Distribution for small presses

Smashwords’ two tiers of distribution are:

1. Standard Catalog

Every ebook that’s uploaded to Smashwords and meets its basic terms of service is available for sale through its Standard Catalog. Each ebook gets its own page on the smashwords.com website, which you can link to from your own website, blog, or Facebook page. It will manage all of the downloading and billing, making it very simple to start selling ebooks. The Smashwords’ Standard Catalog also appears inside the popular e-reading apps Stanza and Aldiko so that users can buy from within the e-reading app.

2. Premium Catalog

This is where you need to be if you want to reach major ebooksellers such as Apple’s iBookstore or Kobo. Entry into the Premium Catalog isn’t based on Smashwords’ judgement of your ebook’s editorial merit or sales potential, or on payment of a fee. It’s based on your ebook meeting the quality standards for production and metadata that are required by the major ebookstores.

You’ll find a detailed list on the Smashwords site, but they include proper formatting, no spelling mistakes or typos, a cover image, copyright page, a functioning table of contents, an ISBN identification number (required by some ebooksellers, more on this later), and complete and accurate metadata. Smashwords claims that about 80% of its titles go into the Premium Catalog.

What it costs

Smashwords charges no fees but earns its income exclusively from commission on sales of ebooks through its catalogues. Its conversion service is free and joining its Standard and Premium catalogues is free.

For sales through its Standard Catalog, Smashwords charges a 15% commission after deducting credit card charges so you receive close to 85% of the list price. For sales through its Premium Catalog, you’ll generally receive about 60% of the list price. Smashwords charges a commission of 10% of the list price, but you will also pay the ebookseller’s margin, which is typically 30%.

Details

You can nominate the outlets to which your ebook is distributed from a growing list of key ebookstores internationally. A notable absence is Amazon. However, this is less of an issue than it might seem. Given Amazon’s dominance in many markets and the excellent online tools it provides to self-publishers, it’s a very good (and common) strategy to deal directly with Amazon and use Smashwords to reach the remainder of the market.

You grant non-exclusive distribution rights to Smashwords so you’re free to sell your ebook through other channels but make sure you don’t assign two distributors to the same online store.

Note that, while you can sell your ebooks through other channels, to do this you’ll need to produce a new edition: the version that Smashwords creates for free can only be sold via Smashwords. Smashwords also insists that ebooks sold through its catalogues are DRM-free.

The ebook-distribution service is managed from an online control panel and reaches an expanding range of key outlets that support the EPUB ebook format.

Lulu offers a special distribution service to publishers with 25 or more titles.

What it costs

Lulu’s pricing model is a little more complicated than Smashwords’ and it’s difficult to find clear pricing information on their offering. Lulu sets a minimum charge (typically about US$1.25) and sets a minimum selling price, currently US$1.49. It charges a commission in the range of 10 to 20% of income received. If you opt to have DRM added, there’s a US$0.25 DRM fee for each ebook sold.

Details

Lulu’s distribution service is non-exclusive so you can sell through other distributors or directly from your website without paying a commission to Lulu. Unlike Smashwords, Lulu lets you own and sell the EPUB file elsewhere that’s created using its free conversion service.

Lulu will optionally apply digital-rights management to your ebook using the widely-supported Adobe DRM. Your ebook will get its own page on the Lulu.com site, which you can link to from your website, blog, or Facebook Page, and it will handle the billing and delivery of the ebook file.

Lulu only distributes in EPUB format and, at this time, its list of outlets is the most limited.

What it costs

BookBaby charges US$99 to distribute an ebook to key ebook retailers. After 12 months, it charges an annual fee of US$19 for each ebook distributed.

Details

BookBaby collects sales data and payments on your behalf from each outlet it distributes to and pays you 100% of the money collected. You track this through your BookBaby online control panel.

You don’t have to use BookBaby’s conversion service to get into its distribution network. However, it’s a good service that is widely-used, and you own the files it produces so you can use them elsewhere.

BookBaby’s distribution includes Amazon, Apple’s iBookstore, Barnes and Noble Nook, Kobo, Baker and Taylor, Gardners (UK), Copia, and the Sony Reader store, and several others, giving good international coverage. You can nominate the outlets you want BookBaby to sell to.

What it costs

Amazon’s standard commission for sales through KDP is 65% of the list price, ie the publisher receives 35%. However, it also offers a 70% royalty option (publisher receives 70%) subject to special terms. Among them:

• Its list price must be between US$2.99 and US$9.99 and at least 20% less than any print edition
• It only applies to sales made in certain territories, primarily in North America and parts of Europe (including the US and UK)
• A delivery fee is charged based on file size
• Amazon insists on price-matching — it will drop the selling price of your ebook (and your royalty) if it finds your ebooks being sold more cheaply elsewhere

Details

KDP provides excellent tools for publishers to directly access its ebookstore and manage their titles’ display, sales and marketing activity on the Kindle website. In fact, these sales tools surpass anything currently offered by other ebooksellers and distributors.

You can set separate retail prices in local currencies for several major markets — the rest are priced in the default US dollar list price. Amazon also offers the fastest time-to-market, typically 2-3 days instead of the 2-3 weeks that is more customary.