Publishing Wide: The Complete Guide for Indie Authors

If you have been publishing exclusively on Amazon through KDP Select, you are not alone. The exclusivity program is popular for good reason—Kindle Unlimited readers are voracious, page-read income can be meaningful, and the setup is familiar and convenient. But exclusive publishing is a strategic choice with real costs, and a growing number of experienced indie authors have concluded that publishing wide is the smarter long-term play.

This guide is the hub for everything ScribeCount publishes about wide distribution. We will cover what publishing wide actually means, why authors choose it, what it demands of you operationally, and where to find the deeper platform-by-platform resources you need to execute a wide strategy with confidence.

What Does Publishing Wide Actually Mean?

Publishing wide simply means making your books available for sale through multiple retail platforms rather than committing to Amazon exclusivity. When you enroll a title in KDP Select, you agree not to distribute that ebook anywhere else during the 90-day enrollment period. Publishing wide means opting out of that exclusivity so your books can live on Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play, Barnes and Noble Press, Smashwords (via Draft2Digital), and dozens of smaller global retailers simultaneously.

Wide publishing applies primarily to ebooks, though the principles extend naturally to print-on-demand paperbacks, which have never required exclusivity. When most authors and coaches talk about going wide, they mean ebooks—because that is where the exclusivity trade-off lives.

The Case for Going Wide

The decision to go wide is ultimately a business decision, not a moral one. Amazon has built an extraordinary marketplace for indie authors, and KDP Select can be genuinely lucrative for the right books and the right authors. No one is telling you Amazon is bad. What experienced wide authors are telling you is that dependence on any single platform is a fragile business model.

Here is what publishing wide actually gives you.

Diversified Revenue

Kobo has a passionate reading community and enormous reach in Canada, Australia, and parts of Europe. Apple Books is the default reading app on hundreds of millions of iPhones. Google Play reaches readers in countries that Amazon barely touches. Barnes and Noble Press connects you with B&N's retail audience and Nook customers. Each platform represents a real pool of buyers who are not reading on Kindle. When you are wide, you have income streams that do not go to zero when Amazon changes an algorithm, shifts commission structures, or updates its Kindle Unlimited terms.

Reduced Platform Risk

Amazon has changed the KDP Select program multiple times over its existence. The per-page-read rate in Kindle Unlimited has shifted. Rules around pricing, promotions, and eligibility have evolved. When you are locked into one platform, those changes affect your entire business. When you are wide, an Amazon adjustment affects one part of your revenue, not all of it.

Global Reach

Amazon is the dominant ebook retailer in the United States and the United Kingdom, but its market share is far lower in Canada, Germany, Australia, France, and other major book-buying markets. Kobo and Apple Books have particularly strong footholds internationally. If any portion of your readers or potential readers live outside the US, going wide is how you reach them effectively.

Author Brand Independence

When you publish wide, you are building a presence that is not owned by Amazon. Your book appears under your name on multiple storefronts. Readers who discover you on Apple Books or Kobo are your readers, not Amazon's subscribers. Over time, this builds a more durable author brand—one that survives platform shifts because it is not housed in a single ecosystem.

The Honest Trade-Offs

Publishing wide is not a consequence-free upgrade. There are genuine trade-offs that every author needs to understand before making the switch.

You Leave Kindle Unlimited Behind

KDP Select gives you access to Kindle Unlimited, and for some genres—especially romance, thriller, and other rapid-release categories—KU income is substantial. Going wide means forgoing that page-read income. Depending on your genre, your existing readership, and your marketing approach, this can be a significant revenue sacrifice, at least in the short term. This is the most important trade-off and should not be minimized.

Wide Requires More Operational Overhead

When you publish on Amazon alone, you manage one dashboard, one pricing system, and one set of metadata. Going wide means managing multiple dashboards—or using a distribution aggregator like Draft2Digital to streamline the process. Either way, more platforms mean more to track. This is manageable, but it is real work.

Wide Builds More Slowly

Amazon's Kindle Unlimited program can deliver meaningful income quickly if your books resonate with KU subscribers. Wide distribution tends to build more slowly because each platform requires its own reader base, review ecosystem, and promotional momentum. Authors who go wide often note that it takes six to twelve months or more before wide income becomes meaningful. Patience and consistency are required.

Direct Publishing vs. Aggregators

When you go wide, you have two primary paths for distribution: publishing directly to each platform through its native self-publishing portal, or using an aggregator like Draft2Digital to push your files to multiple retailers simultaneously.

Direct publishing gives you faster access to promotional opportunities, better royalty rates, and more control over pricing and metadata. But it requires maintaining accounts and files on each platform individually. Direct relationships are generally recommended for the major platforms—Kobo Writing Life, Apple Books for Authors, Google Play Books Partner Center, and Barnes and Noble Press—because those platforms have promotional programs, feature opportunities, and merchandising options that aggregators do not fully unlock.

Aggregators like Draft2Digital are ideal for reaching smaller retailers—Scribd, Everand, Baker and Taylor Axis360, and the long tail of global storefronts—without managing dozens of individual accounts. Most wide authors use a hybrid approach: direct relationships with the major four, and an aggregator for everything else.

How to Get Started

Going wide does not have to be an all-or-nothing leap. Many authors transition gradually, letting existing KDP Select enrollments expire rather than withdrawing titles mid-term, and publishing new titles wide from the start. Here is a sensible sequence.

• Audit your current KDP Select enrollments. Note expiration dates.

• Decide which titles to take wide first—newer titles or those with weaker KU performance are often good candidates.

• Create accounts on Kobo Writing Life, Apple Books for Authors, Barnes and Noble Press, and the Google Play Books Partner Center.

• Set up a Draft2Digital account for smaller retailer distribution.

• Do not re-enroll titles in KDP Select as they expire. Let them roll into wide distribution.

• Connect your wide retailer accounts to ScribeCount so you can track all royalties in one place from day one.

• Set realistic expectations. Give each platform six to twelve months before evaluating performance.

Explore the Full Publishing Wide Series

The articles in this section go deep on every major aspect of wide distribution. Whether you are evaluating the strategy, setting up your accounts, or optimizing your presence on a specific platform, you will find the guidance you need here.

• The Art of Publishing Wide — Strategy, mindset, and the long game of wide publishing

• Kobo Writing Life: The Indie Author's Guide — Canada's publishing giant and the platform most loved by serious wide authors

• Apple Books for Authors — Publishing on the world's most valuable consumer device ecosystem

• Google Play Books: Reaching Global Readers — The often-overlooked platform with enormous international reach

• Barnes and Noble Press: Publishing to America's Bookstore — Reaching Nook readers and B&N's retail audience

Each platform guide includes account setup instructions, royalty structures, formatting requirements, promotional opportunities, and strategic advice for building a readership. Start with the platform that interests you most, or read them in sequence if you are building your wide strategy from the ground up.

Conclusion

Publishing wide is not for every author at every stage of their career. But for authors who are thinking about the long term—about building a sustainable business that survives platform disruption, reaches global readers, and belongs fully to them—it is one of the most important strategic decisions they can make. The resources in this section will help you make that decision well and execute it with confidence. 

- Randall