Tolino Media Launches Self-Publishing Platform Competing with Kindle Direct Publishing

After the Tolino eBook supplier Pubbles rebranded as “Tolino-Media” in January and it was announced in March that under the new brand name not only would deals with booksellers be processed, but also a self-publishing platform in the style of Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) would be launched, the moment finally arrived the day before yesterday: the indie author website has officially come into existence.

This means that the Tolino Alliance, after two years on the market, now also offers its own platform for independent authors to make their works available to the digital reading market (and, with sufficient success, also in print form). The service is broadly aligned with competitors like Amazon (and also Kobo).

Authors receive 70 percent of the net sales price for their eBooks. Prices can be set between 0.49 and 9.99 euros in 50-cent increments, and ultimately up to a maximum of 699.99 euros. In contrast to Amazon, where only sales between 2.99 and 9.99 euros earn a 70 percent share (below and above that, it’s 35 percent), royalties of the specified amount are available from Tolino-Media regardless of the eBook price. For example:

• Sale price of 99 cents, with an author royalty of 58 cents
• Sale price of 1.49 euros, with an author royalty of 88 cents
• Sale price of 2.49 euros, with an author royalty of 1.46 euros
• etc.

Even Lower eBook Prices?

This offers a substantial advantage for authors, particularly with promotional pricing below 3 euros, compared to Amazon’s offerings. However, it also poses a risk that eBook prices might settle at an even lower level than they already do on Amazon. This is also one reason why KDP pays a lower share for prices below the 3 euro threshold — to encourage authors to use these particularly low prices primarily for promotions and not for the long term.

At the same time, it should also be noted that higher prices starting at 10 euros become potentially more attractive for authors, which is likely to play a role primarily with bundle offers.

Free promotions and time-limited price reductions can be selected directly when setting up an eBook

There is also the option to offer eBooks for free for a limited time, or sell them at a reduced price for a limited period. It has long been known that pricing plays an important role in selling a digital book, and this is also evident weekly in the eBook charts.

However, it’s important to consider that the fixed book pricing law applies, meaning the same eBook must cost the same everywhere.

Currently, there is no fee for listing an eBook, and an ISBN for the title is provided free of charge.

However, it is not entirely clear whether these conditions will remain permanent, as they are said to be temporarily limited until January 31, 2016. What might happen after that has not been disclosed. It’s quite possible that Tolino-Media could later align itself more closely with Amazon’s compensation model, generally lower its royalties, charge a (small) listing fee, or require payment for the ISBN (or similar fees).

Tolino vs. Amazon

The indie eBooks offered by Tolino-Media are available at Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Der Club / Otto Media, Buecher.de, Buch.de and eBook.de, as well as at bookstores connected to Libri. This gives self-publishers direct access to the second major segment of the German digital book market. Until now, indie authors had to rely on external service providers. The competition is getting tougher for these providers with this new entrant, but some still offer distribution to markets like Apple, Google, and other (international) vendors. Of course, central price management (including promotional offers) with an indie distributor is more convenient (keyword: fixed book pricing law).

Indie authors who are already active will certainly be keen to adopt Tolino-Media sooner or later, but we’ll need to wait and see how well the Tolino partners can and will showcase the non-publishing offers. At Amazon, affordable self-published titles dominate the best-selling eBooks charts. We will see if it’s the same at Tolino. This week, an indie title has already made it into the top 10 at eBook.de, though it was circulated through Bookrix.

The launch of the self-publishing offer by the Tolino Alliance can be seen both as a concession to the changing book market (even though the domestic eBook growth is reportedly slowing) and as a counterweight to Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. The U.S. retail giant not only makes good money with its in-house indie platform, but also uses the large catalog as a basis for the Kindle Unlimited eBook subscription service and the Kindle Lending Library. It will be interesting to see if similar plans are already in the works at Tolino. For international growth, Tolino-Media is likely to play an important role as a counterpart to KDP in the future.