Platforms for selling ebooks are a great way to show the effect of your hard work and commitment. There are many platforms for selling ebooks and they have many different features. It is good to find out more about all the options before making the final decision about the one platform we are going to use. There are many aspects of the matter in relation to ebooks publishing that have to be considered ahead such as: cost, security, and copyright regulations. Compilation of 10 best platforms for selling ebooks was created to help the authors to deal with the large variety of opportunities available on the market.
The service provided by the Amazon was designed for those who wish to self-publish their ebooks. With such platform the authors may publish their texts directly in the website store – Kindle Store.
The store has an interesting option of selling books in the paper version. The author has to send a book in a digital version to Amazon. When the books is purchased by the client Amazon takes care of the printing process, the shipping and the customer service. There are no additional costs for the author in relation to those processes. The author gets his commission for each book sold.
What is the cost of this service? How much can you get? Each author that sells only ebooks gets usually 70 percent of the sales price. Such rate is granted to the author only when certain preset conditions are met. The author may also choose to be paid 35 percent of the list price. More information about different types of billing are here.
Kobo is a Canadian company that offers ebooks, audiobooks and different types of ebook readers and one of the most popular platforms for selling ebooks in the world. As we can read on the brand’s website, the user may choose between more than 5 million titles. Kobo offers its own app, which is available in Google Play and App Store. The app allows reading books in any location. Readers may switch between devices without losing track of their reading progress – there is no need to save or search for the last read page.
With Kobo Writing Life the authors may publish their own texts and make them available to the broad audience. The whole process is extremely simple. The author has to create an account, publish his ebook and spend some time on marketing and promotional efforts. His ebook will be added to the catalogue list within 72 hours.
Let’s see the numbers. How much do you have to pay? In case of original texts the author gets 70 percent or 45 percent of the list price. Books priced above 2,99 US dollars may expect higher rates. The rate of 45 percent is for texts that are below that price. If the published book is a part of public domain the author may expect 20 percent of list price.
It is worth to mention that Kobo Writing Life accepts currencies such as: US dollar, Canadian dollar, British pound, euro, Japanese jen, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, and Hong Kong dollar. Individuals that settle their accounts in other from listed currencies get their billing in US dollars. More information about different types of billing find here.
Barnes & Noble is an online bookstore that has more than 1 million ebooks available to purchase. Thanks to the specialized NOOK app the users may read ebooks on their own electronic devices.
With the help of Barnes & Noble Press every, even aspiring, writer may publish his own ebook (or its paper version) and sell it to the millions of readers. To make this possible the author has to go through the process of account setting and file sending, which is not very time consuming. The author may expect to profit after 72 hours from uploading his text.
How much does it cost? The author receives 70 percent of the retail price. There is a tool on the NOOK’s website that calculates the amount of possible profit that the author may achieve through his publishing efforts.
Apple iBooks is a place, where each user may find both ebooks and audiobooks. Application is available for iOS and macOS operating systems and has many interesting functions. There is an option in the app that allows the user to set his own reading goals, what helps to strengthen the habit of reading.
For the prospective authors Apple Book has created comprehensive guide about ebook publishing techniques and methods. The guide discusses all the stages of ebook creation: initiation of the project, the writing stage, publishing and sales. Regardless of the price of an ebook the author receives 70 percent of the retail price.
Google Play is a store provided by Google company, where we can find: games, apps, musical compositions, books, movies and many more. The content provided by Google is available for Android system. Authors are able to sell their ebooks in Google Play store. How to use the service?
At the very first step the author must join the partnership scheme (Google Books). The membership enables the author to send his book in a specified file to the web site. Among the acceptable formats of files are: PDF and EPUB.
The author has much autonomy and certain amount of control over his text. He may choose between the countries he wishes to publish his ebook in and manage his digital rights. The author may get 70 percent of revenue from the sales of his ebooks as long as he accepts Google Terms of Service. Otherwise the commission rate comes to 52 percent.
Smashwords is an American platform that distributes ebooks. Authors and publishers from the whole world may easily publish their books there. With this self-service system independent creators may convert their files themselves and sell them online.
Online sales is possible not only with the usage of the very own Smashwords bookstore but also through global distribution in such channels as: Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and many more. The first option of distribution gives the author 80 percent of retail price, while the second – up to 60 percent.
Similarities of companies Draft2Digital and Smashwords made its representatives to join their efforts and in the independent ebooks distribution industry and merge their companies. What such merger means for the authors? Current authors don’t have to make any additional steps because the systems of both providers will be integrated automatically with the Draft2Digital domain.
Additionally, such solution gives the creators some benefits – with the merger they will get broader access to the market, since they will be able to use Smashwords store to sell their ebooks there. The authors will be able to use marketing tools of Smashwords website as well as Smashwords Coupons.
Draft2Digital doesn’t charge any fee for the services of: formatting, distribution or sales tracking – the author has to settle the bill only after the sales. After the deduction the author gets approximately 60 per cent of the list price of his ebook.
Blurb is an American platform for self-publishing and sales of printed books and ebooks. The set of tools available in the system facilitates the process of designing and promotion of the text.
Author may choose if he wishes to sell his ebook throughout Blurb Bookstore or throughout Apple Books store. The price list for all types of publications is available here.
What distinguishes OneRead from other platforms selling ebooks is the fact that it is stored in the cloud. With OneRead the authors may publish and distribute digital files designed for digital devices. To increase the security the platform was enriched in DRM (digital rights management) module.
IngramSpark is the platform that specializes in publishing of ebooks of independent authors. Ebooks are distributed to the most popular sellers such as: Amazon, Kobo, Barnes&Noble, Apple Books and many other. To publish an ebook the author is required to send his content in EPUB file alongside JPG file, that contains the project of the book cover.
IngramSpark has very detailed price list on the website, where the prices are calculated accordingly to the fact if the book is published only in the digital form or in printed form as well. The website features online calculator where the author can check the prediction for his profit after the deduction of all costs.
The above compilation of platforms for selling ebooks presents only the most popular services. All of them offer many benefits for authors but their may differ in regards to functionalities and options – there are pros and cons of using any of them. It is worth to analyze the market of platforms for selling books before making the very final selection of the service.
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Author: Martin Sparks
E-commerce enthusiasts which constantly digs around the internet in order to make sure he hasn’t missed any important information on the topic of starting and scaling profitable online stores.
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