In last month’s newsletter I asked my subscribers to vote on their preferred retailer platform. I’ve not had a very good response – only 89 people completed the survey, but at least the results have given me some idea of where my readers buy their e-books.
Since the Mythical Menagerie series 1 is almost complete, my main concern (apart from actually finishing the book!) is to try to determine where to make it available. I asked my newsletter subscribers to vote between Kindle Unlimited and other large retailers, with the option to select “Other” and let me know which retailer I’m neglecting. The main feedback for this category was Google Play – huge oversight! I use Draft 2 Digital as my distributor, and unfortunately Google Play is still only in beta with them. Hopefully by the time the novel is ready for release, this will have been rectified. There is always the option to go direct – but life’s too short and I’d rather do other things (such as writing!) than log into every retailer manually whenever I need to update something.
So here are the results of the survey:
As you can see, 15% voted Kindle Unlimited, 54% prefer Amazon but are not in KU, and 31% in total make use of other retailers. So clearly, Amazon is the way to go.
However, I subscribe to the motto of not having all your eggs in one basket, and I definitely don’t want to disappoint any subscribers on my list who have been waiting patiently for years (!) for this novel to be released. I’d like to go wide with it.
So here is my plan to have the best of both: when the novel releases I will enroll it in KU for the required minimum period of 3 months. This will allow the first batch of readers to get their hands on it. When that time is up, I’ll take it out of KU and release it wide across all of the retailers available via Draft 2 Digital. That should give everyone a chance to read it and maximise my distribution potential.
I’ve worked really hard on this novel and I can’t wait to share the finished product with the world. Hopefully this tactic should satisfy everyone.
What is your preferred online retailer? Do you think my distribution plan will keep long-time subscribers happy and would you be willing to wait for the 3 months exclusivity period if you don’t use Kindle Unlimited?
I think, under the circumstances, it’s good that you’ve really thought this through, and that you have a plan. 🙂
It’s worth mentioning that, in my experience, most readers don’t understand the trade-off we authors are required to make in order for our books to be in KU.
So for anyone reading this who doesn’t, what Sunee is talking about is that, under Amazon’s policies, the only way for us independent authors to make our books available in Kindle Unlimited, is to sign an agreement with them promising that, for a minimum of three months, we will not make our ebooks available on any other platform – including our own websites, digital libraries powered by companies other than Amazon, or any other retailer.
Once the three months is up, we can choose to end that agreement, but doing so causes our books to be removed from KU.
With that in mind, Sunee’s making quite the sacrifice for those first three months. So all you KU subscribers had better take advantage of it, ya hear? 😉
Congratulations, Sunee! This book’s been a long time coming, and I’m sure you’re going to be super relieved, and proud, when it finally launches. Personally, I can’t wait to read it, when it comes on Scribd. 😀
Thanks Graham! I know you’re not a big fan of KU, hehe, so I appreciate the support.
You’re welcome!
I’m not a big fan of any retailer bullying people into exclusivity arrangements. Other than that, I have no problem with KU whatsoever. 😉
I’m an avid Kindle Unlimited reader. I had no idea about the exclusivity period, so thank you for filling us in Graham.
I absolutely love being able to find books I fancy on KU. However if it’s an author I avidly follow, I’d probably be happy to pay to get my hands on their latest release! 😁
I think many authors do what I’m planning to do here – release in KU for a few months (not necessarily only 3 months), and then go wide afterwards, or vice versa. Unless they actively dislike the KU model, as Graham does. I personally have no issues with KU, but I do have readers who do not have access to it (here in South Africa, we don’t have the option to subscribe either), so I’m trying to keep everyone happy. We’ll see how it goes 🙂
Hi Gaynor,
You should consider Scribd. At $8.99, it’s cheaper than KU (even before you consider that the price includes unlimited audiobooks), and because it DOESN’T have the exclusivity requirement, it has a wider selection.
Just remember that, because of KU’s exclusivity requirement, if any given book is in KU, it’s by definition *not* also going to be in Scribd. 🙂
Normally, you could get 30 free days to try out the service, but if you use my affiliate link to sign up, you get 60 free days instead. And I get a 30-day bonus for referring you, so please consider helping me out. 😉
Here’s the link: https://www.scribd.com/g/1nx29r
Done – thank you 😁