Wide for the Win — The 23,000-Member Community for Authors Publishing Beyond Amazon
Wide for the Win began in 2019 as a small Facebook group for authors going wide. By 2026, it had grown to more than 23,000 members and transitioned to new leadership under Indie Author Magazine — making it the most important community for wide-publishing indie authors.
Community Type: Facebook Group + Educational Resources + Online Community
Members / Size: 23,000+ members (Facebook group); growing web community under Indie Author Magazine
Platform: Facebook Group + wideforthewin.com (Indie Author Magazine managed)
Cost: Free to join
Best For: Indie authors who publish or are considering publishing across multiple retail platforms beyond Amazon. Particularly valuable for authors leaving Kindle Unlimited or publishing internationally.
Official Link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/WideForTheWin
The Origin of Wide for the Win
In late 2019, Idaho-based romance novelist Erin Wright grew frustrated. She had discovered that being exclusive to Kindle Unlimited meant her books could not be placed in libraries — a distribution channel she cared about as an author and a reader. As she began researching how to publish wide, she found that most indie publishing advice was implicitly or explicitly Amazon-centric.
She opened a Facebook group called Wide for the Win with a simple goal: create a space where authors could learn to publish across multiple storefronts instead of remaining exclusively on Amazon. Alongside co-founder Suzie O'Connell and an extended volunteer team that eventually included Mark Leslie Lefebvre (former Director of Kobo Writing Life, current Director of Business Development at Draft2Digital), the group grew rapidly.
From its first hundred members in January 2020, Wide for the Win crossed 5,000 by early 2021. The Draft2Digital–Smashwords merger in 2022 generated lively discussion that pushed membership past 12,000 in a single quarter. By mid-2025, the community exceeded 18,000 engaged authors, and by early 2026, it had crossed 23,000.
The February 2026 Leadership Transition
In February 2026, Erin Wright stepped down from leadership of Wide for the Win to focus on her graduate studies and writing career. Indie Author Magazine — the leading publication for indie authors, published by Athenia Creative Services — assumed leadership of the community.
The transition was described by Chelle Honiker, Publisher of Indie Author Magazine: 'Erin built something truly special — a space where authors help each other succeed on their own terms.' Under Indie Author Magazine's leadership, the community's mission — supporting authors who publish wide — continues with the backing of a professional publishing organization deeply connected to the indie author industry.
This transition is significant: Wide for the Win is no longer a volunteer-run Facebook group but a community asset managed by an established indie author media company. The infrastructure, editorial quality, and resources available to the community have grown as a result.
What Wide for the
Win Discusses
A typical day in the Wide for the Win Facebook group covers the full landscape of wide publishing strategy. The community focuses on everything beyond Amazon: Kobo, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Tolino, Scribd/Everand, Draft2Digital, PublishDrive, and the growing world of direct sales.
Platform Strategy
Members regularly share real data from their wide publishing experiences — Kobo promotional placements and their results, Apple Books pricing experiments, Google Play pre-order results, and Spotify audiobook distribution insights. This data sharing is the community's most distinctive value: not advice about what should work, but evidence from what actually did.
Going Wide from KU — The Transition
One of the most frequently discussed topics is the practical process of leaving Kindle Unlimited and going wide. Members share their timelines, their income curves during the transition, what worked and what didn't, and the specific platform setup steps that smooth the process. For authors considering this transition, the community archives provide more useful, data-backed guidance than any course or book on the subject.
International Markets
Wide for the Win's geographic scope makes it unusually valuable for international market discussions. Members regularly cover the European market (especially Tolino and the German-language market), the Canadian market, Australian readers, and the global subscription service landscape. This international perspective is rare in indie author education and genuinely valuable.
Direct Sales
Direct sales to readers — through Shopify, Payhip, BookFunnel, and author websites — became a major topic in the community starting in 2022 and has only grown more prominent. Wide for the Win discussions of direct sales are grounded in the wide author philosophy: own the reader relationship, diversify revenue streams, and reduce platform dependency.
The Broader Wide for the Win Ecosystem
Under Indie Author Magazine's leadership, Wide for the Win has expanded beyond the Facebook group. The wideforthewin.com website hosts educational resources, the community has a formal industry partner program for services and tools that serve wide authors, and additional structured programming is planned.
The podcast and course catalog that developed under Erin Wright's leadership continue to be available, providing structured audio and video learning for wide publishing strategy.
How ScribeCount Connects to This Community
Wide for the Win helps you understand the multi-platform publishing strategy. ScribeCount is where you see it working — or not — in real revenue data across every platform you publish on. The Sunburst Chart shows your income distribution across Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, and direct sales at a glance. As you implement wide publishing strategies from the community, ScribeCount's Sales Dashboard tracks whether your Kobo income is growing, whether Apple Books is becoming a meaningful revenue stream, and whether direct sales are offsetting any reduction in Amazon-dependent income. The community strategy and the ScribeCount data work together.
Final Thoughts
Wide for the Win is the essential community for any indie author who publishes — or is seriously considering publishing — beyond Amazon. The February 2026 transition to Indie Author Magazine's leadership has strengthened rather than disrupted the community, adding professional organizational backing to a member-driven resource. The Facebook group's 23,000+ members and the community's data-sharing culture make it the most practical and current source of wide publishing strategy available anywhere.
- Randall