The rise of digital book distribution services has made a big difference in the world of book publishing. It opened up new avenues for both authors and publishers but did not come without the challenges that are unique to the service. In this article, we have taken some common challenges found with digital book distribution services and how you can scale them successfully.
Understanding the Digital Book Distribution Landscape
Digital book distribution services really have changed the face of the publishing industry in recent times. Gone are those days when an author was required to depend on a local publisher to deliver the work to the hands of readers. Now, through digital distribution, your book can be presented worldwide to readers with just a few clicks. However, this convenience comes with complexities that can sometimes rush over new authors or small publishing houses.
Challenge 1: Finding the Correct Distribution Platform.
First but not least, you will encounter the challenge of choosing the right digital book distribution service. There are a ton of platforms out there, each having its own share of pros and cons. Some have ezians in niche markets, while others give broader reach. A wrong choice may also limit your book exposure or affect your royalties.
Research the most popular of them, such as Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, Smashwords, or Draft2Digital. Your target demographic will help you decide where readers are likely to buy books. You may also want to distribute your book across multiple platforms. For example, KDP is brilliant at reaching customers on Amazon, but Smashwords distributes to all of the other major retailers, increasing its places in which your book can be found.
Challenge 2: The problem with formatting.
One other very common glitch with digital book distribution services involves formatting. Each e-book should be formatted in such a way that it not only looks professional but also makes for good reading on all devices. If done wrong, this can result in some really poor readability and actually finally transform into poor reviews and lost sales.
Solution: Take some time to learn how to format your ebook properly, or outsource the task to a professional. Almost all digital book distribution services offer step-by-step guidelines on how to format your book. For example, KDP has made available an in-depth guide on formatting for the Kindle. If you do not have confidence in your formatting ability, then services like Draft2Digital can automate formatting for multiple platforms, saving you lots of time and hassle of consistency.
3. The Challenge of Metadata Management
Metadata is what one has; it’s information about your book that helps readers discover it. If you’re inadequate in metadata, potential readers will not see your work. This includes the title, description, keywords, and categories. Without proper metadata, a book could not appear within readers’ search results or not as much, and that’s where the sales come from.
Take some time to Stateless compelling metadata. Use the relevant keywords which your readers can search for. Tools like Publisher Rocket can also help you in finding the right keywords meant for your book. Furthermore, kindly heed categories since placing your book in the right category may sometimes turn out to be fatal for exposure to many books. Try keeping the description of your book interesting yet concise—showing what truly makes it special.
Challenge 4: Pricing Strategy
The next tough task is how much to charge for your eBook. Price it too high and you’ll scare off readers. If your price is too low, you might barely break even or give away the value of the content.
Research competitive volume pricing in the same genre as your book. Keep in mind the length of a single book, the author’s previous reputation, and production costs involved. Digital book distribution services, like KDP, permit price promotions so you can achieve more readers without a permanent slashing of the price. Carry out different pricing strategies and track the impact on sales to find the sweet spot that maximizes your revenues.
Challenge 5: Marketing and Promotion
Even using the best digital book distribution service will not help your book sell if nobody knows about it. Marketing and the various other areas of promotion are usually the toughest facets of book distribution. Your book could get lost in the digital ocean if you don’t have a great marketing plan in place to promote it.
Solution: Put up a digital marketing plan, complete with social media propaganda, email marketing, and even a little paid advertisement. Keep your people together through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Build a community around the book, and services like BookBub will help you get an even larger audience by reaching readers in their targeted email promotions. Bear in mind—word-of-mouth has never been underestimated: encourage reviewers and recommend your novel to other people.
Challenge 6: Address Piracy.
Piracy is one of the major concerns for most authors distributing their books digitally. If your book has somehow ended up on the Internet, it won’t be easily prevented from being copied and shared for free, thus destroying your sales.
Solution While it is impossible to rid piracy altogether, one does make some attempts at minimizing its malicious effects. Use of DRM protection wherever possible, not completely foolproof. Monitor for pirated copies on the internet of your book and report the same to the distribution platform or website hosting the content. Some authors will rather opt to sell lower-priced books or run subscription services that reduce the incentive to pirate.
Challenge 7: Keeping Pace with Changes in the Platform
Digital book distribution services are constantly changing, with the terms, conditions, and algorithms evolving almost daily. It can be hard to stay on top of such changes, particularly if you manage your book distribution yourself.
Solution:
Get into the habit of checking regularly for updates from platforms you are using or join online groups/forums where other authors come together to share their news and experiences. One can, of course, subscribe to newsletters from services that keep one updated. Keeping at the frontline will help you adapt really fast to the changing scenario and make your book stay on board.
My Personal Experience with Digital Book Distribution Services
The few times I needed to distribute my digital books the first time overwhelmed me with the variety of services available. Going for one that didn’t quite agree with my audience resulted in predictably poor sales. From a bit more homework and experimenting, I put things onto another service better aligned with my goals, and it really gave great exposure to my book. Of the many valuable lessons learned, one is that truly good metadata can make a difference.
I did not care much to use keywords or into what categories my items would be positioned—not much attention, anyway—as I was sure the content would speak for itself. But after taking some minimal care with my metadata, I noticed sincere spikes in traffic and a few sales as well; it’s just one of those really small changes which happened to make the largest difference. The other area I found most challenging initially was marketing. Initially, I thought that listing the book on a distribution site would do the trick to get me sales.
Conclusion
Given the fact, once again, that no group of people made it easy for others to surmount the challenges of digital book distribution services, ten key strategies lend much needed help to successfully share your work with the world. From selecting the right alternative platform to managing metadata and a whole marketing effort, every step except perhaps writing goes a long way to break or make a book.
Stay updated, patient, and refines your approach. I hope that by sharing some of my personal experience, what really worked for me, you will be able to avoid common traps and maximize your own potential for digital distribution. With persistence and proper tools, you can turn challenges into opportunities and achieve a reach that was previously beyond your wildest dreams.
