I published my first poetry collection: here's one win and one disappointment!

“Her Inner Universe” was published on the 1st and 2nd of April this year! It follows by an immediate disappointment, however, I have a solution and I will take it from the beginning and explain more! Just continue reading…

So, I published my first ever poetry collection in English!

And it was a major step for me as a poet. I’ve previously just been published in Swedish, which is my native language. However, the majority of my works are in English and I decided now was a great time to publish ”Her Inner Universe”.

So with a lot of encouragement from the love of my life and my dear friends, I did it. I published my first ever poetry collection on April 1st and no, it was not an April Fools joke, it was for real! And also, April is the international poetry month!

But almost immediately, there was a setback…

The distributor sent and email explaining that all authors who earn less than a certain amount of money will now have to pay a yearly fee to stay listed on their service. I was horrified because of 3 reasons:

1. They only target small authors with this, because people who earn more than a certain amount won’t get targeted by this change!
2. This hurt me as a small independent author and every penny counts. I already have it difficult to put food on the table as it is!
3. I will most likely spend more on the yearly fee than what I will earn, because, again, I’m just a small author…

But most importantly: it’s unfair and I feel uncomfortable that just small authors are affected.

I understand that companies want to make money but this ain’t it! To just charge those who already have a difficult time and not earning as much just seems unethical to me. And besides, they already took a cut of the earnings in their previous business model, so I don’t see why this change is necessary at all! I sold quite a lot of books, and they have that cut. Now I don’t even know if I will be compensated at all for the books sold, because of this yearly fee that I refuse to pay…

I know, I know, you want to know what service this is…

I don’t recommend anyone to publish with Draft2Digital anymore! It’s not about wanting to make money, it’s how they go about it! It’s about ethical practices.

Well, now it’s out there. Here are a few recommendations of other services that seems more fair and ethical towards small independent authors and artists:

• IngramSpark: I have tested them out and they are free. Like it so far!
• Lulu: Both digital and print books, global distribution. I have used it for years!
• Gumroad: Not distribution, but a good platform to sell things that are digital.
• Payhip: Not distribution, but you can sell your books on both your own online shop which is free, and you can access their marketplace right from the start as well! I like them and has used them for many years now.
• Beacons: Similar to Gumroad and Payhip.
• Any other free online shop manager: Like Fourthwall, Ko-fi, Itch.io, etc.

So… how did I manage to solve the problem?

Now I handle my own ISBN by being my own publisher and I use another distribution service that is truly free and only take a small and fair cut of the earnings, when I actually sell something. No fees whatsoever so I won’t lose more than I earn.

And now what?!

Now I’m just waiting for ”Her Inner Universe” to be finished and distributed once again. It’s written under my pen name and artist name Trix Joyce. The printed copy will be out soon as well!

If you want to support me, you can already purchase it on my official website and shop on any of the following links:

• TrixJoyce.com shop: trixjoyce.com/products/her-inner-universe-ebook
• TrixJoyce.me: trixjoyce.me/shop/her-inner-universe-ebook

It doesn’t matter which link you choose, they are both my own digital shops. For now, it’s the place where the book is available.

Thank you if you choose to support me, or if you read the entire article about my journey! Big thanks!

xx

Trix