You wanted to publish your book but you have this question running in your head, "where I self-publish my books?". Find where exactly you can put your books and make the sales that you wish for.
Today's question or issue has three answers and I want you to stick around for the third answer. Because it's a secret as to which platform is making me the most money. Or is the most profitable in 2021 for publishing your book on.
Let's get into it. The question or thing today that was, where I self-publish my books? The thing is that when you first get started with self-publishing, you're not sure where you should be publishing your books.
One of the best ways to figure that out is to talk to successful self-publishers who are currently publishing across several platforms or networks. To know exactly which ones are going to be the most profitable and to find an answer to your question, where I self-publish my books?. You shouldn't just put your book on any network.
You want to make sure the network that you're putting them on and the distribution channels are the most profitable. The ones that are going to make you the most money. Unless you just want max distribution which is another option.
But in terms of making a profit which is what most people would like to do, they would like to get their books in the hands of the right people. Then, also make a profit off of those same books. And that is what we're going to answer in today's blog.
But before we get into today's answers, you can grab a copy of my absolutely free Self-Publishing Checklist. Audiobooks anyone? When I first got started with self-publishing, I thought that audiobooks were very difficult to produce. I mean where do you start? Where I self-publish my books?
You think of them in terms of maybe the most difficult area of getting your book onto the market. I was very very surprised because what happened was what other people told me. Just how much money they were making off of their audiobooks alone.
That made me reconsider this issue of whether or not I should research the subject of audiobooks and start getting them onto the market. So I discovered that you could split the revenue on ACX. You can split the revenue with a narrator there without actually even paying them any money.
These are narrators who already know how to do your book. You can put your book right onto Kindle, you have to have a Kindle version. Then give them copy access to that Kindle version.
You send them a copy of your manuscript which is usually a PDF. But you can send them a copy of your manuscript and then different narrators will take turns. Auditioning for the right to publish or to narrate your book.
Once you listen to these different ones and you decide which one you want to start the job, you give them a deadline. They will produce the audio files and directly upload them to ACX. They will then take those audio files and put them out there.
They'll go through their quality check. If everything is okay, then you'll be sent back a notification and now your book is for sale. In other words, you didn't do anything other than changing the dimensions on your cover.
Hiring The Best Narrator
Find a narrator and let them do all of the work. The downside is that of your 40% margins, you're going to be splitting it, so it's 20/20. I later discovered that by hiring your narrator directly, who you can find on Fiverr and Upwork, you'll be able to have them do your audiobooks at a much better rate for you.
You will keep all of the profits that come from that audiobook. That would be all 40% of the margins that are coming off of your audiobooks. This is something you are going to want to do.
If you find it a huge burden, then you would not start with that, but rather pull back a little bit. That was what I discovered and I started doing that. Also, it's useful when you're doing bundles.
Maybe your previous narrators aren't around to do the bundles to put it all together. You're able to pay for just the opening and ending of the bundle as opposed to the whole file. Whereas if you do a narrator split, they're going to make all of the money off of your bundled books.
If you have four books and you put them together, they're going to make money 20% of the total amount. As opposed to you making 40% if you're combining them. So there are a couple of tricks that help me understand that, by listening to people who are already making a profit.
They could help me out. Now, the main source of profit from ACX Audible previously was through the bounties. Because anytime, somebody can listen to your book and they would send you $50.
Check out this related article: How To Write A Book?
I was getting as much as $10 to $20 of these a month. That would make you a good sizable amount of change off of the bounties alone. Which made it worth your while even if nobody, actually only a few people were downloading or buying your books.
But that wouldn't be a problem. The key is even after this most profitable thing that used to make Audible the most profitable disappeared, we still see that sales continue coming in daily. Where you make the most money changes?
That's why today's secret answer to the question is going to tell you where I make most, where my most profitable location is. So where I self-publish my books? The first thing is my eBooks. I start with Kindle which is by the way if you don't have a book on the market, that's where you start.
Get your Kindle book out first. Then we go to Ingram Spark and then Smashwords, there's the order of books. Ingram Spark requires you to have an ISBN and they have to review the book.
Those both can cost you money while Smashwords is free. But it makes way fewer sales than Kindle does and you also need an EPUB version. If you're looking for formatting make sure you grab a copy of the program Jutoh.
Different Platforms
Jutoh is what I and my virtual assistants use. To make sure that the books are of high-quality that is being produced. The second thing is your paperbacks, starting with KDP Print and then Ingram Spark.
So those are where I exactly go. Again, with Ingram Spark, you're going to need an ISBN and they have a review cost that could hit you then. Unless you're using a promo code from them or you live in a country where you can get free ISBNs, then they combine it.
But even if you don't, you can do both your eBook and EPUB version with them. You can do your paperback version with Ingram Spark and using one promo code or $50, they will do both of them. So that's another little tip for you.
The third is I do my hardback books on Lulu. Generally, I'm only using my best-sellers on these here. I make sure that my best-sellers go out first.
So there is a process in getting the covers especially Lulu. The covers are a little bit trickier but it's worth the effort. The fourth is Audible using ACX Audible for the distribution of your audiobooks.
The order you should be doing this end would be Kindle first then you would do your KDP Print and then Audible. Because they hang together, remember as I said before? You can't do your Audible book unless you have a Kindle book on the market already.
Those are what you're going to want to remember. The main reason I have it in this order is that they flow out of each other. They're all through Amazon so you're able to get them out.
They have a large audience and together, they will make you a greater profit than you will individually. The final thing I wanted to say about that is my secret answer of the day which is if assuming we're not only choosing one of these platforms, then my number one recommendation would be Ingram Spark.
Check out this related article: Self-Publishing Made Easy Now!
Doing print books through them is by far the most profitable of everywhere. I have put my books at least for 2021 I'm looking at the daily sales coming in there, I'm making more money on Ingram Spark than anywhere else.
If you're looking at making money, if that's one of the goals then Ingram Spark is something you want to consider. But keep in mind you will have to pay $50 for them to do the review of your book. Unless you have a promo code that they come out with regularly.
Another is that they're still going to pay to get your ISBN. Unless you live in a country like where I live in which is Norway or in Canada to get those ISBN's for free. But in the United States, you will have to pay and that's something also to consider.
So that would be my answer to the question, “where I self-publish my books?”. How about you, what is your most profitable platform for self-publishing? Let me know below in the comments, I love to find out what you have found.
Which areas are making you the most money at the moment for 2021? So I can help even more people. Check out my other blogs and videos that will answer your self-publishing questions.