Usually, when a company does one of these \u201cEnd of Year Reviews,\u201d you get a list of some of the flashiest, shiniest new toys and features produced throughout the year. We have a list like that, too. But some of the biggest advances and benefits we\u2019ve built for authors, over 2019, weren\u2019t all that flashy. We\u2019ve put in a lot of work behind the scenes and under the hood\u2014the sort of work you may not even have noticed, but it was just as important as shiny new features.<\/p>\n
These updates have helped us to make your author experience even better and have allowed us to continue helping thousands of authors build and grow their author careers. We\u2019re proud of all of it, and of our role in supporting the self-publishing community!<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a look at everything Draft2Digital has done to make self-publishing easier in 2019.<\/p>\n
Check Out Our Library Strategy<\/b><\/p>\n
Out of all the behind-the-scenes tweaks, new markets, and feature improvements we\u2019ve done over the course of 2019, our focus on increasing library reach for self-published authors <\/b>may be our favorite thing. We\u2019ve added new library distribution partners and extended your reach to thousands<\/i> of libraries worldwide\u2014in every country on the planet! We\u2019ve also helped to pioneer a whole new way of getting paid for library distribution: The Cost Per Checkout (CPC) model.<\/p>\n
This new royalty structure lets libraries check out books to as many library patrons at one time as demand requires, without having to purchase copies up front. Patrons get to read the books they want, libraries get a lower-overhead deal, and you get paid more in aggregate! It\u2019s a win-win-win for everyone.<\/p>\n
Author Education Without the Tuition<\/b><\/p>\n
We also spent the year experimenting and building an author education platform, which has evolved in to D2D Live<\/b>\u2014a series of live webinars and free author consultations that have brought the author conference world right to your screens. Since June we\u2019ve produced monthly webinars on topics ranging from marketing to audiobooks to (of course) library distribution.<\/p>\n
In addition to the webinars, we\u2019ve also conducted hundreds of hours of free, one-on-one author consultations<\/b>, giving you a chance to chat with one of our resident experts and get advice and strategies to help boost your author career!<\/p>\n
We\u2019re continuing our author education program into the new year, with more video content, webinars, podcasts, consultations, blog posts, and potentially a kitchen sink or two. Stay tuned!<\/p>\n
D2D\u2019s 2019 Highlight Reel<\/b><\/p>\n
Flashy or not, we\u2019re really proud of everything we accomplished over 2019, including the addition of some new markets, and a lot of new, behind-the-scenes features and improvements. Here\u2019s a run-down of D2D 2019:<\/p>\n
JANUARY \u2013 SCHEDULE PRICE CHANGES AND PROMOS<\/b><\/p>\n
By far, one of our most requested features has been the ability to pre-schedule price changes, to help with upcoming promotions. And in January 2019 we were thrilled to announce Promo Pricing<\/b>!<\/p>\n
When you log into your Draft2Digital account and click My Books<\/a>, you can click over to the Promotion tab (represented by a little chain-link icon in the column to the right of your book\u2019s title). From there you can create and schedule a promotion and price change using our easy scheduling tool.<\/p>\n JANUARY \u2013 ADD A FACEBOOK PIXEL TO YOUR UNIVERSAL BOOK LINKS<\/b><\/p>\n A Facebook Pixel<\/b> is a small snippet of code that you can place on your website to help you track how your Facebook ads are doing. Using Facebook\u2019s ad management system, you can track how effective your ads are, so you can optimize and improve on them, or better target ads you use in the future. When you add your Facebook Pixel to your Books2Read account, it will be inserted into all of your UBLs, Book Tabs, and Author Pages, giving you a finer level of detail and insight into how well your ads and boosted posts are performing. More insight means more decision-making power!<\/p>\n For more on how to use the Facebook Pixel, you can visit <\/b>Facebook\u2019s Advertiser Help page<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n APRIL \u2013 INTRODUCING BOOKS2READ READING LISTS<\/b><\/p>\n B2R Reading Lists are customizable carousels of books that draw from your Universal Book Links, allowing you to showcase a collection of books grouped by any theme you want. Here are just a few ways to put them to work:<\/p>\n MAY \u2013 WEBSITE UPDATES (STATUS, MY BOOKS, METADATA)<\/b><\/p>\n Some of the most important tools baked into Draft2Digital are tucked away, not quite as visible but just as powerful as anything else we do. Sort of the \u201cunsung heroes\u201d of our system, and a vital part of what we do for indie authors.<\/p>\n Along with new features, we\u2019ve been making some changes to some existing features on the site. One of those changes included an update to the My Books page.<\/b><\/p>\n Now, when you log in and click on My Books, you\u2019ll be able to see the status of your books at a glance!<\/p>\n See instantly which books are published or publishing, which are on pre-order, which have an active promotion, and which may need a review. Each state is labeled and color-coded to make it quick and easy to know the status of your book, so you can make decisions and take actions as they’re needed.<\/p>\n At-a-glance status\u2014just one more way that D2D is working to make author lives easier!<\/p>\n And speaking of preorders, we\u2019re improving your experience and giving you more insight with a brand-new Preorder Report on the View Books page<\/b>!<\/p>\n You\u2019ll be able to see estimated totals of preorders for each storefront, when that information is available. No more emails and manual tracking!<\/p>\n But that\u2019s not all\u2026<\/p>\n Eagle-eyed D2D users may have noticed that we quietly rolled out yet another handy feature, tucked away like a little bonus Easter Egg accessible from Ebook Details page for your book \u2014the Book Metadata page<\/b><\/p>\n When you\u2019re on your book\u2019s Ebook Detail page, just click on the cover thumbnail. You\u2019ll be taken right to the Book Metadata page, where you\u2019ll be able to quickly reference and snag copies of everything from your search terms to your book description to your BISAC categories, plus the rest of your book\u2019s metadata, all in one convenient place!<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n JUNE \u2013 THE LAUNCH OF D2D LIVE<\/b><\/p>\n Helping authors start, build, and grow their author careers is a core part of our mission. And author education is a key component of that aim. That\u2019s why we\u2019re constantly creating blog content, doing podcasts, and speaking and presenting at conferences worldwide.<\/p>\n Not everyone can make it to author conferences, however. So we decided to bring the conference to you!<\/p>\n D2D Live <\/b>is our ongoing series of live, free-to-attend webinars, occurring once per month. In these \u201cask us anything\u201d sessions, we open the mic for anyone to pop in and, well, ask us anything. Our resident experts answer those questions and give insight in everything from marketing to audiobooks to library distribution and beyond.<\/p>\n And it doesn\u2019t end there! Each webinar is recorded and posted online so that you can watch it or rewatch it any time you want, complete with a transcript so you can read along. Plus, many webinars include a chance to register for a free, 30-minute one-on-one consultation with one of our team members\u2014a chance to ask more pointed questions and get some direct guidance on the things that may be confusing you!<\/p>\n You can RSVP for the next D2D Live webinar when you visit https:\/\/draft2digital.com\/live<\/a><\/p>\n AUGUST \u2014 D2D PRINT BETA UPDATES<\/b><\/p>\n When we first announced the D2D Print Beta, we had no idea of the level of buzz and excitement it would generate. The tools we’ve included in the beta\u2014automatic conversion of your ebook to a print-ready file, beautiful layout templates, the ebook cover converter\u2014have amped up the anticipation all around. And as we continue to build and improve the service, that anticipation continues to grow.<\/p>\n Behind the scenes, we are diligently improving on D2D Print, working out any rough edges, adding new features, and generally making it the high-quality service you’d expect from Draft2Digital. We are continuing the beta program as we do this, and we’ll be onboarding new beta testers as we go. Every day brings us closer to launch!<\/p>\n You can learn more about D2D Print here: https:\/\/draft2digital.com\/blog\/d2d-print-now-in-beta-heres-what-you-need-to-know\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n