Amazon

Unless you’ve lived in a cave, you’ll know that Amazon sells books, lots of them. It is easy to publish, for free on their platform and sell your books across the globe.

Maybe I should say easy to write and publish, not always so easy to sell. Marketing as with any business is the secret to sales.

If you prefer to avoid Amazon of sell your books on multiple platforms, you can go ‘wide.’

This will often mean your books are then on platforms like Apple Books, Google Play and in libraries, as well as a huge ream of platforms you may not have even heard of. It makes sense, doesn’t it? To put your books where ever you can and allow readers a choice.

One of the easiest ways to go ‘wide’ was via what I’ll call a host platform, like D2D (Draft2Digital) or Smashwords. 

You know I always talk about eggs and baskets, and it makes sense to publish wide if you wish to avoid the one stop Amazon shop. There are nightmare stories about authors being removed from Amazon and losing all their sales and work. Eggs and baskets. One platform, one single point of failure, no business likes that. It can be heartbreaking and profit stalling. 

D2D and Smashwords Merger

Two major publishing wide platforms have announced a merger. The technology of one was better, hurrah it’ll all rise to the better standard, we hope. The erotica writers who were avoiding one platform because of its perceived lack of reach or support of their genre are less keen. Could the merged platform go with the more censorious approach? Only time will tell.

What is Wide?

If you have books on only one platform, e.g. D2D, then why is that any different to the eggs in one Amazon basket? What if they crash or kick you off? You’ll be in the same boat, the one you wanted to avoid by not using the one stop Amazon shop.

Many authors avoid Amazon as they see it detrimental to the entire book industry, they see them as the bully boys against the world of independent high street bookstores, etc. Others make a good living with the support of the platform, up to six figures and more, so are quite happy with their lot. Whatever side of that fence you sit, you can’t dispute customers buy books on Amazon. 

If you sell on the newly merged platform, the ‘Smashing D2D’ as I’m calling it, will you be supporting a monopoly again? Will your principles motivate you to move away from them too? Will you be risking losing sales across all platforms if the ‘host’ has issues and there isn’t a competitor to keep them on their toes, or for you to migrate to?

Options / Direct Sales

You have a choice. There are more choices now than ever. You can sell direct from your website, in person at events pandemics allowing. You could write episodic works and publish via paid subscription platforms like Patreon or Subscribestar.

Go down the audio book route, although again Amazon / Audible is the leader there, for now. Some authors are finding success on YouTube, others complaining they are closed down because of YouTube not supporting books. It goes both ways, and I can’t see much consistency in their approach. 

Time Will Tell

We don’t know how the merger of the two ‘wide’ platforms will go. You can deal directly with all the platforms. Right now Apple seems to be the major competitor for Amazon. The admin time to put your books ‘everywhere’ will take you away from your word count. But writing for a living is a business. As the owner of that business, you decide where and when you invest your resources, that is, time and money. You decide if you stick with your eggs in one basket, two or many. 

Keeping aware of developments like NFTs and AI is essential for writers. Markets are in constant flux. It appears whilst one door may close, two or more open up. 

People still read, that’s the thing you need to remember. Most of those surveys you see about people buying fewer books are commissioned by publishers or mainstream, old school book channels. It’s changing all the time but not shrinking. The global market for books grows each year. There is so much opportunity for writers. Build your audience, find your people, create a relationship with your readers. Keep writing and publishing and pursue your passion. 

Which is your favourite book platform? 

Will you sell or publish your books or stories differently in 2022? If not, why not?