I’ve seen an uptick lately in newbie indie authors asking questions like “What should I _____” and “Where should I _____” and “How should I _____.”
The short answer is there’s no single correct way to go about self-publishing. There are a ton of options out there, you’re going to get a thousand different answers from anyone you ask, and yes, more often than not, there’s some trial and error involved. Ultimately, you need to learn about all the possible outlets, consider your genre, audience, and personal goals for your work, and decide from there how to go about distribution.
The following is a semi-brief overview of the publishing model I personally follow. Is it particularly successful? I guess that depends on your definition of success. Do I think I’d have more success following a different model? Not really. My main goal is not to keep all my eggs in one basket, particularly a basket named for a large South American river.
HOW IT STARTED
I publish wide, meaning my work is not exclusive to Amazon and thus my ebooks are not available through Kindle Unlimited. I first began publishing in 2014, and at that time, I did have my books enrolled in KU. They honestly did pretty well there, and The Collection in particular generated a lot of page-reads as a 3-book volume. Despite the relative success, I became increasingly disenfranchised with the rampant scamming and cheating going on within KU and really disliked the idea of being so tethered to Amazon, so I pulled my books from the program after 5 years and began following a wide distribution model in 2019.
Note: I do still think KU is a good place for new authors to start. Remember, the Amazon exclusivity requirement for KU only applies to ebooks. If you have your book(s) available in print and/or audio as well, those aren’t restricted to Amazon.
HOW IT’s going
As of the publication of this blog post (August 2025), all of my work is currently available in 4 formats: ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audio.
Ebooks
Amazon: there’s no denying The Big River Site still represents the largest chunk of my ebook sales. This remains true for the vast majority of wide authors, and I don’t think it’s going to change any time soon. I still do virtually all my ebook reading via Kindle myself.
Kobo, B&N, and Google Play: I publish directly to Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Google Play’s ebook platforms, meaning I have an author account at each of these retailers just like at Kindle Direct Publishing where I upload my book files, fill out my metadata, and so forth. I have yet to really figure out what makes B&N and GP tick, but GP does allow you to create book bundles to entice readers, and B&N offers some good in-house promo opportunities. They both also offer a 70% royalty percentage regardless of your book’s price (unlike at Amazon where the royalty rate drops from 70% to 35% for books priced under $2.99). Kobo represents a growing percentage of my overall sales and is probably my favorite non-Amazon platform due to its friendliness to authors. They have a program called Kobo Plus that’s very similar to KU but doesn’t have the exclusivity requirement for authors, it pays better, and it’s even a little cheaper for readers. They also have some great promo opportunities.
Draft2Digital: D2D is an aggregator, meaning you can publish your book on their platform and they’ll handle all the distribution to retailers for the price of a small royalty percentage. You can actually reach Kobo and B&N through them (though not GP) if you don’t want to bother with making author accounts at the individual retailers, but you do lose out on some of the in-house promos you’d have access to if you publish direct at those retailers. I use D2D to publish at Apple, since that’s nigh impossible without a Mac, and to reach libraries like Overdrive and Hoopla and a bunch of smaller international retailers.
Direct store: I also have a direct shop powered by Payhip where you can purchase my ebooks for a little cheaper than the major retailers. When a customer purchases a book, the file gets delivered by Book Funnel; the reader then has the option to read the book via Book Funnel’s app, send the file to their reading device of choice (Kindle, Kobo reader, etc.) or to download the file directly. Payhip is free (I believe until you hit a certain sales minimum, which I’m in no danger of doing any time soon) and the Book Funnel tier that allows for ebook delivery is only $20 a year, so it’s a great way to make my books available outside the confines of the major retailers.
PRINT BOOKS
Paperbacks: To start with, I buy my ISBNs directly from Bowker so I can specify my own publishing imprint. If you’re publishing a paperback through Kindle Direct Publishing, you do have the option to use a free ISBN provided by Amazon, but then you’re forced to specify Amazon as the publisher. At this time, KDP is my sole distribution outlet for paperbacks, which makes them available via Amazon by default. But I enable Expanded Distribution, which makes them available online at other retailers like Barnes & Noble, Powell’s, etc. I also keep paperback stock on hand at home so I can sell signed copies through my direct shop.
Hardcovers: I use IngramSpark for hardcover printing and distribution. It produces decent quality books most of the time, but it’s terrible from a customer service standpoint. Still, there’s not really a better option out there. The main reason I use Ingram instead of just using Amazon’s hardcover option is because I want dust jackets, and Amazon currently only offers case laminate (honestly, if Amazon ever offers a dust jacket option, I’d strongly consider just doing ALL my print distribution through them for simplicity’s sake). As with the paperbacks, I buy my own ISBNs for my hardcovers (pro-tip: buy ISBNs in bulk) and enable Expanded Distribution. The hardcovers show up at most of the same retailers as the paperbacks and, as long as all the metadata matches, they should link up with the other editions automatically. I don’t allow returns, which does limit me a bit; smaller retailers and stores are more hesitant to carry a title if they can’t return excess stock. But I’d be the one stuck paying for those returns, and I don’t want to deal with that hassle. I also have my hardcovers available in my direct shop.
Audiobooks
Audible: It’s increasingly apparent that Audible is the devil, but like its parent Amazon, there’s no denying that it’s still the most popular retailer out there. I still use ACX for production, but I opt to make all my titles non-exclusive. Audible exclusivity means a higher royalty percentage, but you also get locked into that exclusivity for at least 7 years. I’d rather take the royalty hit and have control over my distribution. I have Whispersync enabled, which means anybody who has also purchased the Kindle editions of my books can sync their progress with the audiobooks.
Kobo, Google Play, and Spotify: Like with my ebooks, there are a handful of retailers where I distribute my audiobooks directly. Google Play allows you to create audio bundles just like you can with ebooks. Over at Kobo, readers can opt to add audiobooks to their Kobo Plus subscription, and authors get paid based on minutes listened (even for re-listens!). Spotify is definitely the least author-friendly of these platforms, but there are still some pluses in my opinion. You can generate codes that allow listeners to redeem a free copy of your book, like if you wanted to do a giveaway or other promo. Audible has this functionality, but only if you’re exclusive to them, so it’s nice that there’s still a way for wide authors to do something similar. Spotify Premium users get 15 hours of audiobook listening at no additional cost with their monthly subscription, and authors do get paid from a pool based on those listens (though the amounts are abysmal).
INaudio: Formerly Findaway Voices, INaudio is an aggregator like Draft2Digital, but for audiobooks. Like D2D, you can get to Kobo and Google Play via INaudio, though in doing so, you lose out on some in-house promo opportunities you’d have access to by publishing to those retailers directly. One of the best platforms to distribute to via INaudio is Chirp. Chances are you’re familiar with BookBub and its coveted Featured Deals; Chirp is run by the same people. Just think of it as the BookBub for audiobooks. They, too, have a great Featured Deal program you can apply for, and the nice thing is that unlike BookBub where you have to pay for the promo, Chirp just takes a percentage of the royalties you make during the promo and it costs you nothing up front. They’re very partial to box sets when it comes to approving applications for promos. And speaking of box sets, INaudio is a great workaround for distributing box sets to Kobo. When publishing to Kobo directly, there’s a file size limit that most box sets exceed, so you can just publish them to Kobo via INaudio instead, AND you can still opt them in to Kobo Plus that way. INaudio also enables you to reach library systems.
I don’t sell audiobooks through my direct store at this time, but Book Funnel does offer audiobook delivery, which is great; I will definitely be keeping this option in mind. The main turn-off for me at the moment is just that the Book Funnel membership tier for distributing audiobooks is significantly more expensive than the one for ebook delivery.
IN SUMMARY
As I stated at the beginning of this post, there’s no single correct answer when it comes to book distribution. My personal philosophy is simply to make my work as accessible as possible, which means publishing it in as many places as possible. There are certain small, obscure platforms where I might only ever sell a handful of copies, but if it’s not costing me any money, it can’t hurt to be there. The harsh truth is that both Amazon and Audible are still way too big to ignore; I don’t agree with many of their business practices, but they’re ultimately where the people are. I’ll continue selling books on them while also giving readers plenty of other options. I want it to be as easy as possible for people to find and purchase my work.
Which platforms are my favorite, you may ask? I still find Amazon fairly reasonable for ebooks, though they’ve recently made some changes to their royalty model for print books that are less than stellar. For audiobooks, Kobo and Chirp are my favorites. I’d say Kobo is quickly becoming my favorite overall publishing platform, due to both ease of use and fairness to authors. It’s still not nearly as popular in the US as it is in Canada, Australia, and Europe, but it’s growing. I’m increasingly tempted to create a user account in their storefront and start buying all my ebooks and audiobooks there.
Readers, where do you most often buy your books? Have you ever bought books anywhere other than Amazon/Audible?
You can find all the retailer links for my work on each individual book’s page here on my site, and I always use these wide links when posting on social media.
