Publishing WIDE

Google Play Books is the most underutilized major platform in the wide author's toolkit. This guide covers the Partner Center setup, pricing tools, global reach, and how to unlock Google's unique distribution advantages.

Marketing wide books requires different tools and a different mindset than Amazon-first promotion. This guide covers BookBub, Freebooksy, platform-native promotional tools, cross-platform launches, and how wide authors use data to build a promotional strategy that compounds over time.

hoopla is the only major U.S. library platform that lets patrons borrow instantly without waitlists, and it pays authors per checkout rather than per licensed copy. For wide authors targeting library readers, that combination makes it worth understanding.

Bibliotheca's cloudLibrary is the third major digital library platform alongside OverDrive and hoopla, reaching over 3,000 library systems globally. For wide authors, understanding how it differs from the other two — and why that difference matters — is what makes library distribution work as a whole.

Bookshop.org was built to support independent bookstores by routing online book sales to local shops rather than Amazon. In 2026, its partnership with Draft2Digital made self-published ebooks available on the platform for the first time—giving wide authors a presence in one of publishing's most culturally significant marketplaces.

Everand—the platform formerly known as Scribd—is a global subscription reading service reaching millions of readers across ebooks, audiobooks, sheet music, and documents. This guide explains how indie authors access Everand through D2D and other aggregators, how the subscription royalty model works, and how Everand fits into a complete wide distribution strategy.

Direct-to-reader sales are how the most financially sophisticated indie authors are building higher-margin, platform-independent income. This hub guide covers Payhip, Shopify, Gumroad, Patreon, and the full direct sales ecosystem—including how to start, what each platform does best, and how direct income fits into a complete wide publishing strategy.

Payhip is the easiest entry point into direct-to-reader ebook sales—no monthly fees on the standard plan, automatic EU VAT handling, and a 3% transaction fee that leaves you with far more per sale than any retail platform. This guide walks you through every aspect of setting up and growing a Payhip store.

Eden Books exists because major platforms have repeatedly shown they will restrict, suppress, or delist romance and erotica content without warning or appeal. For authors writing in those genres, it's a platform built from scratch by people who understand the problem firsthand.