Boost Your Indie Sales: Harness the Draft2Digital and Fable Partnership

What if you could expose your novels or series to 650,000 rabid readers and 25,000 book clubs through an app you may already use?

Reach More Readers with the Draft2Digital and Fable Partnership

If you have a Draft2Digital account, which is free, then you can leverage Draft2Digital and Fable’s partnership to extend your reach. Whether you’re aiming to boost sales, enhance your online presence, or engage directly with an eager readership, this collaboration paves the way.

Draft2Digital and Fable Partnership girl reading book — Photo by Seven Shooter on Unsplash

Fable: A Unique Platform for Book Clubs and Readers

Fable is a cross between a bookstore and a book club hub. That may not make sense at first, but basically, Fable is where you can find almost any kind of book club you desire, a place to share your highlights, notes, reviews, and opinions. And Fable’s readers are eager to access indie ebooks.

Book clubs are formed around a single book, an author’s books, or around a series or topic or … you get the picture.

You can purchase your book copies anywhere, or you can purchase them from Fable’s bookstore. If you are an author, this would be another good reason to go “wide” and not publish exclusively to Kindle.

Draft2Digital: Tools and Services for Indie Authors

For the uninitiated, Draft2Digital (D2D) is a self-publishing service that offers a wide range of tools and services designed to help independent authors publish and distribute their books.

Draft2Digition provides:

Distribution to platforms like Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Fable, and more. NOTE: If you upload your books to Amazon and other platforms yourself, you do not need to share your royalties with D2D, but there is something to be said for convenience.
Formatting tools to convert manuscripts into professionally formatted books. I can personally vouch for this functionality.
Universal Book Links (UBLs) for your marketing and promotional efforts. Through Books2Read (B2R), D2D’s sister site, you create a UBL to use for each of your books; this UBL will guide your audience to a page which contains all the places your book is available for purchase.
Author pages and book tabs that include your author bio, social media links, and book links to enhance your online presence.
Royalties and payments for book sales made through D2D services, but D2D charges no upfront fees which is easy on your pocketbook.
Promotional tools like campaigns, discount pricing strategies, and pre-order setups.
Outstanding customer support to authors (that’s you!)

Fable provides a modern interface and social experience.

Fable’s interface was created for mobile users, to permit readers to read and interact on the go.

lady reading book on ereader — Photo by Maarten van den Heuvel on Unsplash

For anyone who has had a lackluster experience with Goodreads, especially after Amazon bought it in 2013, Fable will be a breath of fresh air.

The Goodreads desktop application has not progressed much from its stodgy, circa 2006 user interface, and I’m sorry to say, Goodreads is notorious for its toxic culture and harsh reviews. The Cait Corrain scandal of 2023 is a cautionary tale, but it’s hardly the first time reviews have been used offensively. I have not bothered with the mobile app, so maybe I’m being too harsh.

Fable provides the reader with a means to form or join book clubs. It also has a bookstore, and that is where D2D comes in. Currently, there is not a way for indie authors to upload their books directly to Fable, so you need D2D for distribution. However, if a reader already owns a book, there is no requirement to purchase it from Fable.

Audio books are not available on Fable (yet), so we will have to wait and see if that happens later.

Leverage the Draft2Digital and Fable Partnership.

I learned about the Draft2Digital and Fable partnership on Dale L. Roberts’s YouTube channel; he had a conversation with Jim Azevedo from Draft2Digital and Kim Marsh Allee from Fable.co to go over what the new agreement means for authors: HUGE NEWS: Draft2Digital Announces NEW Partner – YouTube. Subscribe to Dale’s YouTube channel for really great content.

On April 18, 2024, Draft2Digital hosted Kim Marsh Allee for Introducing Fable! D2D’s newest retail partner! – YouTube.

someone writing in a journal — Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

Key Features of the Draft2Digital and Fable Partnership

Engagement with Readers and Social Media Influencers – Fable hosts a community of over 650,000 members and 25,000 book clubs, including active participation from over 200 social media influencers across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. You have the option to join existing book clubs or start your own.
Merchandising for Indie Authors – This feature will probably be focused on bestselling indie authors, but hey, who knows what the future holds?
Promotional Strategies – Authors can create buzz and drive pre-release sales through eARC Giveaway Clubs. Similarly, Pub Day Clubs encourage discussions about new releases, allowing authors to interact directly with readers. Additionally, Fable supports author promotions through its network of 200+ affiliated book clubs led by influential creators. I am guessing you will need to add a line to your marketing budget for this.
In-depth Reader Analytics – Fable collects lots of data, and you will get to learn about readers’ reactions to your books through highlighted quotes, thoughts, ratings, and reactions at a molecular level. Okay, maybe it’s really the sentence level, but how cool will that be?

The partnership between Draft2Digital and Fable is a significant opportunity for indie authors, promising broader distribution and deeper engagement with readers.

How do you think the new partnership between Draft2Digital and Fable could change your approach to publishing and promoting your books? Share your thoughts and any questions you have about leveraging these platforms to enhance your author journey!

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