Draft2Digital Review: Self Publishing Books Beyond KDP

About this video

Dale reviews Draft2Digital (D2D), founded in March 2012 by Chris Austin and headquartered in Oklahoma City, as a free-to-publish aggregator distributing ebooks and paperbacks to retailers, subscription services and libraries, with only a bridge to audiobooks via Findaway Voices. The model is revenue share: D2D says its fee is approximately 10% of list price, stores take about 30% and authors keep about 60%. For his $4.99 example ebook he shows 59.5% at most digital stores including Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple and Amazon, about 55% at Vivlio and about 77% at the Smashwords store. Subscription services include Everand and Kobo Plus, the latter paying by minutes read from a monthly revenue pool rather than pages. Library distribution via OverDrive, Odilo, Bibliotheca, Baker & Taylor, Hoopla, BorrowBox and Palace Marketplace uses one-copy/one-user (he priced a $4.99 book at $14.99, mostly 46.7%, Palace 59.5%) or cost-per-checkout models. D2D offers free automated formatting with 28 templates, downloadable EPUB/MOBI/PDF, universal book links via Books2Read (launched February 2018, with affiliate IDs), and free payment splitting. D2D Print, launched March 2023, offers six trim sizes, 64 to 740 pages, 45% minus print costs, Ingram distribution, free ISBNs and proof copies; updates are free once every 90 days then $25 change tokens. He notes Smashwords was acquired in February 2022 and Self-Pub Book Covers in July 2023, monthly pay with no minimum for direct deposit/PayPal, $10 for Payeer and $100 for checks, and cons including limited print options, lack of public per-retailer royalty transparency, and complaints about account closures, withheld earnings and region blocking often tied to KYC/tax compliance.

Key takeaways

• D2D is free upfront but takes about 10% of list price — authors keep roughly 60% on most ebook stores
• You can deselect any avenue, e.g. Amazon if already on KDP, but never put a KDP Select-enrolled ebook on D2D
• Free tools include automated formatting, Books2Read universal links and hands-off payment splitting for co-authors
• D2D Print pays 45% minus print costs via Ingram, but updates cost $25 after one free update every 90 days
• Royalty rates are only visible at the final publishing step — a transparency drawback Dale flags

Episode details: published April 20, 2024 · 27:35 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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