Ebooks: publishing wide vs KU Part 2: going wide | E-books

What does "going wide" mean, specifically? It means that you publish your ebook on as many platforms as you'd like, including libraries. You have to opt out of KU to be able to do that.

But why is it that we sometimes see books available on all platforms and in KU? There's a high chance that it's traditionally published book. Traditional publishers have a different agreement with Amazon than indie authors. That's all I know, whether how advantagous that is, no idea.

Advantages:

• You can reach readers on any ebook store
• Your ebook can be borrowed in libraries
• You can sell your ebook directly in your webshop
• You can still participate in subscription models that do not require exclusivity
• More control over prices

Disadvantages:

• While you can still publish on Amazon, readers won't be able to read your book in Kindle Unlimited.

Let's take a closer look at each point.

• You can reach readers at any ebook store

While Amazon is still huge in the US and has stores in a few countries, people are less reliant on Kindle in other countries. Don't forget that the US isn't the only English-speaking country and that English is the most spoken second language in the world.

That said, there are many ebook stores that can globally reach readers. And readers usually have their own preference. Someone who's been happy with their experiences elsewhere, will check if you have your book available on their preferred platform first.

• Your ebook can be borrowed in libraries

You can offer your ebook to be available in library networks all over the world! You can reach Overdrive (Libby app) via Kobo, D2D, and Publishdrive, for example, BorrowBox via D2D, and many others. You can find readers in your local library! They can read your book with your library card and you get some royalties after their reads. It's win-win situation!

• You can sell your ebook directly in your webshop

How cool is that? Everything is in one place. Imagine, a reader loves your book and checks out your website to see what comes next. And discovers they can buy the ebook directly from you! That's the best support they can give and there are people out there who will take that opportunity to support their favourite author!

• You can still participate in subscription models that do not require exclusivity

We have people who LOVE reading and consume books like other people consume air. For them, a subscription makes the perfect sense. And there are many subscriptions other than Kindle Unlimited, sometimes with better options for a reader.

Let me list just a few off the top off my head: Kobo Plus, Hoopla, Everand (formerly Scribd), Storytel. And these all offer not just ebook, but audiobook options, as well! And you can also reach these stores when you're wide.

• More control over prices

Remember, when your book is in KU, you can schedule a price change and have 5 days every 90 days where you can set your book for free! Sounds good, right?
Well... what would you say if I told you, you can do all of these things, including scheduling a price change, and without an upper limit (or a bigger limit) on those free days - without any exclusivity? These things are possible on non-subscription platforms and via distributors.

You can even set your ebook for free for however long you want if that's your wish.

The other part of this point is that if you publish on Amazon, you'll get 35% royalties below 2.99 and over 9.99. If your ebook is between 2.99 and 9.99, then you get 70%. Sounds like Amazon prefers ebook prices to be between 2.99 and 9.99. And you're okay with this, until you want to run a 0.99 sale on one of your books. You get tons of purchases, but about 35 cent per copy sold. On Amazon.

Other platforms don't have this restriction, you can even get up to 85 cent per copy sold on a 99 cent ebook on certain platforms. That sound a bit better, yes?

• While you can still publish on Amazon, readers won't be able to read your book in Kindle Unlimited.

Some of the readers I mentioned above while talking about subscriptions, will be on Kindle Unlimited and won't want to sign up for yet another subscription. Some of them will buy ebooks, but there are also those readers who don't want to buy them, since otherwise, there's lots of books "for free" in KU. They aren't free, the KU subscription price is currenlty $11.99 / month in the US, but because it's a subscription, it's easy to forget that. Still, it's cheaper than buying all the books they'd like to read, so of course it feels like a bonus.

This was the end of the ebook KU vs wide articles. I plan to write regarding print books (Amazon only? Expanded distribution? Ingramspark? Tolino?), and also about audiobooks (ACX exclusive or wide?). There's lots of things to cover.

Let me know in the comments which one you'd like to hear about next! Prints or audiobooks?