#draft2digital — Public Fediverse posts

Writing up #Draft2Digital alternatives made me remember how much #Amazon KDP sucked as a self-publishing platform even before the AI slop. The only things it has going for it are the sheer simplicity of creating an eBook, like honestly, it's practically fool-proof, and the vast number of potential buyers. Everything else about it is atrocious. But the unfathomable number of people using it makes it hard to pass up as an indie author.

Here's my list of alternatives:

https://eroticmythology.com/draft2digital-alternatives-erotica-authors-writers-2026/

Answered question on delisting books from Draft2Digital

https://www.goodreads.com/questions/31446101-your-books-are-no-longer-available-on-many

#goodreads #selfpublishing #qna #questionandanswer #Draft2Digital #indiebooks #indieauthor #bookcommunity #readingcommunity

#ScribesAndMakers April 30:

What's a problem you solved in your creative work this month?

I guess I figured out where else to go after #Draft2Digital introduced fees for all the plebs who make less than $100/year with them.

I'll try with Ingram Spark and itch.io.

#WritersCoffeeClub for April 30:

How was this month for you, in terms of writing?

Eh. I wrote an angry post about #Draft2Digital's new fees while still sick with the flu and a little later a guide for alternatives. I don't have any sexy escapism ready for publication due to the inconvenient flu and overall health being a little poor this month.
Hoping to deliver the sexy for #MerMay in old form 🧜‍♀️

My books are still on Amazon/Kobo. I don't plan to make direct accounts with the stores I used Draft2Digital for.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RWTBRP6
https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/the-invasion-of-planet-earth
https://www.amazon.ca/Armored-Piercing-2-Sipho-Moloi-ebook/dp/B097KP91XF
https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/nibowin-the-island-of-death
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0DTFXLBQG?ref_=ast_author_mpb

#readingcommunity #bookcommunity #selfpublishing #indiebooks #Amazonkdp #Kobo #Draft2Digital #ArmoredPiercing #Nibowin #TheInvasionOfPlanetEarth #TheRaidOfHotelLaurier #ebook

News on Draft2Digital and other avenues for publishers of erotica... Alternatives, etc. (I was surprised to learn that D2D bought Smashwords, btw, which I thought of as one of the last bastions of more-or-less sanity.
https://eroticmythology.com/draft2digital-alternatives-erotica-authors-writers-2026/
#books #ebooks #draft2digital #smashwords #bookstodon #erotica

For independent bookstore day, I wrote a guide to #Draft2Digital alternatives.

https://eroticmythology.com/draft2digital-alternatives-erotica-authors-writers-2026/

Feedback welcome since I don't know all of those platforms myself.

Stay strong, everyone 💖

#IndieBookstoreDay #IndependentBookStoreDay #writingcommunity #bookstodon #erotica #smutstodon #Amazon #Kobo #IngramSpark #itchio

RE: https://mastodon.social/@courtcan/116460791647170692

Anybody know of a free epub converter that's better than the one available through #Draft2Digital?

#epubConversion
#AtMyWitsEnd
#BookFormatting
#publishing
#indie

Thinking out loud because I'm still frustrated.

To meet the $100 sales threshold on #draft2digital with the new fees, I would need to sell (give or take) 70 books on platforms that are not Amazon*

Last year, I sold 0
This year (so far): 2

Got a bit to go...
https://books2read.com/ap/6n661n/Grey-Liliy

News Summary: Bookshop.org Sales Surge 55% to $70 Million; E-books Now 5% of Total Sales

We start the week with some good news that segues interestingly out of the news that many indie authors have found alarming at the end of last week. The indie corner of the internet has been filled with little other than discussion (much heated) of Draft2Digital's decision to introduce fees for new and low-activity accounts in the face (it claims) of a vast increase in artificially generated content.
The post News Summary: Bookshop.org Sales Surge 55% to $70 Million; E-books Now 5% of Total Sales appeared first on The Self-Publishing Advice Center.
https://selfpublishingadvice.org/bookshop-org-sales-surge/

#Bookshoporg #Draft2Digital #ebooksales #independentauthors #indiebookstores

Well… this is frustrating.

I’ve been publishing my writing through Amazon since around 2017/2018, and last year I decided to expand to other platforms. Draft2Digital seemed like a great, simple way to distribute my books more widely without a lot of extra hassle.

AI has made the landscape a lot messier for actual human creators. There’s been a surge of AI-generated books flooding the market, and now it looks like some companies are responding by introducing fees for independent authors just to get their work out there.

I’ll need to rethink how I’m distributing my writing, because this model doesn’t really work for me right now. Paying an annual fee if I don’t sell enough copies just doesn’t sit right, especially when books take up so little digital space.

While I figure out my next steps and continue working on future projects, feel free to check out and share my work. If you're new to my writing, I'm a genre blender leaning into a dark gothic feel while embracing urban fantasy, science fiction, and post-apocalyptic themes. Give these interesting nightmares a home. You can grab a book at:

ElfLinks.Weebly.com

If you’re not sure where to start, Making Contact is a shorter read and a great entry point involving an important recurring character in my works, while Shadowed Memories leads into the story I’m currently outlining.

#indiewriter #urbanfantasybooks #gothichorror #Draft2Digital #D2D #amazonbooks #author #authorlife #authorblog

Well… this is frustrating.

I’ve been publishing my writing through Amazon since around 2017/2018, and last year I decided to expand to other platforms. Draft2Digital seemed like a great, simple way to distribute my books more widely without a lot of extra hassle.

AI has made the landscape a lot messier for actual human creators. There’s been a surge of AI-generated books flooding the market, and now it looks like some companies are responding by introducing fees for independent authors just to get their work out there.

I’ll need to rethink how I’m distributing my writing, because this model doesn’t really work for me right now. Paying an annual fee if I don’t sell enough copies just doesn’t sit right, especially when books take up so little digital space.

While I figure out my next steps and continue working on future projects, feel free to check out and share my work. If you're new to my writing, I'm a genre blender leaning into a dark gothic feel while embracing urban fantasy, science fiction, and post-apocalyptic themes. Give these interesting nightmares a home. You can grab a book at:

ElfLinks.Weebly.com

If you’re not sure where to start, Making Contact is a shorter read and a great entry point involving an important recurring character in my works, while Shadowed Memories leads into the story I’m currently outlining.

#indiewriter #urbanfantasybooks #gothichorror #Draft2Digital #D2D #amazonbooks #author #authorlife #authorblog

Well… this is frustrating.

I’ve been publishing my writing through Amazon since around 2017/2018, and last year I decided to expand to other platforms. Draft2Digital seemed like a great, simple way to distribute my books more widely without a lot of extra hassle.

AI has made the landscape a lot messier for actual human creators. There’s been a surge of AI-generated books flooding the market, and now it looks like some companies are responding by introducing fees for independent authors just to get their work out there.

I’ll need to rethink how I’m distributing my writing, because this model doesn’t really work for me right now. Paying an annual fee if I don’t sell enough copies just doesn’t sit right, especially when books take up so little digital space.

While I figure out my next steps and continue working on future projects, feel free to check out and share my work. If you're new to my writing, I'm a genre blender leaning into a dark gothic feel while embracing urban fantasy, science fiction, and post-apocalyptic themes. Give these interesting nightmares a home. You can grab a book at:

ElfLinks.Weebly.com

If you’re not sure where to start, Making Contact is a shorter read and a great entry point involving an important recurring character in my works, while Shadowed Memories leads into the story I’m currently outlining.

#indiewriter #urbanfantasybooks #gothichorror #Draft2Digital #D2D #amazonbooks #author #authorlife #authorblog

Well… this is frustrating.

I’ve been publishing my writing through Amazon since around 2017/2018, and last year I decided to expand to other platforms. Draft2Digital seemed like a great, simple way to distribute my books more widely without a lot of extra hassle.

AI has made the landscape a lot messier for actual human creators. There’s been a surge of AI-generated books flooding the market, and now it looks like some companies are responding by introducing fees for independent authors just to get their work out there.

I’ll need to rethink how I’m distributing my writing, because this model doesn’t really work for me right now. Paying an annual fee if I don’t sell enough copies just doesn’t sit right, especially when books take up so little digital space.

While I figure out my next steps and continue working on future projects, feel free to check out and share my work. If you're new to my writing, I'm a genre blender leaning into a dark gothic feel while embracing urban fantasy, science fiction, and post-apocalyptic themes. Give these interesting nightmares a home. You can grab a book at:

ElfLinks.Weebly.com

If you’re not sure where to start, Making Contact is a shorter read and a great entry point involving an important recurring character in my works, while Shadowed Memories leads into the story I’m currently outlining.

#indiewriter #urbanfantasybooks #gothichorror #Draft2Digital #D2D #amazonbooks #author #authorlife #authorblog

Here's what I'm planning after #Draft2Digital introduced their new fees.

https://mhthaung.com/2026/04/19/vss82/

(Plus my usual weekly illustrated tiny story)

#blogpost

So #Draft2Digital have introduced a crap tax for authors whose books don't make at least $100 a year.

It's because of the influx of #AI garbage flooding their service.

So, thanks to AI garbage, self-published authors might have to pay a crap tax until their sales improve.

Looking on the bright side, it does give writers an incentive to get people to buy their books.

#CrapTax #SelfPublishing #Books #Writing

Me: Maybe #PublishDrive is an alternative to #Draft2Digital?

PublishDrive: Use AI to generate optimized descriptions, keywords, and covers based on market trends!

Me: 🫠

#writingcommunity #writerslife #genAI

I’m not late… Ok, I’m late

https://telinartho.wordpress.com/2026/04/17/im-not-late-ok-im-late/

Well, dang. I get why #draft2digital wants to add account activation fees to defend against the slopstorm, but adding the account maintenance fee is nasty and probably means worse is to come. Unless my books start selling at several times the current rate, I'm going to get dinged. Sigh.

News Summary: Draft2Digital Introduces New Fees for Account Activation and Low-Earning Accounts

Draft2Digital is one of the most widely known and used platforms for many, if not most, indie authors. So when they announce something, it is automatically big news. And when what is announced is new fees, that is a potentially huge cause for anxiety. This week, Draft2Digital has announced two such fees, the first time they have introduced fees directly to authors. To minimize anxiety, I will take a look at what the fees are and what they mean. You can have a look for yourself on the Draft2Digital website.
The post News Summary: Draft2Digital Introduces New Fees for Account Activation and Low-Earning Accounts appeared first on The Self-Publishing Advice Center.
https://selfpublishingadvice.org/draft2digital-introduces-new-fees/

#accountfees #activationfee #AIgeneratedcontent #Draft2Digital #indiepublishing

So I wrote a piece on the new #Draft2Digital fees:

https://eroticmythology.com/draft2digital-to-penalise-low-performers/

#indieauthor #writingcommunity #writerslife #NoAI

Kobo making hay while the sun shines:

#writingCommunity #draft2digital #kobo #indieauthors #books #bookstodon

Anyway, it looks like my writing job for the next few weekends is looking at getting my books onto various platforms directly rather than via Draft2Digital. They're about to charging an annual fee to use their platform on top of the cut they already take from royalties. I only sell a handful of copies a year and have my stuff up mostly as a placeholder in case I ever start publishing again, and for the benefit of anyone who'd like to get a legitimate copy; I can't be certain of making their new minimum income to not have to pay the fee.

Even if I pull it down to one place outside Amazon for ease of keeping tabs on stuff, if I shove it through Kobo it's available on Kobo's monthly subscription system, and as far as I understand it will also push to Overdrive.

#Draft2digital

Now I'm wondering how long it will be before Books2Read starts charging to set up an account and levying an annual fee too.
because (fun fact possibly relevant to other writers)
at least as it now stands, you can set up a free Books2Read page with universal booklinks *WITHOUT* distributing via Draft2Digital.

My B2R account was set up first and most of my links are not supported by D2D distribution.

#Draft2Digital

Gee. Can't imagine why that might be.
#Draft2Digital

New spin on book marketing:

Help me avoid the D2D annual fee for account maintenance!

😆

#fantasy #novella #Draft2Digital

https://books2read.com/secret-eln-ketaar

@stuart_j_whitmore @AbramKedge No, it wasn't too strong. I probably won't make the $100 but more than $12 for sure. But my first year of publishing wide I made $0.50. This cuts the first rungs on the ladder for anyone considering to leave Amazon. It'll also do fuck all to actually combat AI slop. Content farms are way more likely to make $100 than human authors like me who can only really publish to Smashwords because all the other retailers on #Draft2Digital reject erotica.

@AbramKedge

My initial reaction to this was too strong. I think I mentally registered the annual fee as a monthly fee. I can manage $12/year to support distribution outside of Amazon.

#Draft2Digital #Writing #writingcommunity

I've been chatting about the #draft2digital announcement with others and if they had just announced a yearly fee to help cover storage and service costs, I would have been irritated but fine.

This change targets low sellers and protects bulk slop. Which is infuriating @draft2digital.bsky.social

I'm so angry about this #draft2digital thing it is almost funny.

At the very least, at least I'm learning I'm not the only author making less than $100 a year from book sales.

*internal screaming*