Writing the E8: Self Publishing Options

A friend of mine - A. D. Winch -  is a self-published author of excellent YA fiction (Free book available. Have a look, the Adventures of Eric and Ursula are a pretty exciting read!), and in many ways it is his example that has lit the way for my own book idea. I had already planned to do the walk when I realised that the planning and thought that was going into the venture could be transferred to something a whole lot more permanent.

It turns out that my instincts were correct. My research led me to this article 'Fact: Self-publishing my non-fiction as ebooks makes sense' and, seeing as I was actually going to do the hike, would indeed fit into the non fiction category. Whilst the article focuses from the point of view of an established author struggling to get new projects off the ground, many of his points are of relevance to me; price is in my full control (to free), the book is released as soon as it is ready,can be updated and photos can be distributed throughout the text.

My instincts seem correct, but there are problems with the self publishing route. Despite the fact I had a vague idea that there were costs to this process I had no idea what they actually were. Another article brought this issue home to me. 'Self-Publishing An E-Book? Here Are 4 Ways To Leave Amazon's 30% Tax Behind' A 30% tax?! On what is essentially a zero-cost service to Amazon, that seemed pretty steep on first look. But what were the alternatives? Essentially they all involve setting up an e-commerce page/store on your own site with payments still going through some sort of third party system. Additional effort and responsibility, and despite the title of the article, not worth the effort.

Amazon and other e-book publishing platforms have worldwide scale and hundreds of millions of built-in customers. Those without an audience – and many with an audience – just can’t beat what the Amazon marketing engine can do for their sales.

That sounds like me. And I realise that what is most important for me is to have the book available to the most people in the easiest possible way (both for me and for anyone purchasing the book). With this in mind I turned to the more usual self-publishing options. I took a list and advice from DIY: How to Self-Publish.

1. Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing
   Seemingly the simplest to set up and with an extremely large market associated with it. By going exclusively with Amazon my book would be available for loan using the lending library (with some money going to me each time) by Amazon Prime customers. That said, Prime isn't particularly strong in the UK as far as I know, so this benefit may be limited. Does not offer the book an ISBN number.
2. Smashwords
   Where Amazon is exclusive and for a singular store, Smashwords does the rest. It also has a number of helpful tools that support the author and gives variously better payments back to the author. It also sells to the iBookstore which in turn offers the sale of the book in a more feature rich way to apple tablets. Those lovely pictures I plan to take will be shown in all their glory instead of the black and white of most Kindles. Free ISBN.
3. Nook
   Not really worth looking at as the store is a very minor player in the UK. Also the royalty rates are pretty outrageous.
4. iBooks Author
   This option would be ideal in many ways. I think that the more picture and feature rich 'book' design would suit the sort of guide that I had planned to write. The truth is though, that I am more than a little fed up with the way Apple is treating it's ecosystem and those in it, plus not everyone would have a iPad to access the book. So this option is out.
5. Others
   The various other options give either diminishing returns, or - most importantly - less availability for anyone wanting to buy the book.

Conclusion

As I mention above, it all comes down to easy of access for readers. For that Amazon has it, but for one thing, the ISBN. In the end I will probably go the Smashwords route and the put the book on Amazon as a non exclusive.

Thanks for reading. One question, how important is an ISBN number?