Distribution - FAQ
What is Firsty Distribution Service (FDS)?
FDS is an online eBook management service powered by ePubDirect. We securely manage and distribute your eBook titles to all our retail partners. We then track sales and issue payments to you at regular intervals. This saves you time, training and money while ensuring maximum exposure.
We also provide a full range of complimentary services to ensure all your titles are wherever your readers want them, presented however they like to consume them.
How much does it cost?
Our packages start from £50 per month. The costs vary depending on the number of eBooks in your catalogue. See our pricing page for full information.
How does it work?
Very simply, you upload your eBooks and information to us and we pass this securely onto the retailers. They then report sales back to us at monthly or quarterly intervals. Once we have received the agreed payment from retailers, we pass this amount back to you, the publisher.
We take care of all distribution, administration and billing duties, saving you time and money.
How do I sign up?
Sign-up is easy. Click here and fill out a simple form to get you up and running. Or call us on +44 1635 5812185.
How do I convert my books into eBooks?
We can handle the conversion process for you. We will convert your book into all eBook formats from approximately £99 per title. Each title is quoted for individually.
What software do I need?
Absolutely none. Your account is stored with us and you operate it through the web. That means you have no storage or maintenance costs and can access your account from anywhere with your login details.
What formats do you accept?
We accept, PDF, ePub and Mobi titles. We highly recommend ePub files as these are the most widely accepted and offer the best reading experience for your customers. We offer top quality conversion of your titles into all formats from just £99 per book. Contact our conversion team for more information.
Where will my eBooks appear?
We have partnered with over 85 retailers worldwide including Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and FirstyFish.com as well as many smaller sites. You have full control over which of these sites you wish your eBooks to appear on via a simple check box on upload. You can view some of our partners on the retailers page.
How soon will my eBooks be in the stores?
Once you have uploaded all the titles and the relevant information, we will then update our retail partners within 3 working days. It then depends on how often they update their sites, but you can expect to see most titles on the retail outlets within 2-4 weeks.
There may be instances when retailers will decide not to stock your titles for their own reasons – for example, your genres may not be of interest to their readers, however this is very rare.
How can I see how well my eBooks are selling?
We will supply you with sales reports which will give a breakdown on how your titles are performing across the distribution sites. We update sales figures as soon as we receive them from our retail partners.
How often do I get paid?
Because we are dealing with a wide number of independent companies with different practices, the reporting periods will vary. On average you can expect to receive payment on a quarterly basis.
Rest assured – as soon as we receive payment from any of our outlets, we ensure that your payments are dispatched within 2 working days. Please note that there is a minimum payment amount of £100 with anything under that being rolled over until the next payment is issued.