I wish I could start the Small Business Deals: May 2026 Edition post on a positive note, like I always do.
But alas, I just can’t because of how frustrated I was with the recent announcement from Draft2Digital.
The $12 annual fee that I have to pay since I generated less than $100 in profit last year until my D2D anniversary in June.
And let’s not forget the time that I’ve wasted on uploading my books on D2D, only having to switch to a different distributor in the end.
Yes, people, this will be the end of my relationship with D2D come June.
Until then, I will stick to them till I delist all of my books in D2D.
It turns out that I actually made a sale in April, but it’s still not enough to qualify for the fee waiver, since it’s less than $100 in profits.
Unless I experience some kind of miracle, I doubt I have enough time to generate more than $100 in profit before my D2D anniversary.
So, what’s my plan for going wide moving forward?
I’ll let you know about it soon on my blog.
But for now, let’s have a look at what’s in store for you in this month’s Small Business Deals: May 2026 Edition post.
Moving away from D2D? Just go directly with the retailers, particularly the big four
It goes without saying that you will need to go directly with Amazon if you want to have full control of your Amazon metadata.
So, you should do the same with Kobo and Apple Books, too, but they’re not as sophisticated as Amazon, though.
And if you’re up for a snuff, maybe you should go directly to Barnes and Noble and Google Play Books while you’re at it.
While I can’t say much about Barnes and Noble, Google Play Books is a little tricky to navigate.
So, expect a speed bump along the way.
Regardless of whether you choose to go direct with these retailers or use another distributor such as PublishDrive, you will still need to optimize your book page for better discoverability.
And to do that, you need to know the search terms your target readers are using when they search for books similar to yours.
The good news is Publisher Rocket makes it even easier with its Reverse ASIN feature.
If you can’t figure out the keywords that your target readers will normally use, maybe you can take a look at what keywords that books similar to yours are using.
That’s the beauty of the Reverse ASIN feature.
Of course, that’s not the only thing you can do with Publisher Rocket.
Wondering how the categories you chose fare so far?
Is it trending upward, stagnant, or trending downward?
And what about the percentage of books by the traditional publishers, pricing, and how frequently are the new releases in that category?
Publisher Rocket can scoop that information for you, too.
Think Publisher Rocket can improve your book discoverability on Amazon in particular?
You can get Publisher Rocket right here:
A note about Publisher Rocket
Back in the old days, you could optimize your book page with the 7 keywords that you came across from Publisher Rocket.
But now?
You will have to do what Gemini calls keyword stacking.
What in the world is keyword stacking, you ask?
It’s just letting the AI tool generate similar variations of the keywords based on those keywords that you retrieved from Publisher Rocket.
As you can see here, the A10 algorithm is now focusing on the semantic keywords.
And that means you will need to tell the A10 algorithm what your book is all about through those 7 keywords.
Gone are those days when you can just optimize the book page with the keyword phrases as they are.
Now, can you just skip using Publisher Rocket altogether and let AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude do the keyword research for you?
The answer is no, since you don’t know if people use those search terms or not.
The last thing you want is to optimize your book page with keywords that turn out to be a dud.
Yes, A10 is a sophisticated algorithm.
But you will still need to use Publisher Rocket to find those profitable keywords that are right for your book.
The only difference is that you won’t be using those keywords as they are.
Consider selling directly to your readers
Okay, I admit that retail sales are wonderful.
But nothing beats selling your books directly to your readers.
No middleman involved, and the customer data is yours.
You even get almost 100% of the sales after deducting the PayPal or Stripe fees, too.
Yes, I get why some of us are hesitant to go direct.
Selling direct doesn’t have the same magic as selling your book at the retailers’ websites, as far as discoverability is concerned.
And it costs money to set up an online store, too.
Even if you opt for the free solution like WooCommerce, you will still need to pay for the domain name and hosting.
Well, what if I tell you that you can sell directly to your readers for free?
And nope, I’m not talking about selling directly to your readers through Curios.
That’s a fine option, but that’s not what I’m referring to.
I’m talking about using Payhip to sell directly to your readers.
Of course, Payhip does take a bit of a percentage from the sales, but it’s not as enormous as Amazon and other retailers, for sure.
Want to get started with selling direct?
You can sign up with Payhip right here:
Sell directly to your readers with Payhip
Small Business Deals: May 2026 Edition affiliate disclaimer
Just to let you know that the Small Business Deals: May 2026 Edition post contains affiliate links. I’ll be compensated when you buy anything through my affiliate links. Don’t worry, I’ll be paid at no additional cost.
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