Self-publishing paperbacks in Australia: Ultimate guide
It took five books and two children for me to tackle one of the most difficult and convoluted tasks in self-publishing. Self-publishing a paperback in Australia.
I had heard plenty about the issues one faced if one should undertake this challenge. I was not prepared. From Amazon suggesting I could consider their Expanded Distribution option, which would have given me less than 5% royalty on my US published paperback in Australia. The Amazon AU website listing my book for a ridiculously overinflated price and their callcenter not allowing direct contact to sort out the issue. My hope for enrolling The Mummy Trap in Amazon’s match-books program fell flat. It is only available in the US. And, because Amazon is rather new over here, many of my lovely reviewers who were kind enough to agree to an honest review in exchange for an Advance Reading Copy, got notified by the eRetailer that they weren’t eligible to review because they didn’t comply with current community guidelines stating…
“To post Customer Reviews, you must have spent at least $50 on Amazon.com.au in the past 12 months.”
Never mind that a customer who did not buy The Mummy Trap but bought nappies for those $50 would be eligible, but an actual reader of the book who didn’t have any other purchases was not. Fair, isn’t it? But I digress.
My main point: Despite all these setbacks I wanted to get my paperback into Amazon AU, because as far as I am concerned (and a whole lot of retailers and readers), Amazon is the standard for self-publishing books.
But how to wrangle the beast?
I will skip over the obvious steps: write a smashing book and edit the heck out of it; and assume you’re ready to share your baby with the world. I will also assume you have some experience self-publishing, whether it is an ebook or a paperback somewhere other than Australia. Maybe you have even tried to publish in OZ before, but couldn’t quite get the hang of it. Don’t worry, this guide will break down the most important steps to consider.
Read on to learn from my mistakes and successfully self-publish your paperback in Australia.
1) Finding a distributor
As briefly mentioned above, KDP allows self-publishers to push their ebook through to Amazon AU directly, but not their paperback. To get your paperback listed on the Amazon AU website via KDP you can try and enable Expanded Distribution in your KDP backend, then cross your fingers and hope it will feed through. Even if it does, the royalties are atrocious.
Alternatively, you can look for an Australian-based publishing option. There are a number of websites/organisations promising to take the burden of self-publishing off you: for a fee. I ruled out all of them, as I initially decided to self-publish to be able to maintain control over the entire process. I wasn’t going to give up my right to make the ultimate decision on artistic, financial, and economic matters.
In the end, I decided to work with a third-party distributer: IngramSpark. According to their own website, IngramSpark’s mission is:
“Simply, to help our customers succeed at self-publishing. To provide easy access to professional-grade, fully integrated, print, digital, wholesale, and distribution services at costs tailored to their unique budgeting needs, through a single source, without ever compromising on quality.”
Even better, they distribute to Amazon AU, as well as Peter Pal, one of the major library suppliers here in OZ. Creating an account is free, while the title setup fee for print (or ebook + print) is $49. You may be able to get a discount with one of their promotions, especially around NaNoWriMo. (Use code “NANO2020” to upload your ebook or print book for free until 31/03/2020.) However, beware: they do charge for certain updates to your book. So be sure to read their T&Cs carefully.
What first threw me about IngramSpark’s backend, but does give you more decision making power over your own royalties: IngramSpark allows you to set your own wholesale discount which will directly impact your royalties.
2) Ordering proof copies
Even if you are already publishing paperbacks worldwide (e.g: via KDP), you will want to order a proof for each POD service separately. In the case of IngramSpark, my book cover needed to be adjusted slightly, as it did not align the exact same way it did with KDP’s POD even though I chose the same size paperback.
Remember to order you proof copies a number of weeks to months before your actual release. To maximise your marketing budget, you can use proof copies (with minor flaws) as ARCs.
3) Sending out Advance Reading Copies
For the distribution of Advance Reading Copies, that you can order from IngramSpark as proof copies, a MyPost Business account is brilliant. Creating this free account allows you to print shipping labels from home. You can also set up an alternate address (e.g. a free parcel collect address) with your MyPost account to protect your private address.
For a 5x8inch paperback the PM1 padded mailer is a great choice.
4.) Enabling your book for distribution
Once you enable your book for distribution in IngramSpark’s backend it can take anywhere from a few days to a fews weeks to show up on retailers’ websites. Be sure to factor in the delay. Also, setting your RRP price with your distributor will determine your royalties. It does not, however, guarantee that eRetailers will actually sell at your RRP. They may also have some slow delivery times. Think weeks to months. Even if your distributor is a POD service.
In my case, Amazon AU did not honour my RRP and initially offered my paperback at a significantly higher price with very slow delivery times. I eventually worked around the issue, offering my paperback as a signed copy to my readers directly from my website using Squarespace’s Commerce feature. I ordered full cartons of my books at IngramSpark and utilised my MyPost business account to fulfil orders.
5.) Legal Deposit
Once you have enabled your book for distribution you should fulfil your obligations of legal deposit.
“Legal deposit is a requirement for Australian publications to be deposited with the National Library of Australia.”
“In addition to depositing with the National Library of Australia, you will also need to deposit with your home state or territory.”
Apart from your obligations for legal deposit you may want to consider getting your book into your local library. You can ask them to order copies via a library supplier, or hand in signed copies for that little extra personal touch. This will allow you greater exposure and may give you a chance to work with your library to further promote your book.
You may also be eligible to apply to be compensated under the Australian Lending Rights Scheme.
“Australian book publishers or creators—authors, illustrators, editors, translators and compilers—can be compensated for the loss of income through the free multiple use of their work in Australian public and educational lending libraries.”
6.) Launching your book
Photo credit: ©Kirsty McKenzie
I was lucky that I had already built a relationship with my local library by the time I tried to launch my book and was given a spot for an author talk. The library promoted the event via their website, posters and flyers. I added to their marketing efforts by inviting my friends and existing reader base to come along.
Is it worth it?
One thing I learnt from publishing my first paperback in Australia. It’s a very different ballgame to the rest of the world. While Europe and the US may be spoilt with the easy choice of using KDP as a POD service, things don’t work quite as smoothly over here.
Publishing paperbacks in OZ takes a lot of effort from the self-publisher: you. But, is it worth it? If you are an author looking to grow your brand in Australia, it most certainly is worth providing your readers with this additional avenue to purchase your books and putting yourself on the map down under.
Do you have any more questions or a specific problem self-publishing paperbacks in OZ? Leave me a comment below or contact me.
