Between Lulu, Smashwords, and Bookbaby - which is the best for mass distribution?

[Kevin Leu]

My exclusive period with KDP Select is about to end, and I was wondering which is the best site to distribute to the iBookstore, Nook, and others? Which is the best for marketing? Percentage of profits they take, etc.?

Btw, I did one free day on KDP Select (9/13/12) and got 648 downloads. I got 3 extra "likes" on my Amazon book page, but so far no new reviews. I'll keep you updated. 

http://www.amazon.com/Berating-Others-Lifetime-Happiness-ebook/dp/B...

[Christine Rice]

Smashwords distributes to the most retailers, so I think they are the best to go with.

[Pat McCraw]

As I am in Germany I have other ways to publish on the platforms. We have special distributors.

I tried Smashwords but gave up because as an erotic author they made problems with the cover and the graphics inside. To publish there would mean to destroy the charme of the book. Thats because I chosed the way with an distributor. If you are interested to see my distributors conditions: http://www.kontornewmedia.com/en-8----.html

Sorry for my bad English.

[Richard Lee Byers]

I don't know about "best," but Smashwords has worked okay for me. Really, though, I've made so much more money off Amazon that B&N, iBooks, etc. seem inconsequential by comparison. But it's possible others have had better luck with Smashwords and all the other outlets it opens up for you.

[Mick Jett]

Interesting question and I would like to know the answer as well. How long is the exclusive contract with Amazon, and does Amazon continue to offer your book after the exclusivity runs out?  I have a novel on Amazon, published through Martin Sisters, and a true-crime story, My Friend the Felon, with that exclusive deal you mentioned. The latter was only published by KDF and CreateSpace in late August but I don't know how long I will have to wait to market it on other sites.

[Christine Rice]

KDP Select lasts for 90 days. If you choose not to re-enroll in the program, your book will remain with KDP, it just won't be in the Select program and will no longer be exclusive to Amazon. If you don't want to be in the program after the 90 days, you have to manually cancel your enrollment in Select on your bookshelf page in your account.

[Mick Jett]

Thank you, Christine. I suppose you are not re-enrolling in the program; has it been ineffectual?

[C.M. Skiera]

I went with Smashwords, which gives you the option of using them to distribute to:

• Apple iBookstore
• Barnes & Noble
• Diesel eBook Store
• Kobo
• Sony Reader Store
• Baker & Taylor's Blio.com

Smashwords is non-exclusive, so you can also self-distribute with others, if you choose.

[Kevin Leu]

Hey All, just an update. I decided to go with Smashwords and it has one of the worst user interfaces I have ever seen. The site is convoluted and full of text, which make the process seem complicated, as you're reading paragraph amongst paragraph of what you're supposed to do. They need to hire a designer to make this site look cleaner and simpler. Not sure how the other sites are, as I don't want to go through this process again!

About my free KDP Select day, I still have not seen too much uptick, even though I have 25 (previous) positive reviews on my Amazon page. It could be my book price, which my cousin (used to work at Amazon) says is too high at $7.99 digital. She says $2.99 is the way to go, but I'm still a little reluctant. Maybe after Christmas. 

[Christy Pinheiro]

Your cousin is probably right about pricing. I only pay such high book prices for authors that I already love. When I published my FIRST book, I used LULU and Amazon Advantage. That was back in 2007. I lost money that year. I learned a lot since then.

 

Now my company does extremely well, but when I launch a new author or pen name, I always start the first book at 99 cents for the digital copy, It's worked very well so far (for example, one of my pen names averages about 3,000 units sold per month). Those numbers are KDP downloads (not free, but selling at 99 cents each). That's pretty good for a "new author.'

 

For the most part, I use every publishing outlet (KOBO, KDP, Lulu, CreateSpace and LSI). Of course that means that the initial set-up costs money, but then you have the highest distribution and that's the goal. At least 30 % of our company sales come from overseas buyers, so in order to reach them you have to distribute internationally. Good luck with your new book.