*****THIS INFORMATION HAS CHANGED IN THE LAST DECADE.
Here is a list of all the book sites I have joined in my quest for self-publishing.
There are many, and these are just the ones I thought were appropriate for me. That doesn’t mean they will be for you, and you may very well find ones in your own state or country that work just as well.
You may decide to pick many, you may decide to pick just one or two, in doing that, realise, the more you pick, the harder the work and the more time needed to keep across them all.
2010 –
Authonomy (run by Harper Collins publishing house, for people seeking publishing. I deleted my account in 2013)
2011 –
Wattpad (more for teens and young adults – i deleted my account in 2018)
Goodreads (is now owned by Amazon so it’s good if you’re selling through them)
Smashwords (self-publishing in all e-Book formats, sells through tonnes of other sites except Amazon’s Kindle)
Amazon’s CreateSpace (transferred into KDP)
Amazon’s CreateSpace 2 free e-Book e-stores for Lotto and London (since deleted)
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Amazon’s CreateSpace forum (since deleted)
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Adobe (for e-Books and if you’re self-publishing you will need this to view them for autovetting through Smashwords)
Kindle (same as Adobe, you will need this for viewing your books)
Mobi (might need for Kindle making)
2012 –
Amazon’s CreateSpace free e-Book e-store for Vegas (since deleted)
Indie Book Lounge (since deleted)
Author’s Den (since deleted)
Shelfari (which is set up automatically when you publish on KDP – Amazon closed)
Australian E-Book Authors (since deleted)
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Kindle Forum (left)
Amazon Author Forum (left)
2013 –
Amazon’s CreateSpace/Kindle global distribution through a total of 11 Amazons
Book Depository UK and US (sent via CreateSpace)
Australian E-Book Author (for me this is still new and I’m working on it – deleted)
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Just as with the Social Media sites you choose to be across, you also need to choose the book sites you are across. And there are many more than the ones I’ve come up with. There will be ones for each country and ones for each state in each country. There are many to find but a question you need to ask yourself is, do I want to be on the biggest book sellers in the world which will distribute my books across the globe to the largest viewing and buying populations, or, do I want to limit the spread of my books and hence my sales?
Depending on who you publish with, it will all depend on which sites you are on.
Smashwords is across iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Diesel, Sony, Kobo, Baker & Taylor’s Blio and Axis 360, Page Foundry, Flipkart, Oyster and Library Direct. They are gaining new sites to publish to constantly. They have their blog and Facebook page for you to scour and ask questions, as well as the FREE e-Books founder Mark Coker has for download.
Amazon has CreateSpace which is across 11 Amazons worldwide and they distribute to Book Depository in the UK and US which I have found out recently. To have worldwide distribution you need to click on the blue button in your book’s dashboard so you have the global spread, that is how you end up on the other Amazons.
KDP adds your books to all 11 Amazons as well, but you have to sign up to both CS and KDP separately (use the same login email and password to keep it simple) as you are publishing two separate kinds of books. Each has its own forum and there is also the Amazon Author forum to get involved with.
Amazon also owns Goodreads so that is a good place to be on, and your Shelfari profile is automatically set up when you publish your books through KDP.
As an Australian know this, if you decide to separately publish with each website Smashwords distributes to, it will involve so much hassle with tax and legal issues you will collapse into a puddle of goo and not reform for 50 years! It is THAT much work!
Of course you also need to make sure all of your interior and exterior files with your books are to each company’s guidelines.
You will also need to file for an ITIN or EIN and then send off W8BENs to Amazon CS and Smashwords. Kindle now has an online W8BEN form to fill out and I don’t know why the others don’t have it yet as it would save much freakin’ hassle!
Wattpad is give or take. So are the others, although for Aussie authors check out Australian E-Book Authors. It may or may not appeal to you and has a separate website to join a forum. I’ve recently found this out and have joined but I’m not yet sure it’s for me.
So, in your self-publishing haze these are the principles –
Smashwords (Smashwords/iTunes/B&N/Sony/Diesel/Kobo/Blio/Axis360/Page Foundry/Oyster plus more being added all the time, talk about global domination in e-books) (publishes ALL e-book formats)
Amazon (ALL 11 OF THEM /Goodreads /CreateSpace + free e-book e-store for each book/KDP + Shelfari/CreateSpace-|-Kindle-|-Amazon Author Forums)
I’d say when self-publishing, Smashwords and Amazon for all of their offspring websites are definitely the way to go.
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