There are many platforms from which you can sell your book. The most widely used is Amazon.

The Amazon Select Vs Going Wide Debate

When setting your e-book up online with Amazon, you must decide between Amazon KDP Select or Going Wide. 

Which is better seems to be personal preference.

Amazon KDP Select

Amazon allows readers to subscribe to Kindle Unlimited for approximately $10/month. With Kindle Unlimited, they can read for free.

If an author enrolls in KDP Select and a reader reads their book through the Kindle Unlimited program, they are paid per page read. However, their e-book must be exclusive to Amazon for 90 days.

Authors have huge success through KDP Select because Amazon favors customers that sell only through Amazon.

Going Wide

To Go Wide, an author uploads their book to platforms other than Amazon. While this seems a huge opportunity for additional sales, I have not had a lot of sales by going wide. I would even go as far as to say it was a waste of my time and energy. I was curious, so for the sake of satisfying my curiosity, I am glad I did it, but for the headaches it caused and the lack of sales, I don’t recommend it. That said, I have not put a lot of time into marketing into these platforms, so perhaps the lack of sales is my own fault.

These are the companies I’ve uploaded Northern Escape to.

- Amazon (kdp.amazon.com)

- Apple Books (blurb.ca)

- BookBub (bookbub.com)

- Draft2Digital (draft2digital.com)

- Google Play (play.google.com)

- Kobo (kobo.com/ca.en/p/writinglife)

- IngramSpark (myaccount.ingramspark.com)

BookBub and Draft2Digital are platforms that will link your book to other sites to sell your book. BookBub lets users purchase a book through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Google, and Kobo. Draft2Digital helps you publish books to Apple, Baker & Taylor, Barnes & Noble, Bibliotecha, BorrowBox, Hoopla, Kobo, Overdrive, Scribd, Tolino, and Vivlio.

An Excerpt from my July 2021 Newsletter

Why Go Wide?

Some people don’t want to buy from Amazon. Others have Kobo eReaders and would love to read your book on their device instead of an online app. Retail stores consider Amazon their competitor and only purchase from IngramSpark.

These all appear to be good reasons for going wide, but in my experience, they aren’t valid.

If people don’t want to buy from Amazon, they can buy (the author copies you’ve purchased from Amazon) directly from you.

My monthly royalties from Kobo have averaged $0.46. Not worth it. You will not be missing out on sales unless you’ve hit it big and there is a demand. If so, set it up then.

Retail stores will not purchase your book through IngramSpark unless you are a bestselling author. Until then, purchase your author copies and work with their consignment programs.

Another thing to consider with IngramSpark is the added expense of converting your cover to their format.

Tip: If you want to use IngramSpark, you can’t choose KDP’s Expanded Distribution because that makes the title available to IngramSpark and will cause a conflict with the ISBN when you upload to the IngramSpark platform.

My Recommendation

I have not tried Amazon Select, but I recommend doing this for the first three months while you are busy with your launch. If you wish to go wide later, you can.