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Going Wide: Considering the Potential
For indie authors, choosing how to distribute a book is a major publishing decision. Selling exclusively through one retailer can simplify marketing, but going wide, and making your book available across multiple platforms, can create more opportunities to reach readers.
Paulette Ysasi
9/11/20262 min read
Going Wide: Considering the Potential
For indie authors, choosing how to distribute a book is a major publishing decision. Selling exclusively through one retailer can simplify marketing, but going wide, and making your book available across multiple platforms, can create more opportunities to reach readers. The process may feel challenging, especially when you must manage several dashboards, formats, and marketing plans. However, considering the long-term potential can make wide distribution a powerful strategy for building ownership, audience reach, and sustainable book sales.
What Going Wide Means
Going wide means distributing your ebook, audiobook, or print book through more than one sales channel. Depending on your publishing plan, these may include Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Google Play Books, libraries, subscription services, and international retailers.
The main advantage is diversification. Instead of relying on one platform’s algorithm, policies, or royalty structure, you can develop several sources of income. A reader who does not shop at one retailer may still discover your work elsewhere. Wide distribution is especially valuable if your audience uses different devices, lives outside the United States, or prefers library borrowing.
Ownership and Long-Term Control
Going wide can also support greater ownership of your publishing business. You control where your books appear, how they are priced, and which audiences you target. You also reduce the risk of losing most of your sales if a single platform changes its terms, lowers visibility, or suspends an account.
To strengthen that control:
Keep organized records of your files, metadata, ISBNs, and sales data.
Build an author website and email list rather than depending entirely on retailer algorithms.
Review royalty rates, payment terms, and territorial rights before selecting each distributor.
Use direct reader relationships to support future launches.
Challenges, Marketing, and Rewards
The biggest challenge is coordination. Uploading books, updating prices, tracking promotions, and creating retailer-specific metadata requires time. Marketing must also be more deliberate. Start with two or three priority platforms, use consistent covers and descriptions, and measure results monthly. Then expand when your workflow is reliable.
The rewards may include broader audience discovery, multiple royalty streams, stronger international sales, and a publishing business that is less dependent on one company. Going wide is not an instant-sales solution, but it can produce durable growth for authors willing to test, track, and improve their distribution strategy.
Before deciding, compare your goals, genre, audience, and available time. Choose the model you can manage consistently, and treat every platform as part of a long-term publishing portfolio.
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