Founded in 2012, Draft2Digital is a growing ebook distributor for independent authors, with more than 16,000 authors using their service. While that’s still just a fraction of the number using Smashwords—which has more than 100,000 authors and 350,000 titles in its catalog—they’ve become an increasingly serious and innovative competitor. They also just received a service award from ALLi, the global organization of independent authors.
What are the key benefits to Draft2Digital? Customer service is a big one—you can reach them on the phone, and authors report having conversion problems resolved quickly. Their Word-to-EPUB conversion is considered easier and superior to what you’ll find at Smashwords, plus they offer a range of automations, such as a tool to generate unique end matter for ebook files based on the retail outlet they’re sold in. Draft2Digital pays authors on a monthly basis; Smashwords pays on a quarterly basis.
What are the drawbacks to Draft2Digital? They reach fewer retail and distribution outlets than Smashwords. However, Draft2Digital reaches one channel that Smashwords doesn’t: Tolino (German bookstores).
What’s new at Draft2Digital? They’re about to launch a reader-facing site to offer their books and authors more marketing and promotion support; they’re also giving readers the ability to opt in to email alerts when their favorite author releases a new book. A distribution deal will soon be announced with 24symbols, an ebook subscription service.
Bottom line: Draft2Digital is a competitive and innovative ebook distributor that authors should consider, and we expect to see them roll out more features and opportunities for their catalog of titles.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
