Coming into this, you probably already have a goal in mind. You have this manuscript sitting on your hard drive, and you crave to see it made into a book which you can hold in your own two hands. A physical manifestation of all the hard work you’ve poured into it.
And that’s great! A worthy goal in itself. But, what about all the other options? Here’s an overview of the most common formats in order of popularity among self-published authors.
Ebook
For the vast majority of self-published authors, ebook is the first medium to go for. In fact, there are many authors, who don’t put out a print edition until later in their publishing journey, or sometimes, ever. Depending on your genre or subject matter, you can build up a sustainable writing career with just ebooks, because no matter what the publishing industry as a whole reports in terms of sales figures, most self-published authors sell way more ebooks than print books. Sometimes up to 90%!
Unless there’s a very specific reason (you’re publishing a low content book like a journal, colouring book or anything else that doesn’t make sense in electronic format), I would advise that everyone put out an ebook edition even if they expect most sales to come from print. It doesn’t cost a whole lot, and many readers do like having the option.
Pros:
- Truly global distribution
- May account for up to 90% of a self-published novelist’s sales!
- Convenient for readers
- Accessible to readers with disabilities (think: text-to-speech option for vision impaired readers)
- Cheap & easy to create (if it’s mostly text)
- Many readers only read ebooks
- Easy to get/design a cover for
- Appropriate for any length of book
- Typically earns higher royalty than print.
Cons:
- Not appropriate for low content books (journals, etc.) or colouring books
- Books with many images can pose difficulties
- Some genres don’t do well in ebook format (children’s books, certain nonfiction)
- Ebooks priced below $2.99 and over $9.99 attract a lower royalty percentage.
Paperback
This is probably the one you were thinking of when you first decided to publish a book. Paperback (also: soft cover) editions of books are the most accessible physical book format you can pick for your book. With the advent of so-called print-on-demand technology, you don’t even have to deal with printers delivering physical piles of books to you for further distribution. Whichever print-on-demand company you use will handle the printing of one-off copies and logistics for you, leaving you more time to write your next book.
That said, also consider some of the drawbacks listed below.
Pros:
- Available in most English-speaking countries and Europe
- You can do it right from your Amazon KDP dashboard
- Makes you look more professional
- Many readers prefer it (especially in non fiction, children’s literature and YA)
- Make a good gift or promo tool
- Can easily be sold in person at conventions or book signings
- Best option for colouring books and low-content books like journals
Cons:
- Not available in all countries worldwide
- More expensive for readers
- Typically earns a lower royalty rate than ebooks
- More difficult to create
- Cover design is more challenging/expensive
- Not appropriate for very short or extremely long books
Hardback
Hardbacks are the format of choice for traditional publishing. They’re the premium option and last a whole lot longer than paperback books. That said, self-publishers rarely get hardcover editions made, because the market for them is much smaller, and they’re an added expense (plus extra work).
Pros:
- Great gifting option for readers
- Premium, longlasting product
- Makes you look even more professional
- Wonderful keepsake for yourself or your family
Cons:
- More expensive to create (especially if you have to get a dustjacket designed by your cover designer)
- More expensive for readers
- Preferred format for libraries
- Low availability in other countries
- Not as popular among readers (low sales)
Audiobook
The global audiobook market has been growing for years. People are busier than ever, so being able to listen to an audiobook on your commute or while doing household chores is opening books up to a wider audience. That said, audiobooks are often considered an advanced publishing option, though that might change with the emergence of AI narration technology.
Pros:
- Opens up a new market (plenty of audiobook consumers don’t read books otherwise)
- Audiobooks can command a higher price, making your book look more premium
- A great narrator will bring your book to life
- Additional income stream
Cons:
- Very expensive to produce (unless using AI narration, which is far from perfect)
- A bad narrator can ruin your book
- Requires a special square cover design
- Audiobook creation via Amazon Audible (ACX) is only available in select countries
- Lower (and often confusing) royalty rates, therefore:
- Can take a long time to break even
- Time consuming to produce, since you’ll need to proof it (listen for mistakes) yourself before publishing.
Other formats
We’ve reached the bottom of the list, and all the most commonly used formats have been covered. But, there’s more! Nowadays, the options for licensing or repackaging your books are more vast than ever before. Think about repurposing your nonfiction book as a course, or app, or licensing your scifi adventure to a video game company. With Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and other streaming apps out there always hungry for new content, you might get lucky and even be able to sell movie or TV rights to your fiction books! But that’s definitely a very advanced income stream, open only to those with great connections or immense luck (and probably a bit of both).
Aside from the above, I do want to highlight one more option that is a lot more accessible to us mere mortals:
Reading apps or serialized stories: Reading apps like Radish, Kiss, Dreame, Kindle Vella or even websites like Wattpad have been around for a while now. These avenues were created for authors to share works-in-progress on a per-chapter basis, allowing their followers to read along. Think of it as a weekly TV series, but in written form. Out of these options, Wattpad is free, but the others do require some kind of payment from readers (usually in the form of “coins”, which translate to a small amount of money for the author with each chapter read).
This might sound silly to an outside perspective. Why would a reader want to pay per chapter (which can add up significantly for stories that have a lot of chapters), when they could just buy the book once and call it a day? I’m not sure why, but I do know that some of these services can be quite lucrative. Since uploading most of my books to Radish, I’ve been seeing steady payments come in every quarter. As these are not traditional readers who buy books like you and I would, my reads on Radish do not seem to impact sales on other platforms, so it’s bonus money for me. I’ve found Dreame to be less lucrative and I haven’t explored Kiss or Kindle Vella yet, but that may change in the future.
Bear in mind that these reading apps are for genre fiction only.