Where Should I Publish My Book?

Deciding where to publish your book can be overwhelming and stop authors from moving forward. So, here’s my take on it:

I like to publish on Amazon only because:

• It’s easier to track my results than if I had to go to several sites and compile them.
• I like using the promotional tools that you can only use if you are exclusive to Amazon and they help you get a lot more exposure.
• The majority of books are sold there.
• I don’t have to pay for an ISBN and barcode.
• And Amazon will publish for you in many countries around the world.

However, if you have a specialty book and there is a site that caters to the audience for that book, then it makes sense to publish there as well.
For example: in a past life, I was in graduate school studying architecture, and all the students got their books from an architecture bookstore called Hennessy + Ingalls. They now have a website, and all their books are listed on the site. So, if I were to write a book on architecture, I’d want it on that site as well.

You can also get your book into offline bookstores using a site like Ingram Spark. They will publish the paperback and hardcover and distribute it for you, and this does not preclude you from publishing the digital version exclusively on Amazon.

But, to get your book into bookstores, they want you to make the books returnable, which Amazon does not allow, and they want a 55% wholesale discount on book purchases.

In addition, they want to be 90% sure that they can sell your book; they see themselves in the role of bookselling, but they look to you for marketing the book. So, they want to know that you have a solid marketing plan, which I believe is more effort offline than online because of Amazon’s promotional tools.

You can also sell your book from your website. Again, you can sell the physical book there and keep the ebook exclusively on Amazon, or you sell both and forego the promotional tools in Amazon.

So, where you decide to publish depends on your topic, your strategy, how much time and energy you have to devote to marketing and following your stats, your budget and the size of your reach. But the good news is that nothing is set in stone, if you take one course of action and it doesn’t pan out to your expectations, you can always try another way. But, don’t wait! Make a decision, publish your book and start marketing!