How to Self Publish a Book without Using Amazon

About this video

Dale lays out how to self-publish without Amazon KDP — relevant for authors with terminated accounts, those who are anti-Amazon, or those who don’t want to depend on one platform. He starts with the ‘big four’ alternatives. Apple Books pays about 70% royalties and reaches some regions Amazon doesn’t, but is ebook-only for this purpose and effectively requires Apple/Mac access. Barnes & Noble pays 65% on ebooks and 55% on print but is essentially US-only with a fickle print process. Kobo (owned by Rakuten, which has a Walmart relationship) pays 70% on ebooks, dropping to 45% outside its price range, but has no print option. Google Play offers indexable sample content and a 70% royalty in select regions, dropping to roughly 52% outside the price range, but has no print and now has an application process. Next, aggregators — IngramSpark, Lulu, Smashwords, Draft2Digital, PublishDrive and others — send a book to many platforms from one dashboard with one tax form, in exchange for a revenue share or, in PublishDrive’s newer model, a subscription; the trade-off is losing the ability to advertise natively on platforms reached through an aggregator. Finally, DIY routes: crowdfunding via Kickstarter as proof of concept (he cites Naomi Vandoren’s successful Kickstarter-published books), and selling direct from your own website using PayPal or Stripe, Shopify, Lulu Express for print fulfillment, and cloud-drive or BookFunnel delivery of EPUB, MOBI and PDF files.

Key takeaways

• The big four KDP alternatives are Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Google Play, each with stated royalties around 65–70% under the right pricing conditions.
• Each alternative has limits: Apple needs Mac access, Barnes & Noble is US-only, Kobo and Google Play have no print options, and Google Play has an application process.
• Aggregators like Draft2Digital, Smashwords, IngramSpark, Lulu and PublishDrive save time with one dashboard and one tax form, but take a cut or subscription and block native per-platform advertising.
• Crowdfunding on Kickstarter can validate demand and fund production before spending your own money.
• Selling direct from your own website with Stripe or PayPal, Shopify, Lulu Express print fulfillment, and BookFunnel ebook delivery avoids relying on any single platform.

Episode details: published December 12, 2019 · 17:20 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.

← Previous: How to Self Publish a Book in Profitable Categories · Next: Top 10 Best Selling Books 2019 Report | Shocking First Place →

All Dale L. Roberts videos · Dale L. Roberts profile · Dale L. Roberts on YouTube