kdp – Joyana Peters

What To Know About Self Publishing Aggregators & Self Publishing Distributors

You’ve published your book, but how do you get it out for public consumption? This is where self publishing aggregators and self publishing distribution platforms come into play. If you’re scratching your head and going huh, don’t worry. I’m going to break it down and walk you through step-by-step, including how to weigh your options.

Learning the Lingo: Self Publishing Aggregators

First off, let’s start with definitions. Self publishing aggregators work to bridge the gap between authors and online retailers. Basically, they act as intermediaries between authors, libraries and all the different self-publishing distribution platforms.

What’s also nice about self publishing aggregators is they serve as a one-stop shop for you. Instead of you attempting to load your book individually to all of the vendor platforms, you can load it once to your aggregator. Many will even offer you a full dashboard to see all of the stores and places your book is available. They also display monthly sales reports, promotional options and more.

So who are some of these self publishing aggregators? You may recognize some of the biggest names like IngramSpark, Draft2Digital, and PublishDrive. I’ll get into some more detail below about the differences between them.

Learning the Lingo: Self Publishing Distribution Platforms

Now for self publishing distribution platforms. These are the actual stores or vendors who are getting your book into the hands of readers. Some of the names you will probably recognize are Amazon KDP, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iBooks, etc.

It might feel obvious to try and get your book into as many places as possible. But before you choose an aggregator, make sure you strategize depending on your individual goals and target audience.

For instance, if you write children’s books your priority is going to be getting into school libraries and places where parents shop. You also might focus less on ebook distribution and more on print distribution.

Romance authors however, might be okay skipping this step entirely and putting their books exclusively in Kindle Unlimited where voracious readers will devour them and go from one romance book to the next and the authors get paid by the page read.

Genres are different. Target age and readership are different. These factors should all play into your decisions and distribution needs.

Aggregators and Self Publishing Distribution Platforms Strategy

So, how do you find and determine these factors? Research. Look for data and statistics. For instance, Pew Research shows that the average American reads five books a year. This number increases as adults grow older. Good to know for authors targeting older adult readers. Cozy mysteries, romances, spy novels, etc.

However, it would also be important to note that older readers are NOT the ones buying ebooks. The same Pew Research shows that as of 2023- 75% of ebooks were bought by readers ages 18-45. This is the same age group that is buying audiobooks. So if you’re writing for the 18-45 year old demographic you definitely want to make sure you’re getting your book into ebook and audiobook distribution. But if you’re targeting those older adult readers, focus on print distribution and libraries.

Comparing Your Options

With this information in mind, it’s time to look at these aggregators and determine their strengths and how to best use them. Ingramspark, for instance, is best for print distribution. But they’re not the best resource for ebook or audiobook distribution. Draft2Digital is an excellent ebook and audiobook distributor, but they’re just getting started and have limited print distribution. That’s where it might be best to use a combo of aggregators. I, for instance, use both Ingramspark and Draft2Digital to fulfill my needs.

If you’re targeting a demographic that might have voracious ebook or audiobook readers, you may want to look into an aggregator that distributes to subscription platforms. For instance, StreetLib and PublishDrive distribute to Bookmate and Scribd. If you’re not familiar with these platforms, see my blog post discussing ebook subscription services from last week.

All in all, there is some research to be done to best strategize your needs, but the tools are out there to help set you up for success. And luckily, once you decide, all that is necessary is uploading and pressing a button!

If you have further questions about any of this, or just want to discuss the best strategy for you, feel free to reach out or ask questions below in the comments. Happy Publishing!

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Authors Under Attack & Kindle Piracy Policy

Where is an author’s place in an Amazon world?

Piracy. The word has run the gamut of affiliated issues in different markets over the years. It’s been linked with issues with music and downloading songs without payment to the artist. Remember the days of Napster? Piracy has also been linked to theft for authors. Websites are springing up where full manuscripts are available for public download. This is problematic enough, but Amazon’s new stringent policy against kindle piracy creates even further punishment for authors!

Kindle Unlimited has always been controversial for authors. There has always been that double edged sword of affiliating yourself with Amazon to be paid for page reads along with their marketing, but you have to pledge exclusivity. This has always been a difficult decision.

Many authors swear by it and build their entire platform around having their books in the Kindle Unlimited library. Others start off that way to get their book out there and then pull to go wide (aka list it in other vendor marketplaces) after they’ve got a solid base of reviews. This is what I did.

I felt, as do many authors, that it was unfair that to be listed in Kindle Unlimited I was restricted from even selling my own ebooks directly on my own website! It felt like it goes against the grain of why many of us went into self-publishing in the first place. To have autonomy over marketing decisions. But still, I did understand why some authors chose to stay. The Kindle Unlimited page read payouts are alluring.

However, Amazon recently opened a whole new can of worms against authors. Amazon added kindle piracy to its exclusivity violations. So now in addition to an author already feeling frustrated when their work is stolen and posted on a random site for download, they’re also getting shut out of their Amazon accounts.

That’s right, Amazon is not even serving them a warning or advice on how to fight the kindle piracy, they are just shutting authors out of their accounts and sole sources of income overnight and citing breach of their exclusivity contracts.

The worst part is authors don’t even know how to go about fighting it. Some authors are trying to organize a solidarity Kindle Unlimited strike- however understandably many claim they can’t afford to pull their sole income source right now.

There is also a Change.org petition being shared as well as one acknowledging that Amazon is one of the primary sources for this kindle piracy in the first place! Many automated systems use Amazon as the source for them to copy the e-files they share on their free sites.

It’s a vicious cycle. An author needs a source for selling/publishing their product, they turn to Amazon and commit to their exclusivity clause, their work gets stolen from Amazon, then Amazon boots them out of the program without support.

This cycle needs to be broken!

Perhaps by at least spreading awareness of this issue, whether that be by sharing this article, the circulating petitions, or just by talking about it– change can occur. Amazon needs to be held accountable and they need to support the authors they are making money from.

As stated in an article from ‘thenewpublishingstandard.com’ posted on Dec 7th, 2021;

“Per the AAP, tracked ebook sales REVENUE from January through October 2021 amounted to $892.5 million.”

Do better Amazon. Authors make you money. Protect them.

Do you have a Kindle Unlimited Account as either a reader or author? What are your feelings about Kindle Unlimited?

Tag: kdp