Because my friends are the most amazing people to have ever walked the earth, they’ve been asking me where they can preorder my forthcoming contemporary fantasy romance novel, Roots in Ink (available Saturday, March 1).
Some wanted to know where they could get the paperback since they don’t do ebooks. Others wanted to know if it was possible to avoid Amazon. They all wanted to know which option gives me the biggest cut.
I’ve seen variations of these questions floating around social media as readers make more intentional spending decisions.
While some of this information may be applicable to other US-based indie authors, I’m only speaking for myself and my books.
The only objectively wrong way to obtain a book is pirating it. Because it’s illegal and a dick thing to do.
Direct from Me
Paperbacks are signed, come with a little bit of merch, and likely some cat/dog fur.
Shipping isn’t free but it’s as low as I can make it to cover the cost. Your books are dropped in the mail within 10 business days.
eBooks are delivered via Bookfunnel straight to your email inbox.
It’s instantaneous and Bookfunnel will walk you through getting it onto your ereader of choice.
Major Retailers
Amazon
Bookshop.org
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
AppleBooks
Smashwords
Fable
Eden Books
I use a universal book link hosted by Books2Read as a central landing page for all retailers (except my website).
My books can also be found using the search function on any of these retailers’ websites.
Subscription platforms
Because I’ve been asked:
None of my books are currently enrolled in Kindle Unlimited.
KU’s exclusivity clause would prohibit me from selling ebooks on any platform except Amazon. Including my own. I may do limited runs in KU in the future, but I have no plans to make any of my books available through the program long term.
Library services
All of my books are available to be added to library catalogs and I would absolutely love it if they were.
If your library uses either of these platforms and my books aren’t in their collection, please please please go through whatever channels your library has established to request they carry a copy.
Let’s Talk Money
There are a thousand things that influence consumer decisions. And where those things land on someone’s priority list is deeply personal. If how each platform impacts me financially is something you want to factor into your decision then please read on.
I make the most when readers buy direct.
One day I’ll make a separate post about the costs and expenses that get factored into selling direct, but today’s not that day. Just know that direct sales from my website or at an event yield the best return.
Generally speaking, if the option is available, buying direct is always going to be the best way to financially support an indie author.
What about buying from the big retailers?
For paperbacks, my royalties are best with Amazon.
I make the least from any retailer that distributes using IngramSpark. This includes Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org.
If you think Amazon is a diabolical book industry villain, I need to introduce you to Ingram.
For eBooks, my royalties are the same across all retailers. They’re 70% or 35% depending on the price of the book.
At the time of publication, I haven’t had any royalties come from Kobo Plus so I don’t have any data to work with. KU needs some competition and I’d love for Kobo to get big enough to force Amazon to make some changes that benefit authors.
Let me be clear. If I personally opted in to putting my book on a retail platform then I’m totally cool with my book being purchased from there. Pick the platform that works best for you.
Unless it’s a pirating platform.
Then I hope you step on a Lego every time you get out of the shower.
