Can you go wide after just publishing with Amazon? | Amazon Only v Publishing Wide Strategy

I’ve talked quite a bit before about why I have decided to go wide with self-publishing my books and why I think you should too. So for authors out there who are finding this channel and think, “um okay, you’ve convinced me to go wide, but I already published as an Amazon-Only author, how do I fix that?”

So the easy answer here is that yes, you CAN go wide after publishing with Amazon. So a few factors to consider:

If you used the FREE Amazon ISBN for your eBook or paperback, you won’t be able to use that on other platforms. So if you elect to post your eBook with another distributor or retailer, you will need a new ISBN. I would suggest that if you plan to go wide with multiple books that you make the investment and purchase a pack of ISBNs from Bowker (for the US).

The same goes for the paperback. Now you can technically print another format of your paperback book with another POD service, but chances are you already have it set in one size for a reason so you will need to confirm that the print interior is compatible with that platform. (As a reminder you can’t do MS Word to PDF with IngramSpark, but you can with KDP)
Chances are that if you doing this you will need to add the eBook and Paperback to KDP again as a new edition with the new ISBN. You can’t add the same content with a different ISBN and call it a day. Add a letter from the author, add a preview chapter for another book. It needs to be different to be a new edition. Once the new editions are up, unpublish the original ones and submit a help desk ticket to KDP to link the two so your reviews port over. I did a video on this exact process previously which I will link up here.

https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/top...

And again, all of this specific detail only applies if you used the FREE Amazon ISBN. If you brought your own ISBN to start you can do whatever you want with your book, no worries, no need to do a new edition.
OK so now that we have ISBNs covered, there are some other Amazon-specific programs you will need to check on. The first thing to do is to make sure you are opted out of KDP Select. That is probably why you were Amazon-only. So if you are in the KDP Select/Kindle Unlimited you will need to go in and opt-out and keep an eye on the date when you will be out of the program. Each time you have re-upped it does so for 90 days. So if your KDP Select period just renewed you need to set a reminder on your calendar for the exact date that you can put the book elsewhere.

If you are in the expanded distribution with Amazon you’ll need to deselect and only be on standard distribution with them for your print books before adding the book to IngramSpark or another distributor.

These are some critical factors to consider, but it is absolutely possible to go from Amazon only to wide. Have any of you done this before? Drop a note in the comments below to share your experience.

If you have found this information helpful please let me know if the comments and be sure to give this video a thumbs up and don’t forget to subscribe and ring the bell. This helps YouTube know that this video was helpful and can get it in front of more authors like us, it will also help make sure you are notified every time I have a new video go live.
Now you can get back to writing your book!


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