Goodbye, Draft2Digital. But hello, IngramSpark
My self-published ebooks, which (as of this writing) are published and distributed by Draft2Digital, will soon be pulled from that platform and become published and distributed by IngramSpark instead.
During the transition, there will be a blackout in my ebooks' availability (across all platforms except Amazon), the exact start and end of which I can't quite predict. (Something something varies by outlet and platform; something something me and the IngramSpark learning curve.)
If you find yourself yearning to purchase one of my ebooks and you're unable to find it at your ebook retailer of choice, just shoot me an email, and I'll let you know when all my ebooks are back in stores.
Thanks for your patience!
Q: What, that's it? No deeper explanation as to why you're making the switch in distributors?
A: I mean, there is a deeper explanation. But I might get overly long-winded about it. Go read this announcement from Draft2Digital (D2D) and then add 2 plus 2.
Q: But I suck at math.
Okay, fine: D2D has started to charge "annual account maintenance fees" to authors whose books don't net $100 per year in royalties. And I make the vast, vast majority of my writing income from selling new stories rather than ebooks. I'm probably not gonna clear that threshold.
Q: But I heard that the D2D account maintenance fee (assuming you even incur one) is only $12 a year. That's a pretty low fee, isn't it?
A: Yes, it is. And being charged 25 cents to use a fork at a restaurant would be a very low fee, too, but you'd feel pissed off and wronged if you were asked to pay it, wouldn't you?
Q: That's not... look, restaurants aren't charging 25 cents for the usage of forks.
A: One, just you fucking wait. (I'm a science fiction writer. We predict things.) Two, this fee from D2D feels to me like yet another miserable example of rising enshittification, and I don't want to acquiesce to that.
Q: I don't think it's as nefarious as all that. D2D says that the fees are part of a strategy of discouraging scammers from establishing accounts that churn out high volumes of AI-generated books that nobody buys but nonetheless overload D2D's processing and distribution infrastructure.
A: Both can be true. I can't speak to how effective these fees are at discouraging bad actors on D2D. I can speak to how effective they are at discouraging me, a good actor, who started self-publishing with Smashwords back before D2D bought them in 2022 and back when part of Smashwords' whole proud thing was that they cost nothing to use.
Q: Doesn't IngramSpark have its own drawbacks as a publisher and distributor?
A: Of course it does. (One example that I've experienced thus far: the customer support on IngramSpark does not seem to be as good as the customer service on D2D.) But different people will prioritize different aspects of a publisher/distributor, so I recognize that what's a mere "drawback" for me might be a "dealbreaker" for someone else (and vice versa). IngramSpark will not always be the best fit for everyone; right now, it's just the best fit for me.
Q: Will you ever switch back to D2D?
A: I might. Although I'm pulling my books from D2D distribution, I'm not going to close my account, because there is a chance that (1) as I use IngramSpark, I will uncover too many additional drawbacks and/or one or more dealbreakers and I won't want to keep using it over D2D; or (2) D2D might drop these dumb-ass fees. Who knows? The publishing landscape is practically made of earthquakes. Stuff changes and you gotta react.
Q: Will you eventually use IngramSpark to distribute print versions of your books to retailers outside of Amazon?
A: MAYBE. <<eyes emoji>>
Thanks for reading!