Where I Self-Publish My Books (UPDATED for 2023)

Thanks for sharing! As much as I hate the amount of time IS takes to approves stuff (not to mention the upload fee), I do like their distribution, but it's a tough pill to swallow. To be honest, the thing I hate most about IS, is there is no option to digitally preview your files before you pay the upload fee. That seems super shady to me.

You nailed it. I'm not using Barnes and Noble again because even though they offer print preorders they don't ship those orders until days after the release date and my readers didn't get their books for 2 weeks after release. I expected they would ship it early so it would arrive on release day. So, even though KDP didn't allow print preorders, my readers got their KDP print books 2-3 days after ordering on the release date. So, none of the work to get the preorders ready for Barnes and Noble paid off if the books got to the readers almost 2 weeks after KDP. It's no longer worth it for me.

Ugh I hate that there's no easy solution for these things!! All self-publishing companies have their own cons, though KDP is definitely the best.

Can I just say, the commenting back and forth with your little one has made this video so much more fun. Ha! I love it. It is like a mini critic and they are so enjoyable

Hi Bethany. I wonder if you have any thoughts about 48 Hour Books.
Thank you

Very helpful to know, Bethany! Thank you for making these types of videos.

Yeah... I gave up on IngramSpark over a year ago. Too many issues and confusion -- unacceptable in my opinion. Went KDP and have probably saved myself thousands of dollars. 🤣

I love this video! Great info ❤️

Great video! Very useful. Such an adorable little assistant.

Barnes and noble press doesn't ship to Australia so as an author its a hard pass unfortunately 😭

Also Bethany have you tried lulu? So curious to hear your thoughts on it!

Wonderful video! Would it be possible to order dust covers for KDP hardcover?

Dang, what happened to the days when the author was only concerned with creating? Now the author has to worry about all the intricate business headaches that goes into presenting your book to the world. It's to the point where all my creative juices and great ideas are starting to dry up. I was scammed by Newman Springs Publishing. So, my children's book with them fell through a portal to absolutely nowhere.
I am very pleased with 48 Hour Books on my second book attempt, but, I don't know how to go about selling my book because they do not market or sell. Newman Springs Publishing claim to market and sell, but, they are scam artists and liars.
Newman Springs Publishing gets an F.
48 Hour Books gets an A+ (They only make books, that's it.)

Wanting that G on the spine to be changed and so perfect is your problem. It is perfectly visible, legible. I like your video, great information except on this one point. I thought it was way too OCD on your part. Don't drive yourself crazy.

Do you work for KDP as well?

I was having trouble using B&N press ordering a personal copy of my novel, so I sent them an email and the EXACT same person gave me a similar awful response 😬

Great video... Can you use the same isbn on all platforms?... More specifically, can you use the free ISBN you get with KDP on the other two platforms?

It is my understanding that B&N bought out Ingram some years back; Ingram is one of the world's largest distributors of books, but it is a subsidiary of B&N, so I'm not surprised that Spark does their Print on Demand.

I’m sticking with kdp

Barnes and Noble press is giving me such a hard time. Do you have to wait 72 hours once presale is up and approved to order a proof copy?

Barnes and Noble press is really giving me a hard time. I purchased ISBN codes from Bowker, and it kept telling me one of my ISBN codes was already used. I thought that was the whole point of an ISBN numbers is to be universally used, a Barnes & Noble prohibits you from using an ISBN that you've already used on another platform so I had to use one of theirs. Does anyone think that will be confusing having two paperback copies under two different ISBN numbers? And do I have to put Nook publishing on my copyright page now?

Thank you SOOO much for this information. This was all VERY important to know.

so if both these companies come up short, and it sounds like they do , then who ? for wide distribution ? whats the solution ?

Thank you. Good info. Cute Baby.

Amazing stuff--information plus insights--amazing energy--great sense of humor--congrats on your presentation--will use your secrets on my first KDP book---keep the insights coming--RJRay

Thank you for this video 🙌 and he is so cute!!

Would make sense to publish with all three? Or is it redundant?

Have you tried Book Vault!?!? Super great company

Loved your video. I learned much. I am surprised at B&N. How long have they been in the book business?

What happened when they had misprints? Did they fix it?

Thanks for this information. For one whose account was terminated by Amazon kdp, try to publish through either of these.

I am of the opinion that baby noises in fact enhance the viewing experience

Hi.
I’m from the UK and watch all you tutorials.
Can you advise where I can print my book for personal use and not for publishing?
I’ve uploaded my manuscript to KDP but have no choice but to add a publish date which o don’t want to do.

In my opinion... Auguste over at B&N Press is not a real person, he's an AI. Why do I think this? Because I had a pretty straightforward issue/question and he could not understand it. Also, his only responses were copied and pasted straight off the B&N website and self-publishing pdf book. The most human thing he said to me was: "B&N Press is a self-service, we offer no phone support." So.... you're on your own.

I started with KDP and switched to BN Press when I realized they do preorder and dust jacket on hardcovers. I found BN much more intuitive and simple. I wish they had the distribution Amazon does, because I found it very helpful.

Goooodness....I am SO glad I watched your channel. Thank you for sharing the difference between these companies and in such a clear, easy to understand way. I appreciate the pro's and con's and the valuable information.
You're little one is adorable by the way :}

My book comes out tomorrow, The Lutheran Chase. I haven't seen it in real person before, so I hope they have it at my local B&N stores tomorrow, after a few pre-orders from my family and friends. An amazing accomplishment for me in the last few years. Whenever I didn't do film photography, or hockey. I finally pushed myself for me to write my debut novel, in which I've learned from Brian Russell. Actually, I've never used IngramSpark but I use B&N Press to publish my book, which didn't take this long back last month. It's not that bad compared to the other one.

Have you filed a report with the better business bureau about Ingram Spark?

Guess what? Ingram prints for Amazon also.

Do you recommend any other companies besides B&N, Ingram, and KDP?

One plus for Barnes And Noble Press is readers can actually review your book much easier. There doesn't seem to be a drawback to how much they spend on the site to be able to leave reviews.

Thank you for your very useful video. It seems like the cons of Ingram are a lot bigger than its pros, to me customer service and printing accuracy are more important than dust jackets and pre-orders. So Ingram is a NO-NO! I might try B&N but I'm a little bummed out that they also have poor customer service :(

With ingram they also don't guarantee you will even receive your books. I'm still waiting for my pre orders

Misprints and ink-to-paper issues are the nature of the beast with print-on-demand publishing.
The best all round result is to be published with a real publishing house, and printed in high quality offset.