I'm seeing a lot of indy published authors recommending Draft2Digital as the way to go for formatting and distributing e-books. Here's what the site has to say about their services in a nutshell:
"Here's the deal: There are no fees for formatting or distributing your book. When you sell a book, we both make money. We keep about 10% of the retail price. We don’t try to upsell you to some expensive services package or nickel-and-dime you for making changes to your e-book. You can list your ebook at whatever price makes you happy. It’s your call. You can even offer your book for free."
I like that they have a page here that breaks down what you have to do to get your e-book rolling with them. It seems very simple and easy to do. They handle all the formatting, which in my POV is the hugest headache. They also place your e-book with what appears to be all the popular online vendors, give you an ISSN for free, generate monthly sales reports and make paperback editions available via CreateSpace (and this is one of the deal-breaker options I would have to have if I went indy; I want to see my work in print as well as electronic format.)
That they charge "about 10% of the retail price" is the only flag for me. I don't like the slight vagueness there, so if you do want to try them, be sure to get a real figure of what they "keep."
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I put Dying Embers in D2D for a while. When it was .99, I got .59. At 2.99, I got 1.78. (Not sure how much of the difference went to D2D and how much went to the retailers.) But I only sold 5 books total in 3 months thru them, and they don't pay out until you earn at least $10. I was making more with Amazon Select, so I went back. It's a good site, but it wasn't working for me. :shrug: I have all my books with Amazon and Createspace now. It's working for me. If that changes, I'll roll with it. Formatting for Kindle is pretty easy and so is Createspace except for the cover. Getting the spine just right is apparently the real stumble for me. But I get there eventually.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this info with us, B. It really helps to hear from someone who actually used the service.
DeleteDigging into the FAQ* a bit seems to give the reason for the fuzzy answer:
ReplyDelete"We make a percentage of each of your books’ sales, so we don’t get paid unless you get paid. Our fee at most digital stores is approximately 10% of the retail price (it's technically 15% of the net royalties)."
The store takes their cute, D2D takes 15% of what's left, and the author gets the rest.
*https://www.draft2digital.com/faq/#how-much-does-draft2digital-cost
Thanks for finding that, Jathi -- also very helpful.
DeleteI still think I'm going to start out with Kindle. I've looked at a lot of different options, but I keep going back to the Kindle information so that's saying something for me. I am reading all of this with a lot of interest though and am learning along with you!
ReplyDeleteI have tested a few books there. As a distributor to the other vendors it is hands down easier to learn and use than smashwords. I have a good handle on smashwords but it was a tough road. Another highlight if you use or consider using D2D over smashwords (again as a distributor) is the fact that they pay monthly when you hit the $10 threshold versus paying qtrly like smashwords.(ex some of my May payments will come to me in October since they missed the July payment date. I guess) I also think D2D lets you do direct deposit for payment instead of to paypal which is how smashwords pays unless you go the old fashion check in the mail route which I think some non-US countries have to do. Hope that helps. Oh my one peeve is that D2D reporting is not as detailed and savvy as smashwords reporting which can be exported into a nice excel sheet. smashwords has tons more retailers but they're so small that I never sell in those. (ex flipkart for India which smashwords just let go)
ReplyDeleteI'd like to add I hope you consider indie as I'd love to have another book in hand from you. :)
ReplyDelete