Writer’s Corner: Publishing Wide

Many of you know that I publish wide. I’ve published Writer’s Corner posts on this topic in the past such as, “Why Put All Your Eggs in One Basket?” or “6 Reasons I Chose to go Wide with my Books“. All of the reasons mentioned in those posts still hold today, but the one that stands out the most for me today is maintaining control of my intellectual property (IP). Something many authors may not realize, is that each story they write has value as IP. Maintaining control of your IP means that you can restructure and reuse your IP as you see fit. Authors who sign away their IP to traditional publishers no longer have the right to reuse that IP.

So, if I sign a book with a traditional publisher, I sign away all rights to that book. The publisher decides when and how the book will be released. They have the right to change the title, choose the cover, and they may even have the right to tell you to change the wording or the whole direction that the story takes. But, if I publish independently, or at least be aware of the wording on any contract I do sign, I can retain control of my copyright. (With short fiction anthologies, usually your copyright is signed over for short time, 3-6 months, and then it reverts back to you, but you must make sure this is in the wording.) That enables me to turn around and use that same book in a box set collection, or that story in a short story collection of my own, giving it even more value. This is important because IP is an intangible that can be passed on to your family after you die. It is a part of your estate. It is best described in a book by Dean Wesley Smith, called The Magic Bakery, which I talk about in my “Review in Practice“.

I know lots of authors who just want to write. They don’t want to worry about promotion or selling. They can’t be bothered with worrying about their IP. They’d rather just publish on Amazon, enroll their books in KDP, and move on to the next story. But like it or not, when you are an author, you are a business. And if that’s the way these authors want to do business, that’s okay. They can do that.

But think about this. Amazon has been known to suspend author accounts for various reasons. If they claim you have breached their policies in some way, they can do this, and it’s up to you to prove to them that there has been no breach. This is no easy feat and could take an indefinite amount of time. Meanwhile, if you are exclusive on Amazon, your whole writing income has just been placed on hold. On the other hand, as a wide author, they can suspend me, and my book income from other channels still continues uninterrupted. Now, I admit that Amazon brings in the largest part of my sales income, so if that happened, it would still hurt, but it wouldn’t devastate me like it might an author who publishes exclusive through Amazon.

But publishing wide doesn’t just mean getting your books out with as many retailers as possible. Publishing wide means getting your books on subscription channels and library lists, as well. Selling direct is also a valuable piece to selling wide because an author keeps more of their royalties by cutting out the middleman. This is something I’m just dipping my toes in the water with, through my digital doubles deals I’ve run for my series books this summer. This month’s Sizzling Hot Summer Digital Doubles Deal offers my short fiction, with both Hidden Secrets and Last Call and Other Short Fiction for $5.

But don’t believe me. I’m still finding my way in the publishing landscape. Listen to the BookFunnel Podcast where Mark Leslie Lefebvre talks about the publishing aggressively wide, below.

Mark Leslie Lefebvre on the BookFunnel Podcast

Self-Publishing Aggressively Wide | Mark Leslie Lefebvre | The BookFunnel Podcast

BookFunnel Offers Valuable Author Tools

I use BookFunnel to supply free copies of all my books for giveaways and reviews. My subscription is the lowest one, and I don’t even get to collect an email list from those who use the service to get copies of my books. Now, I could pay more and be allowed email collection, and also get access to other tools they offer that can be used to sell direct from my website, but I hope to be able to do so someday soon. I use BookFunnel to provide a valuable writer’s tool, which enables me to deliver to my readers. It makes delivering an ebook easy and convenient, with several methods of delivery, including reading in the BookFunnel app for those would be readers who don’t have a reader to read their ebooks.

About Kaye Lynne Booth

For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and Book 1 in her Time-Travel Adventure series, The Rock Star & The Outlaw, as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders.

Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press, where she edits and publishes two short fiction anthologies and one poetry anthology every year amidst her many writing projects. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.

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This segment of “Writer’s Corner” is sponsored by The Ones Who Stayed With Me, by Nurse Sammy, and WordCrafter Press.

Chronicles of the journey into the medical field as a young nurse and beyond, told with raw sensitivity and compassion. The Ones Who Stayed with Me offers small glimpses into the world of an L.P.N. put in difficult, often touching or humorous, situations—and Nurse Sammy’s courage, vulnerability, and insight are a gift to us all. In these pages, Nurse Sammy tells her story and that of those she met along the way.

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/OnesWhoStayed