BookBaby is a company that specializes in digital publishing and allows their authors to distribute their content to Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Copia, Kobo, and Scribd. The have built a large following partly because of their inexpensive and free account options. They also provide ease of use for your own e-Book files. Starting December 9th, Bookbaby will be suspending all of their free options.
Right now Bookbaby offers a free option for self-publishers if they already have their e-Book available in EPUB and MOBI formats.They will distribute it to major bookstores and take a 15% royalty. The lowest paid option they have is $99 and they will convert your digital book from a Microsoft Word document and optimize it. They also provide proofs to insure that the final product is flawless.
We have it on good authority that Bookbaby is suspending the free and $99 tier on December 9th. They are reworking their packages and likely the entry level cost will be $299. This will allow authors to keep 100% of the royalties and be able to tap into the support network Bookbaby has established and they also give discounts on cover art.
The big advice I would give to indie authors looking to self-publish is NEVER pay anyone to do it for you. Writing a book is an art, and no amount of hand holding will get your book done any quicker. Why would you want to rush the distribution process and pay someone hundreds or thousands of dollars to send it to places that have free submission? It is important to learn how to market and distribute your book, yourself.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
