For the Writers...Self Publishing Platform Comparisons

Here is your one stop comparison of the five most popular platforms to self publish your book.  I am getting close to releasing my book into the wild and needed to know what hoops I must jump through first . That brings me to a list of comparisons of the five platforms I was considering.

I needed to know the following:

1. Do I need an ISBN?
2. Do I need a tax id number?
3. How do I get paid?
4. What are the required formats to upload my story?

This information is accurate as of 1/3/2013. Provided below are links you may follow to see the current policies.

Amazon      ebook

ISBN= you may use your own ISBN provided by Bowker or Amazon will assign you one. (if Amazon provides it they are listed as publisher)
You can use a tax id number or you social security number.
They will need banking information.
Royalties= 70% if book is listed for $2.99 or greater and 35% if less.
Format= Epub, Word docs, HTML, Mobi, PDF, TXT and RTF
Exclusive to Kindle devices or anything with the free Kindle App
Extras- lendable, sample pages and egift.

Apple   ebook

ISBN=you must provide your own*
You must have a tax id number *
They will need banking information
Royalties= 70% of list price
Format=Epub
Exclusive to Ibooks
Extras=none (you may be able down a small portion of book, I could not find that listed, but I just downloaded a sample to test it)

*There are ways around this. See Smashwords below

Barnes & Noble NooK (PubIt) ebook

ISBN=you may use your own ISBN provided by Bowker or PubIt will assign you one for free.
You can use a tax id number or your social security number
They will need banking information
Royalties= 65% if book is listed for $2.99 or greater and 40% if less.
Format=Epub, Word docs, HTML, TXT
Exclusive to Nook devices or anything with the free Nook App
Extras=Read in store (a person can take their Nook to a Barnes & Noble store and read any ebook free for and hour a day), lendable, sample pages and egift

Createspace    trade paperback

ISBN= you may use your own ISBN provided by Bowker or Creatspace will assign you one. If you use a Creatspace ISBN you have two options: free, where they will list Createspace as the publisher or for $10.00 you can choose your imprint.

You can use a tax id number or your social security number

They will need banking information

Royalties=vary depending on what price you set

Format=PDF

Extras=Createspace enables you to get your book into book stores, online retailers and libraries.

Smashwords  ebook

ISBN=you may use your own ISBN provided by Bowker or Smashwords will assign you one for free.

You can use a tax id number or your social security number

They will need banking information

Royalties=60% of list price on major web sites of 85% of net if purchased from Smashwords

Format=Epub, Word docs. Smashwords prefers Word docs. If you use Epub, readers cannot get a sample. If you want them publish on Apple for you it must me a Word doc.

Extras=Smashwords is DRM free.(digital rights management) That means you can buy the book and download it onto to any device.

Smashwords will put your books on Apple Ibook*, Nook, Sony reader, Kobo, Diesel, Baker & Taylor, Axis 360 and Kindle.

They can get you into libraries that offer ebooks
They offer a free coupon generator 

*remember how Apple requires you to have your own ISBN and tax id? Well you can by pass that by using Smashwords.

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What are you going to do Kriston?

Oh why thank you for asking. I am going to publish on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Createspace and Smashwords. 

Why don't you just Smashwords. They seem to put your ebook on every platform on the market?

For a couple reason. The majority of readers are going to come from Amazon. If you let them put it on Amazon for you, you only get 60% of list instead of 70%. Plus, not everyone knows of Smashwords. In fact, outside of my blogging friends, no one in my life has even heard of it. So they don't know to shop from there. I wasn't going to go with Smashwords at all, but I decided I did not have anything to loose if I did. They also can get me into Ibooks without having to get an ISBN number, and that my friends saves  $100-$250. Plus, I don't want all my eggs in one basket.

There you have it folks. I will try and keep this page updated as the industry changes. If you find any of this outdated, leave me a comment with the new information. Thank you and happy publishing.