You have about a hundred poems you’ve been compiling over a period, or a very captivating romance story of a woman caught up in a love hexagon typed out in Microsoft Word, or you probably haven’t written a sentence yet, but plan to give your thriving audience on social media a paperback book on some ‘how-to’ tips.
So, how about the traditional publishing route? Well, though you do less work with that method, facing the big struggle of getting a publisher who would love your work and want it printed into a book can be frustrating. And let’s not forget the many rejections you may face.
This is a major reason why many writers are self publishing today. The headache of looking for a publisher is avoided, but as usual, every pro has a con. You can read the advantages and disadvantages in this post.
Now, let’s say you’ve decided to go down the self publishing route. What are your options? Which sites will help that idea you’ve always had become a reality?
Let’s look at 10 self publishing sites that will help you get your writing published into an e-book or printed work. Note that these options have been listed in no particular order. There is also a table of contents to guide you through.
Self Publishing Sites To Get You Started
1. Amazon Kindle Publishing (KDP)
Talk about a large audience, and Amazon would feature first. Amazon is a big online market site for all sorts of products and goods, and books aren’t left out. There are many readers who go book shopping, hoping to occupy themselves with an interesting story, non fiction or poem collection during their leisure time.
There is also the benefit of Kindle Unlimited subscription, where book lovers pay a subscription fee of $9.99 a month to read unlimited ebooks for free. With lots of subscribers, the chance of getting your book in front of readers is quite high using Amazon.
Since 2007, Amazon made it possible, through the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), for writers to self publish and get their books in front of their large number of readers.
KDP allows the following formats: ebooks, paperbacks and hardcovers. There are some countries though, such as Australia, where books can only be printed as paperbacks and not hardcovers. Books can also be published as a series, if you are planning to write a serial story.
There are no upfront fees when publishing. Amazon KDP however takes a percentage of each sale you make. You are given a royalty of 60 percent of the amount left on each book after cost of printing is taken out. For ebooks, it’s 70 percent once the book isn’t prices above $9.99. Otherwise, royalties drop to 35 percent if priced higher.
When uploading your manuscript and cover, you have the option of using your own ISBN you purchased, or getting a free ISBN from KDP. Note that you cannot use a free ISBN from KDP anywhere else, meaning, you would have to use a different ISBN if you want to publish on other sites.
There is the option of selecting expanded distribution, where Amazon distributes your book to other retailers. That also means you would be publishing your book exclusively with Amazon and therefore, you wouldn’t be able to publish anywhere else. KDP however, does not give details on which retailers your books will end up with. For expanded distribution, royalty is 40%.
When publishing your ebook, you have the option of choosing Kindle Select, where your book will be made free to Kindle Unlimited readers. Though your audience will get larger, choosing Kindle Select also means you cannot publish anyway else.
Creating a KDP account is free, and you can use your already existing Amazon account if you have one already. Every individual is entitled to only one KDP account. You cannot have more than one KDP account, or you risk having both accounts being closed.
2. Barnes and Noble Press
Though not as large as Amazon’s, Barnes and Noble has a big audience regularly buying books at their online bookstore.
Just like Amazon KDP, there are no upfront fees and it is free to create an account. Also, authors can publish their work in ebook, paperback and hardcover formats.
However, publishing through Barnes and Noble means your book will only be sold on their online platform and physical bookshops, and hence, there isn’t any expanded distribution option. That doesn’t mean you cannot publish your book on other platforms too.
Also, publishing through Barnes and Noble Press is limited to just a few countries, unlike KDP. These countries at the moment are: USA, Canada, UK, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, Spain, Germany and France.
For royalties, authors get 70% for ebooks and 40% to 65% on paperbacks and hardcovers. Print book distribution is only available for USA.
Apparently, Barnes and Noble Press prefers that you use a different ISBN when publishing. Most often, authors use the same ISBN purchased for their print books on all platforms. However, Barnes and Noble prefers a different ISBN for their platform.
3. Lulu
Lulu is a great platform known for its good print quality and wide variety of print format options: from spiral books to photo books, comic books to calendars. There’s quite a tall list. Paperbacks, hardcover books and ebooks aren’t out of that list.
With Lulu, you can also sell your books directly on your website with their integrations. This is great especially if you prefer to have your readers purchase your books on your website.
Lulu does expanded distribution, unlike Barnes and Noble. On uploading your manuscript, Lulu gives you the option of selecting expanded distribution which allows you to get your books sold on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Ingram, Kobo and other retailers. Your books also becomes available for sale on Lulu’s marketplace. Lulu, however does not have a big audience.
For royalties, authors get 40% of profits for print books and 90% of profits from ebooks. This is after retailers have taken out their share. You get a full 90% or 40% though if the purchase is made from Lulu’s online store.
It’s worthy of note, that though Lulu is praised for their print quality, printing and fulfillment takes longer than some other platforms. That has to be factored in when your readers order your books. It takes roughly 2 weeks to get your print books to your audience.
4. Kobo Writing Life
Kobo is another option if you are looking for a site that does not require any fees before you can publish.
Kobo allows you to publish both ebooks and audio books which is great for authors and poets who want to publish in digital formats mainly. Kobo, unfortunately, does not do print books. So if you want a platform that will distribute your work in ebook and print format, then Kobo might not be your best option. However, in terms of distribution, Kobo has a big map there. The site does not require exclusivity, hence you can sell your ebooms and audiobooks on their online bookstore and anyway else.
Ebook royalty is 70% and audiobook royalty is 45% for audiobooks priced above $2.99 and 25% if priced at $2.99 or less
5. Draft2Digital and Smashwords
Still want an alternative? Draft2Digital is a good choice for indie authors, offering book publishing in ebook and print formats. They also give self publishing writers the option to distribute wide and to even select which platforms and online stores they would like their books to show up on.
I have to list Draft2Digital and Smashwords as one because Draft2Digital acquired Smashwords recently. Smashwords is, hence, under Draft2Digital, meaning whatever applies to Draft2Digital, applies to Smashwords.
Draft2Digital helps writers with author pages they can direct their readers to, in order to purchase their books. Links to all books published by the author are automatically added to the back of every ebook, which helps promote your other works. Authors can also publish print books.
For royalties: 45% for print books minus print costs, and 90% of profits minus retailer’s share.
Find out about their digital storefronts and other resources here
6. IngramSpark
IngramSpark is a very popular self publishing site, after Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.
It is a site known for high quality printing and has the widest book distribution. IngramSpark, however, does not give details on which storefronts and platforms your book will be distributed to.
IngramSpark also requires you to pay fees before you can publish: $49 to upload for ebook and print book formats, $49 to upload for just print book (hardcover and paperback), $25 for ebook, all per title.
Writers get 40% of net profits for ebooks and 45% to 65%, minus print cost, for print books.
7. Google Play Books
Google has the widest audience right? Right! However, Google Play Books has a small reading audience. That’s not reason to be discouraged. It’s still a good option to add to your publishing list if you want to reach an extra audience.
Google Play Books is mainly for publishing ebooks. They do not do any form of book print-on-demand like other sites. They also do some distribution of audio books. However, you cannot publish audio books with Google Play Books. It can only be done through another platform.
Royalty is a fixed 70% for authors.
8. Publish Drive
Now, this is one site that publishes ebooks, print books and audiobooks, all on one platform. Exciting right? And that’s not all. Their wide distribution is really wide: Amazon, Ingram, Kobo, Apple Books, and hundreds of stores and libraries.
An author is entitled to a 100% of net profit royalty (net profit after the other platforms have taken their share).
Publish drive charges upfront fees though, depending on the number of books you plan to upload per month. Fees start at $14.19 per month.
9. Apple Books For Authors
Just like Google Play Books, Apple Books For Authors deals with ebook distribution, giving authors a royalty of 70% irrespective of the price of the book. It is a great option especially if your aim is to reach the audience of Apple’s bookstore. There are audiobooks on their platform but you can only get your audiobooks there through other routes. Thankfully, non-Apple users can use Apple Books For Authors’ platform.
10. Blurb
Last on our list is Blurb, a site for publishing ebooks and print books. Blurb is known for high quality printing and many print options.
Authors also benefit from wide distribution and can have their books listed on Blurb’s own online bookstore and that of Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and many more retailers. With its API integration, you can publish and sell your books directly on your website.
Authors gain 70% royalty on net profits. For print books, it is hard to tell the exact royalty writers make, since the site does not give details. Cost of printing is a bit higher than the other sites mentioned before, which often means books have to be priced a little higher than other platforms.
Conclusion
Your choice of a self publishing site is dependent on the format you would prefer to publish your book in, your preferred audience size, your budget, especially if you don’t mind using a platform that requires upfront fees, and many other factors. Every platform is quite efficient in the publishing sector but the final choice depends on your needs as a writer.
Thanks for reading! I hope this was helpful.
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