Reviews & Interviews
More and more authors are pulling e-books out of Kindle Select and "going wide." Here's why.
Currently, everything still sells through Amazon. Starting in May 2023, I will be selling the Cascadia Fallen trilogy ebooks and audiobooks directly. Your books will be delivered immediately and automatically via an email from BooFunnel. Make sure you keep an eye on your Spam or Promotions folder! And it will be going to the email that you used for the purchase process.
Contact help@bookfunnel.com
But the process you should find successful is to login to their website with the same email you used to make the purchase. This will lead you to your "library." (my.bookfunnel.com)
One cool perk is that you will have a copy in there forever!
BookFunnel will have multiple epub files, along with a pdf and mobi file, to ensure you have one that works. If you are using an old phone, tablet, or computer, you may need to give them that data so they can search for compatiblity.
The BookFunnel app is the easiest way!
You can also stream them with the BookFunnel cloud player of with DRM-freee MP3 downloads; or on any MP3 playing device; or stream it on your computer's browser!
"Going wide" is an indie author term specific to selling e-books on multiple retailers, their own website, or even just giving one away in exchange for someone joining their newsletter.
Kindle Select is a few things, but primarily it is a program for high-volume readers to "rent" books for a monthly fee, like watching as many movies and shows as you can on a subscription TV channel. The problem for authors is that it is a 90-day exclusive contract. We're not allowed to distribute more than 10% of the book while it is in Select—not even to give it away!
This exclusivity is only for e-books. Authors are still allowed to distribute their paper books to any retailer. Audiobooks is a little harder to explain, as it depends on which service was used for creation.
There are three different scenarios for non-US customers.
- For my products that take you to Amazon for purchase [Ebooks that are in Kindle Select; print-on-demand merchandise], you will be taken to the US marketplace. To upload every product for every Amazon marketplace and then administer those through the Shopify store would be an administrative nightmare. At the core of this is the fact that I have to use an app that sends you to Amazon, versus putting those products into your cart. I thank you for your interest and hope that you'll consider getting my product from your own usual Amazon world market to potentially save you some money.
- I have made price adjustments on my [non-Amazon] product pages for some countries. You may or may not see the prices displayed in your currency, but toggling that will always be available at the bottom of the website. But I've also tried to adjust the price for Canada, Oceana, and the UK based on how their currencies typically compare to the U.S. Dollar.
- At this time, I've made no other price adjustments for other world currencies shoppers may use.
Currently, I use a high-quality printer that is in the UK. They start the order immediately and within 2-3 days it has been batch mailed to the U.S. with all other North American orders that have been printed in that time. The orders are then sub-shipped through USPS once they get to America. This process can take up to three weeks to be affordable. I believe the quaility and affordibility of the product still makes this the best option over the two major U.S. competitors at this time.
One example of why this is the case: I distribute to non-Amazon retailers through Draft 2 Digital. They cannot process my original, high-quality paperback cover due to the inprinted barcode, forcing me to design what I feel is an inferior cover (on their site cover creator) for those purchasing through those retailers.