After your manuscript has been edited and the cover has been designed, the next step is publishing! Now you have an important decision to make: Where will you self-publish your book? You do not have to choose only one publisher. (Although, if you plan to use more than one, check out the section in this article on ISBNs).
Some publishers are also book retailers and will sell your book on their platforms. Other publishers are aggregators, meaning they will distribute your book to retailers. Let’s take a look at a few of the most popular self-publishing platforms available to you.
Book Retailers
If you publish through a book retailer like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, your book will be available in its online bookstore.
Kindle Direct Publishing
Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is a very popular self-publishing option that allows your book to be sold on Amazon, where a large percentage of all book sales occur. Through KDP, you can create paperback, hardcover, and eBook versions.
KDP has a layout tool called Kindle Create that you can use to format your manuscript before publication. The service also features two royalty plans to choose from, as well as additional options like Expanded Distribution and Kindle Select, which can help get your book to more readers.
Barnes & Noble Press
Like KDP Barnes & Noble Press allows authors to publish eBooks and print-on-demand paperbacks and hardcovers. Books published through B&N Press are available to purchase on NOOK devices and BN.com; They may also be sold in brick-and-mortar Barnes & Noble stores if a customer asks for them. Additionally, independent authors’ local Barnes & Noble stores will often host events for your book’s release upon request.
Aggregators
Aggregators will publish your book and then distribute it to several book retailers all at once, though this service also comes with a fee.
IngramSpark
Ingram is the world’s largest wholesale book distributor, delivering books to over 40,000 outlets. Publishing through IngramSpark can make it more likely you’ll be able to get your book into physical stores, if that is a goal of yours.
Draft2Digital
Draft2Digital (D2D) distributes to all of the major eBook retailers and gives authors a “universal link” to share with customers. The link automatically pulls up their book in the customer’s preferred retailer.
D2D also offers options to have your book distributed to library systems.
As you consider your options for self-publishing, you may also want to begin to think about marketing your book. Remember that no matter where you publish, as a self-published author, marketing will be crucial to getting your book into readers’ hands.
If you aren’t quite ready to publish and are still in need of book editing, feel free to book a complimentary consultation with our team to discuss how we can help.
Owner of Aha! Editorial
Let’s talk about your writing project: https://calendly.com/ashlyn-ahaeditorial
