Chris A. Baird | March 15, 2021
Self Publishing Distribution Options

So you have already written your book and now you are almost ready to publish it but you are not quite sure where to put your book on. Find out the best self publishing distribution options that you must take now.

Choose The Right Version

Today's question has three answers and you're going to want to stick around for the third answer. Because it is a secret as to which distribution option is the best one for you.

So let's get into it. Today's question is, self publishing distribution options? This is a very common question that many authors have.

You've written your book and now you're ready to distribute it. But who exactly should you be distributing your book to? Because there's a whole series of distribution channels that you can choose from.

Both in terms of where and which places your books will be sold. Whether it's a library or the local bookstore or whether which online store. Another issue is which formats it should be available in?

Because you have hardback, softback, and paperback. You have your eBook versions, multiple ebook versions, and you also have your audiobooks. So based upon the available choices, it becomes a little bit tricky for many authors to figure out which one is the correct one for you.

And you're left feeling a little hopeless and overwhelmed with so many choices. This is what we are going to answer in today's article.

But before we get into that, grab a copy of my free Self-Publishing Checklist. It will help you make sure that you are not skipping any of the necessary steps to win self-publishing.

So let's get into it. How much is enough? This was a question I was wondering because when I first started self-publishing, I started with Amazon.

I got my Kindle book onto the market and then I moved on to the paperback version which was through CreateSpace at the time and now it's called KDP Print. Then I move to my audiobook version through ACX Audible.

By getting these different versions out, I thought "well I guess that was enough". Because my versions are in, who else would want another version, right? If you've got your paperback choice and you've got these other options available, so there's really no need for that.

That was where I was mistaken. Was I finished? No, I absolutely was not finished. The reason is that other people start talking about other options and the money that they're making through those other distribution channels.

Start Simple

So I realized maybe I made a mistake. Now, they weren't suggesting taking your books off of the existing distribution channels. But rather going even wider and broader with regards to the channels that you're using.

In particular, hardbacks were the first starting point. Some readers only like books in a specific format through a specific store or web store. So there can be different places where they will only buy the books in the format they want.

They determine the conditions and you have to decide, do you want your book in those locations or do you just want to take the chances of losing those additional sales? And this is a tough choice for a lot of people.

But for me, it's pretty straightforward which is I need to get my books where my readers are. So I began to realize you can put other eBooks on through Smashwords or Draft2Digital. The other is Ingram spark, eBooks, and paperbacks.

That's what I started to do, putting my books on these other formats and the money started coming in from multiple sources. So I was no longer depending on just Amazon to bring a decent amount of money in. It was coming through these other ones.

Check out this related article:  How Can Content Marketing Help Me Sell Books? 

So if my account were threatened which Amazon does with some of the authors that are on there, taking down books and doing all sorts of stuff, it's much more powerful and useful for you in the long run.

Make sure that your books are in many different formats that you possibly can. And not everything bundled together with just Amazon. So self publishing distribution options?

Well, the first thing is that you're going to want to start simple so you do not burn yourself out. If there's one thing at this particular blog is that we want to make self-publishing easy, not hard or difficult.

One of the key issues there is making sure that you do only one thing at a time until you have mastery. In this case, it would be Kindle. If you don't have a Kindle book out, then stop everything and get your Kindle book onto the market.

Do whatever is necessary to get to that point. Get that Kindle book on the market. And afterward, we want to add additional versions once we've got the first one in place.

Earn The Most Money

So you have your KDP version in place then you'll get your KDP Print. Then, we're going to move on to ACX because you need your Kindle version to get an audiobook version. After that, we're going to go to Ingram Spark where I've been making more money than anybody else lately.

Though different people have different experiences. Then finally Smashwords, we take our eBook and we put it into an EPUB format which will also go through Ingram Spark. You can also take that same EPUB if you have the right program for formatting it.

A program that can do all the formatting for all of the different formats and all of the different public distribution options that you would like to do. That can be done using a program called Jutoh which makes this very simple. That makes self-publishing incredibly simple.

Maximizing your distribution and the profits that you're making. So you just have to decide for yourself at which point you're ready to jump in. I think it's only like $50, so it's a pretty cheap tool.

Which self publishing distribution options are right for you? The secret answer for today is you should look at which versions or which options are earning you the most money.

Check out this related article: Stop Losing Money on Self-Publishing NOW! 

So if you find that your audiobooks are doing the most, then make sure you're using much of your time getting your books into that format. And for me, Ingram Spark is the winner right now. It was audiobooks previously but Ingram Spark is now the winner.

But we wanted over-time to get all of our books in all of the possible formats. And again if you're using the right tools, then it's so simple. You just hit a button and it will put it into the format that you're going to need your books to be in.

That is something that you're not going to want to ignore. So which self publishing distribution options are you using? I would really like to know so I can help you better.

Let me know below in the comments and check out my other articles and videos for more answers to your self publishing questions.

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