publish your book through BookBaby, you can manage the sales of your eBooks and printed books in 60+ companies, all around the world, from a single dashboard.
The other benefit is that you don’t have to worry about conversion, formatting, outputting print-ready files, cover design, etc. You simply provide BookBaby with your Word document and they take it from there. Their self-publishing packages include everything you need and start at just $1,090.
The different kinds of aggregators
There are two kinds of aggregators, ones like Draft2Digital, who do not charge upfront costs but who take 10% of your sales (in addition to the 30% that the vendors take), and vendors like BookBaby who charge you an upfront cost, but do not take any of your sales royalties. If you are hoping for a lot of book sales (and who isn’t?), you should consider partnering with a company like BookBaby.
Avoiding common distribution mistakes
Here are some common self-publishing mistakes and how to avoid them.
- Not hiring professionals. Too many indie authors skimp on essential services and their books suffer as a result. Do not try to do your own cover design. Buyers will immediately spot your book as being amateurish and will avoid selecting your title. Similarly, readers can tell if a book hasn’t been professionally edited and will be sure to mention this in your reviews.
- Choosing the wrong keywords. When you are ready to publish your book on a store like Amazon, you’ll be asked to choose seven keywords. Too many authors don’t spend enough time understanding the role keywords play in letting readers find your book. We can teach you how to choose Amazon KDP keywords to maximize your organic reach on the platform.
- Choosing the wrong categories. If you’ve written a mystery, you might think choosing a category is as simple as picking “Mystery” and calling it a day. But there is a science to choosing the right category for your book, the results of which can drastically affect your sales rankings. Discover the best book categories on Amazon that will put your book in front of the right audience.
- Writing a lackluster description. A book description isn’t just a synopsis of your plot. It’s an advertisement for your book — one that potential customers will see when they select your title on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Crafting a great book description that compels readers to buy your book takes trial and error. Remember to revise, revise, revise until you feel like your blurb will draw readers in.
Let BookBaby handle the heavy lifting
Self-publishing a book can be an overwhelming experience — especially for first-timers. If you aren’t sure what you are doing or you don’t have time to deal with hiring a separate editor, designer, or eBook conversion specialist, why not partner with one company that can do all the heavy lifting for you?
Not only can BookBaby help you with editing, formatting, and cover design, as well as distribution for your eBook and print-on-demand distribution for your printed books, but they also offer incredibly helpful services like metadata optimization (which will help you choose the best keywords and categories). BookBaby can also help you sell your book with their helpful book marketing services (which will help you with social media marketing, Amazon marketing, and more).
Happy writing!
