Publish exclusively on Amazon or 'Go Wide'?
The most hotly discussed subject in the self-publishing world is whether an author should sell their books exclusively on Amazon or ‘Go Wide’. There are good and bad points to either strategy. Here’s a summary of what Amazon exclusivity against the benefits of publishing your title(s) wide on such outlets as iBooks, Kobo, GooglePlay, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon means.
Amazon KDP Exclusive
Amazon calls its exclusive publishing program Amazon Select. There are five significant reasons why it’s a good idea to sign up to Select, especially if you are a first-time author.
KU Reads
Kindle Unlimited is an Amazon subscription service for readers where those books that are enlisted in the KDP Select program are free to download. There’s a monthly limit to the number of titles any reader is allowed to get, but this is quite high. The service is favored by people who read a lot – sometimes a book per day. Naturally, for a writer, especially a prolific author, these are just the kind of fans you’d most like to gain.
The beauty of this system is that KDP Select authors get revenue from the KU Reads, which amounts almost to the same as if the book was priced at $0.99. This is the pricing point that is recommended for new, unknown authors, whose writing readers have yet to discover.
This also is why you often find first books in a series listed for free, or for $0.99. Authors and publishers want to make the discovery of a new writer as painless as possible. These free and discounted books are like the samples of new products supermarkets give away. If the customer likes the taste of a new cheese, for example, they are likely to buy a packet.
For readers who are enrolled in the KU program, discovering a new author takes the risk out of the equation. Downloading a book they like the look of, even if they’ve never heard of the author, is easy as it’s free.
Simplicity
When you are new to the world of publishing, it’s better to start with one platform. Uploading your book can be a scary process for a new author. Plus there are many other, vital, matters that you need to deal with such as pricing, promotion, and advertising. It’s also advisable to have a website, be active on social media, and to build your mailing list. If you’re new to all this, managing three or four publishing platforms at the same time can easily make you overwhelmed. Or just too busy to write. And that you should NEVER be!
As you get more used to the process on Amazon KDP, you can spread your wings and manage several platforms.
The Biggest Player
Amazon is still by far the biggest player in the online bookseller market. It accounts for 70-80% of the ebooks sold worldwide. So, if you need to choose one retailer, why not go with the largest one? Plus, their KDP Select program runs for 90 days at a time, so you can rethink your decision every three months. (Just remember to untick automatic enrollment when you sign up to KDP Select).
Exclusive Promotion on Amazon Marketplace
As a KDP Select Author, Amazon allows you to run certain promotions on your title. In my opinion, the most effective of these–particularly for new authors–is the 5 free days you are allowed in each 90-day Select period. When introducing yourself to new readers, it’s useful if you can give your book away for free (for a limited period). This kind of marking becomes more effective when there are several books in the writer’s backlist, but if you are about to publish a second or a third title, it’s good to hook readers to the first of your books, whether it’s part of a series or not.
As a KDP Select author, you are also allowed to do count-down deals where you discount your title progressively. You can run this promotion over a maximum of 5 days, starting off with, say, a 0.99 offer and ending up with 3.99. (Example if your book is priced at $4.99, the discounted price on Day 1 is $0.99, Day 2: $1.99, Day 3: $2.99, Day 4: $3.99)
Amazon Paperbacks
Using the same KDP interface, you can also easily publish a paperback version of your book on Amazon. More importantly, this version of the title doesn’t need to be exclusive to Amazon, even if the eBook is.
I usually recommend that all of my authors publish their paperback titles also on IngramSpark, a publishing company which distributes copies to wholesalers such as Gardners in the UK. For bookshops to be able to stock your books, they need to be available on reputable wholesalers as booksellers rarely are prepared to order from Amazon. (See below)
Go Wide
Now we’ve discussed the benefits of Amazon exclusivity via the KDP Select program, let’s look at the other side of the coin, and discuss ‘Going Wide’.
Wider Readership
In order to get your book in front of as many readers as possible, it’s advisable to also consider publishing your book on other platforms than Amazon. In certain countries, such as Canada, where Kobo is the most commonly used eBook shop, being exclusive to Amazon doesn’t reach the majority of readers.
In emerging markets such as India, Africa, and China, Amazon is also not as powerful as it is in the US and Europe. If you are trying to tap into these huge markets, it’s wise to think about leaving Amazon exclusivity.
GooglePlay, for example, is making great efforts to increase its visibility in these new markets, and as a major player in the digital marketplace, it’s likely it’ll succeed.
Independence
Many self-published authors have turned their backs on the traditional publishing industry because they wish to remain independent. So if you’ve worked hard to earn your royalties free of agent’s and publisher’s cuts, why would you tie yourself down to one eBook retailer?
For many indie authors, being in KDP Select goes against their most important principles, that of being independent.
Amazon itself has also done its best to alienate indie authors. In the past, it has made several changes that are hurting self-published authors in particular. For example, the company is constantly refining their review policy and removing many legitimate reviews while trying to curb unethical practices.
In addition, the amount of KU Royalties granted for KU reads is determined by Amazon each month, so if an indie author is exclusively publishing and selling via Amazon, and getting most of their income via KU reads, he or she will have no means of controlling–or even predicting– that income month by month.
Another recent example is the changes Amazon made to the book sales pages by removing the ‘Also Bought’ books in favor of adverts, or ‘Sponsored Items’. This means that every author who is selling books via Amazon has to use ads to get books in front of readers. Some of these ‘Also Boughts’ have now returned but this example shows how vulnerable indie authors who are exclusive to Amazon can be.
If you are exclusive to Amazon, as a writer and a publisher, you will be at the mercy of a large publisher and bookseller and have much less control of your income.
Future Proof Your Business
Amazon is the biggest player in the eBook book-selling sector today, but who is to say that will be the case in ten, twenty years’ time? Several multinationals, especially those operating in the digital retail sector have in the past lost their market share because they have failed to innovate Or because a competitor has come along with a better offering. Just look at Nokia, the Finnish mobile handset company, or the Canadian Blackberry. Less than ten years ago, both of these companies held a monopoly on the phone market, whereas now we buy our handsets from Apple or Samsung.
It’s also worth considering the price of exclusivity. If you are planning to build up a credible, profit-making author business, it’s not wise to be tied to one retailer. What if Amazon’s computer systems fell down when you’re in the middle of a successful launch and are expecting thousands of dollars in royalty payments in the next two months? This is the stuff that makes us all indie authors lose our sleep, but if you have your books published wide, at least you’ll have some income coming in if Amazon fails. (Naturally, all businesses large or small should have insurance against such epic failures, but I am not a lawyer, so I can’t advise you on these matters.)
Promotion
Promoting and advertising your books is becoming more and more costly and difficult. I will be adding a post here on book promotion soon, but just to say that without effective marketing, it is increasingly difficult to make book sales.
If you are exclusively published by Amazon, some of the companies offering curated book promotion through an email advertising campaign, such as BookBub, prefer books that are available through several retailers.
Of course, Amazon's own advertising program is very effective, and almost compulsory if you wish to give your book any visibility at all on Amazon (see above), but email marketing services such can be equally unbeatable in reaching readers–particularly on stores other than Amazon.
Hate Amazon?
When I was a bookseller, Amazon was a dirty word never uttered in the shop. Some readers feel the same, never wishing to buy anything from Amazon, even if they prefer eBooks to traditional paper-based editions.
However, for many self-published authors, especially those of us who began publishing on KDP when Kindle was born over ten years ago, Amazon has enabled us to get our words out to the marketplace and in front of millions of readers. Without Amazon, I, for example, would not be a full-time writer today. Amazon KDP was and is an innovative publishing platform that has enabled other companies to develop. In my mind, it deserved its status as the market leader. But, remember, any market leader can fail, so it’s wide to consider hedging your bets and not putting all your eggs in one basket.
I hope I’ve given some insight into publishing exclusively on Amazon or going ‘Wide’. My recommendation, in general, is that for the first one to three books, you join KDP Select and when your backlist grows, and with that your confidence, you ‘Go Wide’. Naturally, each writer’s situation is different and it is very difficult to generalize on this, as it is on many aspects of self-publishing today.
It’s also perfectly possible to combine Amazon exclusivity with going wide. When your bibliography grows, you could try having a few books in KDP Select and place the rest with all the eBook retailers. What you mustn’t do, however, is to swap and change. It’s best to stick with one strategy for at least a year or two. I myself made that mistake and frustrated quite a few of my readers on Kobo, iBooks and the other retailers when my books weren’t suddenly available in their favorite store.
