I'm so glad you found my experience helpful! I now have three separate books up through Draft2Digital, and I continue to publish everything BUT Amazon through them because it saves so much time, trouble, and headache. Amazon I still set up directly through KDP. I wish you all the best with your first ebook! How exciting!
Full of insight and very detailed. Thank you for sharing. Regarding books published on d2d, will readers have the opportunity to leave reviews on the several stores that d2d distributes to?
@@KatherineDGrahamAuthor thank you for responding. Loong forward to upload8ng my first story. Just waiting on them to sort my payout method (cant verify my home address as i am in asia) hope it goes well.
I am uploading an ebook soon. Thanks for all advice. Very helpful. I do have to wait until my other ebooks go off kindle select. Looking forward to going wide!
That is so exciting!! Congrats! I wish you all the best with the transition, and hope that Draft2Digital is as seamless for you as I've found it to be.
shamazone gave me a hard time about one of my books so the next one i went wide on. i'm still trying to figure out how to promote my d2d books because i use KU to get views for my kindles, which in turn sell my books. but idk if or how i can do that on d2d somehow. and yeah going wide on d2d is the best option IF you want to go wide. which i didn't want to do in fact. but hamazone fingerthumbed one of my books again those cheap delhi deskjockeys can be ... challenging. :/
Hello! I am looking to publish a novel for the very first time. So I am extremely new to everything! What would you recommend for me to do to attract attention? Should I pronote it for free on Kindle? If I do this - would I still be able to over it for sale through other platforms? I am first aiming to just get reviews, and since I will be a new author… I am thinking about just offering it for free on a patform in order to gain reviews. What are your suggestions?
Really enjoyed hearing your experience with d2d. I use d2d for my ebooks and use all distributors available. Less bookkeeping that way. Now d2d offers print books. Have you had them make the paperback for you?
Thank you for watching and sharing your experience! I have not used D2D's print beta yet, but I've heard (not confirmed with them) that theirs are fulfilled by IngramSpark. If that's the case, I'm not sure if I'd prefer to go directly through Ingram or not... I'll have to look more into it. I have used KDP print (paperback & hardback) and B&N Press (for hardbacks) in the past.
Tell me about your formatter for your book Michael Davey - does he have a website - will I need a formatter for uploading to draft to digital as I have my manuscript in double space on 8 x 11 and I want to upload a manuscript for a 6 x 9 print book to draft to digital.?
@okayboomernyc I realized that half of my answer got cut off on my earlier comment! Sorry about that. While having someone else format your book is not REQUIRED, it is definitely helpful unless you have the software and time to invest in learning to do it yourself. Draft2Digital also has a formatting software built-in that you can use, but it was not perfect (I have special scene breaks, etc. that I needed a formatter to add). Double-spacing might throw the formatting software off too, all those extra spaces will have to be removed in order for it to work properly, since the system automatically adds spacing already (therefore you end up with 4 spaces, and it looks odd). It depends on whether you manually double-spaced or used your MS Word's auto-space settings, though. You can pay an editor to take them all out for you, if you manually added them. The same thing goes for extra spaces at the end of paragraphs/after periods. Each size will need separate formatting. If you pay a formatter, you can just tell them what sizes you want and they can do them both at once. Once your file is formatted, you can upload the completed file straight into Draft2Digital and you'll be done. :-) Good luck with your publishing!
Great video I have not used them but thinking of getting started. Can you do a video uploading a book there so we can see step by step what it involves.
Thanks so much for watching! I am waiting for permission from Draft2Digital to film a video showing their software, but in the meantime they also have a RU-vid channel of their own here that has some helpful videos: www.youtube.com/@Draft2Digital
@passiveincomewithnora4571 I wanted to let you know that Draft2Digital was kind enough to give me permission to record how I use their website as an indie author. I have started putting out addition D2D how-to videos on the Indie Author Behind-the-Scenes playlist, and will be adding one about uploading in March. Thanks again for watching!
Hi Nora! Good news! I got permission, and here's the link to the video on how to create a pre-order for an e-book on D2D: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DF6SZpC4IEI.html More D2D videos are coming soon.
It has been quite an adventure! Only time (about 6 months to a year) will tell the price differences between them for me. I plan on posting a 6-month update with how things have gone so far.
What about Bowker? How do you feel about them and what they offer in getting your book into libraries? They issue ISBN’s. Actually, they are the official distributor of ISBN’s.
Every country has their own ISBN distributer, from my understanding. As I'm currently in the US, I do personally purchase my print ISBNs (for hardbacks and paperbacks) from Bowker. You can use free ones through the distributers (or none at all) on e-books, as those use ASINs in the US instead, which is something I learned the hard way after wasting money on 3 e-book ISBNs I never used back in 2021. The last time I checked, Bowker did not have an actual distribution side, themselves (they didn't print books for libraries, for example). I bought a bulk lot of ISBNs back in early 2022 from them, and am still working through those. So if they've added a feature since then to print and send books our to libraries and stores, it will be 100% new to me (but definitely worth checking out). I'd love to hear your experience on their printing/distributing services, though, if you use them. 🙂
If you publish on Draft2Digital you can 'unpublish' ('delist') your work anytime, but it takes some time for all the linked retailers to remove it from sale, so you would probably want to give yourself time before enrolling in KDP Select (Kindle Unlimited). With that being said, unless you publish to regular KDP through D2D, you can have a regular non-Select KDP version up at the same time as Draft2Digital on all other platforms (note: you should research this a bit to be sure, but those were the permissions as of 2023 to my knowledge). KDP Select is an exclusive agreement, to my knowledge, but regular KDP (not on Kindle Unlimited) is not. Thank you for watching!
Hi! do i need to set up an account with those platforms (amazon,B&N,etc) if i choose to distribute my book with them using draft2digital? Thanks for your answer!
This is a great question! No, you do not have to create your own accounts on all those platforms if you will distribute to them through Draft2Digital. You'll only need a Draft2Digital account. You may still want to create an Author Central account on Amazon, though, to 'clam' your books as part of your Amazon profile. That should be free to do.
Yes, as long as it's not enrolled in Kindle Select ("Ku"/"Kindle Unlimited"), you retain the rights to post the e-book on both. However, you cannot choose to have Draft2Digital post it to Amazon for you, if you put it up through KDP yourself. And if you ARE enrolled in Kindle Unlimited, you'll have to wait for your current contract term to expire (you should be able to turn off the auto-renew in the Kindle Select enrollment settings) before you get your rights back to list it on D2D. Good luck!
@@danielk6677 I honestly have never done paperbacks through Draft2Digital (I only just got accepted into D2D's beta program for it recently), so I can't say for sure. I have done print copies through Amazon and B&N in the past, and considered IngramSpark as well. If you're "Wide" on Amazon (ie have given them international distribution rights), you may have to come out of that first? But I won't know more until I look into it for my brand new series. I will definitely post a video about it if I go with D2D for my paperbacks for The Lords' Gambit series. In the meantime, you can always reach out to Draft2Digital's customer service, too, via their help chat. They've always replied to me in 2-3 days.
@@KatherineDGrahamAuthor thanks :) I will. It turns out that it will probably be possible, under the condition that i published on AMZ book with my own ISBN number. Did you have any experience with other print on demand platforms, lulu, barns & noble, ingramspark?
@@danielk6677 I have used Amazon KDP's paperback and hardback print programs, B&N Hardbacks, and have helped other authors set up Ingram. 🙂 I may make videos about the process in the future, but don't have any up quite yet on print editions. Feel free to message me via my social media channels or e-mail contact@katherinedgraham.com if you have questions about the ones I've used. I'm always happy to help however I can.
Every retailer I have ever published an e-book with (including ones managed via Draft2Digital) has taken a percentage of my royalties. Amazon keeps either 65% or 30% right now (depending on the size/price of your book), and other platforms vary. With the exception of Amazon, Draft2Digital has given me ~60% of my e-book royalties. The retailers keep ~30%, and you give ~10% to D2D to coordinate everything for you.
Hi! Thanks so much for watching! Yes, I used a version that was already formatted (I just uploaded the formatted file directly into Draft2Digital). I am not sure what all the accepted file types are, but it accepted the Generic EPub file my formatter sent me.
As I mentioned in this video, I personally use both KDP and Draft2Digital for my books (but obviously not for ones in Kindle Select "KU", since that would be against the KU terms). I like the access I have to analytics directly through KDP, but putting everything else in one place (Kobo, B&N, Ind!go, etc.) using Draft2Digital is a HUGE bonus. So I see no problem in sending the same book to both if you're wanting to go "wide" (be on platforms outside of Amazon); you'd just have to wait until your Kindle Unlimited term is up, if you have one, since KU gives Amazon exclusive rights to your e-books while the contract is active. Good luck with your publishing!
For me personally, the book that I've sold the most copies of on Draft2Digital, which is all of my non-Amazon platforms (I go directly through Amazon KDP for my Amazon e-books) has been Oracle of Life (The Lords' Gambit Series Volume One) seen here: books2read.com/oracleoflife In the 3.5 months that Oracle of Life has been out, it has (as of the time I type this reply) sold 69 e-book copies on Draft2Digital, and 483 Amazon KDP e-book copies.
I love D2D, but I do have one problem that we are trying to iron out… Even though you are listed as the publisher, even though you were listed as the owner of the ISBN… To KDP D2D is the publisher! Meaning that you cannot do any ads :(
@@authortommcauliffe Oh wow! That's really good to know. I personally have always loaded my KDP books separately into KDP, and D2D for everything else, but I wonder if you could add the book to your KDP author dashboard (not re-list it, but the public-facing about the author section) maybe, and then run the ads to it?
Hi @GrandEscape , while I don't work for D2D, I would suggest (as a fellow author) first double-checking that your book is actually live on all the Draft2Digital stores you uploaded it to by clicking the arrows under each one by the store names on the book's page in D2D. Then, if they are, you can add missing links to your Books2Read link. I have a video showing how to customize/change (and add missing links to) the Books2Read link here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9GK7MectfaI.html If that doesn't fix the problem, I suggest reaching out to Draft2Digital's customer service team for more specific assistance. Good luck and congrats on publishing your book!
If you are asking how you would know whether the book you set up on Draft2Digital is published to the retailers you chose, you should have received email updates to the account you signed up with when a retailer published it, and a status section is available under each book showing which retailers are 'publishing' and which ones are 'published'.
Hi Ann! Congrats on drafting your first book, that's really exciting! This video touches on some high-level upload notes for Draft2Digital, but I'll need their permission to show their website on a future how-to video. I'll reach out and ask if they mind, but they also have a RU-vid channel of their own with some helpful content here: www.youtube.com/@Draft2Digital
Hi @annpippin6388 I wanted to let you know that Draft2Digital was kind enough to give me permission to record how I use their website as an indie author. I have started putting out addition D2D how-to videos on the Indie Author Behind-the-Scenes playlist, and will be adding more over the next month or so.
Hi @@Banky237 ! You will need keywords, definitely, in order to upload your book. But you don't have to use any special tool. I personally have been using PublisherRocket for my keyword research.
Draft2Digital is free to sign up for and use. They (like many other retailers, such as Amazon's KDP or Barnes & Noble Press) keep a percentage of your royalties in exchange for their services/hosting your book(s). So until you start selling books on D2D, you don't pay them a penny.
