Where Ebooks Are Being Read

Who Sells Your Ebook?

There is a great sense of pride in seeing your book for sale at a bookstore. You can touch your book, you can take pictures of it, and persuade your friends to come and see your book in person. It can be an adjustment to feel that same level of excitement when your ebook is for sale on a website. Sending your friends a link is not quite the same as having them stand in front of your book on the shelf. Yet we cannot deny that our society continues to increase its activity and engagement in the digital world. So who are the distributors in this digital world, and how are they going to sell your ebook? IngramSpark is in partnership with over 40 ebook sellers and subscription services. When you create your ebook through IngramSpark those 40-plus distributors can sell your ebook to readers all over the world. There are too many to discuss all of them in one blog, so let’s focus on the top subscription services and the top online stores that will sell your ebook.

Subscriptions

Monthly subscriptions certainly offer something different than the brick-and-mortar bookstores. With an ebook subscription service, readers have access to millions of titles that they can read anytime for a flat monthly fee.

What once started out as a platform for publishing academic work, Scribd blossomed into an ebook seller, and for nearly a decade has been, and is, one of the top subscription services for ebooks. On Scribd, readers can access ebooks through the web, and Android, iOS, Kindle Fire, and Nook devices. Readers enjoy the variety of classic literature, independent novels, and best sellers.

Kindle Unlimited is another big hitter in ebook subscriptions. Kindles were one of the first dedicated e-reader devices and have maintained their popularity over the years. People who have a Kindle or Fire device can seamlessly enjoy the Kindle Unlimited subscription. It’s also configurable to function easily on the Kindle app for iOS, PC, Mac, or Android. Kindle’s collection has a wide array of titles but is also known as a haven for self-published works and independent books.

Kobo Plus is a prominent subscription service available in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Canada. Kobo is also an ebook seller which caters to countries all over the world. Even though its subscription only services three countries, Kobo Plus still maintains itself as one of the highest-rated subscriptions.

OverDrive, typically used through the Libby app, is the subscription used by many libraries across the nation. Libraries pay for the subscription and then give free access to the public through the library’s website or through the Libby app, which is very user-friendly. Readers enjoy OverDrive, and it is understandably a top-rated subscription due to its easy accessibility, and the fact that it’s free to the public. For people who may not have the funds or desire to sign up for a paid subscription, OverDrive is the perfect solution.

Ebook Retailers

Readers have multiple online stores to choose from to purchase your ebook. Most people are familiar with Amazon, Apple Books, and Barnes & Noble.

Amazon is a go-to store in people’s minds; it has regular low prices, a wide selection, and frequent discounts. People know to look on Amazon, especially for books of all types.

Apple Books serves as an ebook seller. Although Apple Books is restricted to macOS and iOS devices, readers can find desirable books from bestsellers to hidden gems.

Known as the largest brick-and-mortar bookstore in the country, Barnes & Noble also has over 3 million ebooks for sale in their online store, as well as thousands of free ebooks. NOOK users can, of course, easily download ebooks from Barnes & Noble, and Kindle users can too. However, there are a few file conversion hoops to jump through to read a B&N ebook on a Kindle. Alternatively, readers can simply use the NOOK web app to read your ebook.

The following ebook sellers may not have familiar names, but they are nonetheless some of the highest-rated online stores for ebooks.

•  ebooks.com - 20 years in business, nearly two million titles, selling in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and Europe
• Kobo - One of the largest ebook stores online with 5 million titles 
• Chegg - eTextbooks for rent or purchase, catering to students 
• Gardners - over 1 million ebooks available from the leading wholesaler in the UK 
• Mackin - a leader in educational materials with over 3 million titles 
• RedShelf - 1 million eTextbooks for low prices