- Good news my author friend,
you can sell your ebook in 55 different retailers.
Unfortunately, you're not stuck
taking on every retailer alone,
there are distribution services
who take care of the hard work for you.
But, how do you know if a Draft2Digital
or PublishDrive, is the way to go
to get your ebook around to your reader?
If you're wondering which aggregate service to use
then this video is for you.
(upbeat music)
Hi there, I'm Julie the Book Broad,
Founder of Book Launchers,
the fantastic self-publishing services firm
helping you take your book idea from concept to copies
in reader's hands.
And part of getting the books into reader's hands,
is setting you and your book up for distribution.
Whether that is your print book, your audio book,
or your ebook.
Amazon still reigns as king of the distribution castle
in North America, but Apple, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo.
These are all worth it, if you want to optimize your book,
for maximum reach and sales potential.
And of course, there are all so libraries to think about.
But formatting and submitting your book
to 55 different book retailers, no thank you.
Unless you have a whole lot of time, you're asking,
well, even if you do have a lot of time,
you're still asking for a lot of work.
Each individual retailer has different requirements,
guidelines, and standards
when it comes to formatting and uploading.
And if you ever need to make changes,
whew, doing that one by one is going to be tedious,
and confusing and probably frustrating.
Thankfully, authors have a secret weapon
that helps simplify the whole process.
Ebook distribution service.
Ebook distribution service takes your book
and distribute it to publishing retailers for you.
So you can skip the individual upload to each and every one.
This saves you time, work, and helps you get your book out
to more readers in a lot different markets,
in an incredibly efficient way.
Plus these aggregate distribution services
also control your analytics for you,
collect all your royalties, and pay you in one lump sum,
which is much less painful for taxes.
With all that at time and energy, you can turn your focus
to things that matter more as an author,
like marketing, and building your business
and your author brand and platform.
Now there are two major
aggregate distribution service options
for you to choose from today, Draft2Digital
or PublishDrive.
Since they both seem to do the same job,
and both do digital and physical distribution.
How do you know, which one to choose?
Well, let's break it down, and I'll tell you
our pick at Book Launchers.
Oh, and just a note, there used to be,
three major distribution services,
Smashwords was also a major player in the ring.
But as a February, 2022 Draft2Digital acquired them.
Their services have merged
into a distribution services super duo,
distribution services super duo.
Try and say that over and over again,
to take on PublishDrive.
All right, time for the showdown.
Draft2Digital comes with no upfront cost,
but they do take a 10% commission from all platform sales.
And that's on top of the platforms
taking their commission first.
PublishDrive on the other hand,
doesn't take any commission from your sales,
but they do charge 999 a month for their services
after a free trial period.
If you're selling a lot of books, you're making more money
on PublishDrive with their flat fee.
But Draft2Digital taking some commission from you,
on every sale does come with some perks.
For one, they do your formatting for you for both your ebook
and print versions, if you haven't hired a professional.
And if you're not technically savvy
or you don't wanna spend the time on your own formatting,
or you're not hiring a professional service
like Book Launchers, that can be a big win.
PublishDrive requires you to handle your own formatting
which is fine for many authors.
At Book Launchers, we always professionally format
every book for ebook as well as print anyway,
so it wouldn't really matter.
PublishDrive offers some awesome marketing services
like you are able to quickly and easily access functions
such as Amazon advertising, and review copy generation,
right within your dashboard.
And their interface and dashboard is simple to navigate.
You can see your most recent information right there,
like your sales stats and revenue.
PublishDrive works to help you
get the most out of their service
by walking you through a checklist,
to establish where you're at as an author
and what your goals are.
But, I don't really think
they have Draft2Digital beat here.
Draft2Digital is also very user friendly
and simple to navigate, especially for your author reports.
And when it comes to your goals Draft2Digital
actually gives you tools to achieve them.
A big one is that they give you access
to a Universal Book Link.
So instead of having to create
and manage a link for each individual retailer
a Universal Book Link helps make your book more discoverable
and ultimately helps you sell more books more easily
for the consumer.
This link lets a consumer see
everywhere your book is available in one place,
and then directly go to their a preferred book retailer
to buy your book.
And in case you're wondering the status of your book
on a certain platform, Draft2Digital, got your back.
They keep you updated with notifications and emails
so you'll know every time your book goes live on a platform
and it's status there.
Oh, that reminds me, do you want notifications for me,
every time a new video goes up live,
then hit that thumbs up button, subscribe,
and ring the bell, I turn those notifications on,
so you don't miss out.
All right, so who comes out on top
in the book distribution service showdown?
Well, for the Book Launchers Team, there's one winner.
Draft2Digital, even before the Smashwords amalgamation.
But now with Smashwords, there's some cool new features
we expect to see like, the storefront and coupon codes.
Which will make promotions even easier for authors,
and also give you another place
people are shopping for books,
without you having to drive traffic there.
This is also going to give you access to more markets
because Smashwords did reach a few
that Draft2Digital did not.
Ultimately, PublishDrive is a solid choice.
I love that they're female founded,
and focused on self-publishing just like Draft2Digital.
And the flat fee might be great,
if you know you're going to sell a lot of books,
on the places they give you access to already,
and you don't need formatting support.
But if you're not selling at least 100 ebooks a month,
or more, depending on your price points,
you could be paying PublishDrive
a lot more than you need to be paying with that flat fee.
While the access to Amazon advertising
and review copy generation right in the dashboard
is convenient and a win.
The potential of Draft2Digital service in the future,
only gives them more power to rise even higher.
For us, and the authors at Book Launchers,
Draft2Digital gives you that awesome Universal Book Link.
You're only paying them when you sell books,
you have an ever expanding reach,
and now that they've acquired Smashwords,
we expect even more robust marketing tools.
They also distribute to more markets
and are continuing to grow and improve,
with distribution for audiobook on the way.
The fun is just beginning exciting times
are ahead for self-publishing and indie authors.
Because Draft2Digital is now focused on print books,
and PublishDrive just another round of funding
to expand their print book operations.
We are still in the growing days
of the self-publishing industry,
and I could not be more excited about
the innovations to come with all of these players.
What do you think?
Let's chat about it in the comments below,
and let's hang out some more.
The fun is just getting started here too.
Check out this video right here,
all about ebook promotion sites, so you can sell more books,
once you have them in the world.
And this video on Universal Book Links
if you're trying to figure out what those are,
and how to use them.
Both of those videos are awesome, so take your pick
and I'll see you there.