13 Best Self-Publishing Websites to Publish Your New Book in 2024

Best Self-Publishing Websites
Looking for the best self-publishing websites (companies) to publish your new book? In this article, we take you through 13+ self publishing websites to choose from.

Your book is ready. Written, edited a dozen times, proofread, and formatted. Now it’s ready to submit to self-publishing websites. As a first-time, self-published author, you’re cautious as to which self-publishing companies to go for.

You’ve put so much time, effort, and other resources into seeing this happen, so it’s necessary that your book gets a shot in the book marketplaces.

It’s time to share your work with your readers out there. Meeting up with mainstream publishing companies for the never-ending negotiations over your manuscript can kill your morale to reach out to the audience out there.

But there is always another better way out, right?

Want to learn how to format and self publish your book on Amazon kindle and make money selling eBooks? 

This short action based step-by-step Kindle publishing course is all you need if you want to do it yourself instead of hiring someone to do it.

Forget the small royalties from major publishing houses and go the self-publishing route. Some of the bestselling books on Amazon are self-published, and some have since been bought up by big publishing houses.

Best self publishing websites

Below is a list of the best self-publishing websites you need to check out.

1) MindStir Media Publishing

This self-publishing company tops the list because it is a full-suite company offering publishing services such as book editing, custom book design, printing, ebook conversion, distribution, marketing, and publicity.

So if you need help with self-publishing, then MindStir Media can serve you better.

The owner, J.J. Hebert, who is also an Amazon bestselling author, offers support to all the clients in areas such as marketing and publicity.

As a MindStir author, you retain the copyright and exclusive publishing rights. The website claims that they distribute your book to over 30,000 wholesalers retailers and booksellers in over 100 countries through their partnership program with Ingram.

You can learn more by downloading their Self-publishing guide on their website

2) Blurb.

Blurb is a very popular self-publishing company

There are no more traditional rigid ways of book printing. Their interface inspires confidence in marketing and design skills for one, whilst the variety of what’s on offer is more than you can imagine.

The book formats they’ve got are stunning as well.

Blurb is also recommended especially for your visual works such as Magazines and photobooks

3) Shabd

Shabd publishing

Another option that you may want to consider, especially if you are from India or targeting this market is Shabd.in. It is an online AI-powered platform to publish books in over 20 languages.

This platform also enables users to publish a wide range of content, including English books, stories, and poems. It features different genres such as romance, suspense, and thriller, among others.

The service is free to use, allowing writers to compose as many pieces as they wish without any charge. For other services such as paperbacks, Amazon and Google listing, etc, you will have to pay a set amount.

4) Kindle Direct Publishing  (KDP)

Offered by the Amazon giant, Kindle Direct Publishing is a massive publishing company that offers a great marketplace for your book… Due to their widespread reach and lucrative royalties, the amount of eBook sales made on Amazon is way above the competition

You can also sell Print versions of your book directly from Kindle by simply enabling paperbacks when uploading your book files. This way you can serve customers who love paperbacks. Having a paperback version of your book on Amazon is also valuable as it gives your eBook a high perceived value, which increases your sales overall.

To start publishing, you will need to sign in to your Amazon Kindle account. If you don’t have one, you can easily create one for free. Then you will need to fill in your tax information before you can add a title.

KDP Select is a program by Amazon Kindle where you get to offer your book exclusively on Amazon. If you enroll your book on Kindle Select, then you will not be allowed to offer your book anywhere else.

With KDP Select, you get to have 5 free promotion days for your book every month. Your book will also be available on Kindle Unlimited and you will earn loyalties/commissions based on how many pages of your book were read during the period

The global reach, the ability to change and update your book while online, and the multiple languages facility, make this self-publishing website appear among the best in the industry.

Extra Resources for Kindle Direct Publishing

5) Smashwords

This site is only getting bigger and better. The main aim of Smashwords is to figuratively ‘smash’ the traditional publishing with ‘words.’ Joining is absolutely free. Simply sign up, and you will be ready to get published.

It’s one of the largest aggregator self-publishing websites for independent book authors.

There is much more offered at this site that will help you in branding, marketing, and publishing.  You get over 80% or more of the net sale revenues and tools for promoting your creations.

Further, Smashwords provides clear and easy-to-follow publishing guidelines and great resources that will help you get started like a pro.

Extra Resources for Smashwords Publishing

6) Lulu Publishing

Among the best self-publishing websites is Lulu and for good reason.

Each day Lulu has over 1000 new titles getting published. Not only do they self-publish but they pay attention to the small details of formatting, packaging, and pushing your book out there for maximum exposure

Marketing, editorial, and proofreading, just to mention a few are some of the extra packages this self-publishing company offers.

Fantastic enough, these folks over at Lulu Publishing have written a great giveaway Marketing Guide which you can download for free.

7) Kobo Publishing

Kobo simplifies it all for you by taking you through simple self-publishing steps.

You start by describing your e-book, uploading your content, choosing the relevant rights, setting the price for your work, and finally clicking ‘publish’.

Your e-book comes out on the other end in ePub format. In a matter of seconds, your book is out there for the world to read you.

The biggest advantage of getting your book on Kobo publishing is the Canada sales. Kobo accounts for 25% sales of eBooks sold in Canada

More resources for Kobo Publishing

8) Barnes and Noble

Barnes and Noble is a self-publishing company that accounts for almost 3% of eBook sales in the United States. It also offers Print on demand (POD) services

Royalties depend on the pricing of the book and usually range from 40% to 65%

More resources for Barnes and Noble Publishing

9) Scribd.

If you are looking for a self-publishing site with more than ‘just publishing’, try Scribd. There is more entertaining, informative, and original written content from every author on the planet.

Read, publish, and share documents and written works.

You get to learn a lot from other self-published writers.

This self-publishing site designs your book cover, provides information about your content, and publishes and sells your work. 

10) Apple Books. iBooks

This is the second-largest books retailer in the world accounting for a 10% share in the industry. Its popularity is associated with its major advantage of having direct access to Mac users and iPhone users. Mac users have brand loyalty.

To directly upload your books to Apple Books, you need to be a Mac user, if not you will have to use major book aggregators to submit your files such as BookBaby, Draft2Digital, Smashwords, etc.

11) BookBaby Publishing

Bookbaby is both a publishing company and an eBooks distribution website that is appealing to many authors. This is one of the best self-publishing companies for new authors because of their easy-to-use interface, employing a guided approach

Publishing a book on Bookbaby involves 7 steps

  • Setting up your project details: Type( eBook, print, or both), number of pages, quantity
  • Setting trim size, paper type, and cover style
  • Choosing distribution channels
  • Saving your project
  • Uploading your book files
  • Reviewing the proofs
  • Filling out distribution information
  • Finalizing your order

Bookbaby packages include book cover designs, print on demand, custom book printing, professional editing, and marketing services, as well as distribution packages for both eBooks and print books.

Bookbaby, however, offers packages that are a bit expensive and may not be suitable for you if you want to print hundreds of books. For publishing services such as editing, you can find better deals somewhere else. You may want to use Book Baby if you want to print a few copies of your book for your own personal reasons. (25 copies and below)

12) Createspace Paperback Publishing

Createspace is many best things in one.

It is a book, music, and video site for those who want to publish their work.

The company is part of the Amazon group and can easily reach millions of readers, through the Amazon Kindle Store.

This self-publishing site has helped more authors self-publish. With a well-established infrastructure that can’t fail to put you at ease through the speedy process of getting your book online.

Their Print-On-Demand Services is of Top-notch quality.

Note: Createspace is now part of amazon kindle publishing. Though you can still log in to your Createspace account, you cannot create new projects. You can now add paperbacks directly from your Kindle account.

13) IngramSpark

Ingram Book Company is one of the oldest print books publishers and the largest self-publishing companies in the United States with an extensive reach.

Ingram developed IngramSpark to include an eBooks publishing and distribution unit to their company, powered by Lightning Source

IngramSpark also distributes eBooks to all the top online retailers such as Kindle publishing  (Amazon,) Rakuten Kobo, iBooks, and Barnes & Noble.

Extra Resources for IngramSpark Publishing

14) iUniverse

It’s not just about self-publishing.

iUniverse has an exemplary feature; the live-chat facility, where writers talk of all fears about making the leap into becoming self-published.

Further, the author interviews are a useful bonus in deciding whether iUniverse is really the right publisher for you. iUniverse can then help you with the basics of book publishing, including:

  • Book cover design
  • one-on-one author support
  • global distribution
  • Fast, on-demand book printing

The prices might slightly vary depending on the package, yet the value drawn from it is incredible.

Short courses we recommend:

Wrapping up

Which self-publishing company seems the right fit for you? When in doubt, go for Amazon Kindle, learn how to wade through the competition, and make sure to do a strategic book launch.

In a nutshell, getting published nowadays is much easier than before. Here are the 7 best online publishing courses you should explore if you are thinking of going the self-publishing route.

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Last update on 2024-03-28 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Mysson
Mysson
As an SEO freelance writer for hire, Mysson creates compelling content in online business, SaaS, and Digital Marketing niches for clients just like you. Hire Mysson for powerful business storytelling, crispy copy for service business or insightful articles that spark online conversations, attract links and boost conversions. Connect on LinkedIn @Mysson
Mysson
Mysson
As an SEO freelance writer for hire, Mysson creates compelling content in online business, SaaS, and Digital Marketing niches for clients just like you. Hire Mysson for powerful business storytelling, crispy copy for service business or insightful articles that spark online conversations, attract links and boost conversions. Connect on LinkedIn @Mysson

Guestposting on The PennyMatters has since been discontinued. Do not contact us on the same.

55 Responses

  1. This is a great read. I am writing a book. This is great for me at this time. My only question is, I have seen that most people write about how to books not much is out there about fiction. Are these sites OK for fiction as well?

    1. Hi Patricia. Congratulations on your book venture. Fictions are actually doing super great on sites like Amazon Kindle. Just ensure your book is worth someone’s time. The hard part is marketing, so also develop a serious marketing strategy before the launch

    2. Hello Patricia,have you heard of Draft2Digital? It also a self-publishing site it doesn’t matter your genre of book they’ll get it done for you.Am also a writer with one of my works already published by them just follow this link https://www.draft2digital.com/

    3. A good publishing site can me Wattpad and Inkitt. That is what I use and they are both really good book websites

    4. Whats Going down i’m new to this, I stumbled upon this I’ve discovered It positively helpful and it has helped me out loads. I am hoping to give a contribution.

    1. Not quite sure what you mean. I’ve published something on Createspace and have copies on hand and you can buy it on Amazon. The only thing is that you have to have it formatted complete on a pdf file (when I did it several years ago). I’ve also done lulu and I like its low cost and the fact that you can just download what you have onto their formatted web page. Printing is a bit slow though. It takes over a week for it to go out. Blurb is more expensive but they ship out much faster – a couple of days.

      I was looking for more information like I’ve posted on which site is better!

    2. Great Response Charlie. Thanks so much. In my view, Amazon Kindle is great for eBooks and CreateSpace takes the lead when it comes to Print-On-Demand. I will, however, take time to collect appropriate data and write another post comparing the various self-publishing sites.

  2. I wish some hardline information regarding marketing would come out, if the stuff that is out would work, we could sell

  3. Also, check out Donnie Graphics Self-Publishing! They offer awesome start-to-finish self-publishing support for children’s book authors!

  4. I am writing a non friction story but i do not know what it takes to publish it and how to make money from it. Is it possible i write the story via my blog? Please i need an innocent report.

    1. Hey Mojisola, I want to believe that you are well adverse with what you are writing about, as when it comes to making money from a book, you need quality work. You can find a traditional publisher to publish your manuscript or you can self publish it yourself on sites like Amazon Kindle and Createspace. You can also sell it directly from your website.
      I recommend you use your blog to build an audience that would be interested in your work when it’s finally out. You can email me for further consultations.

  5. Hey!
    This article is simply superb, Do you people want to explore some new websites where you can sell your books and earn money? I think Showflipper is a better option now a days.

  6. write in other sites as well. From experience, ive lost a hard worked on book before. I had over twelve chapters done. But on account that i didnt print it or have another copy my hard work was poof out the window. I want to encourage you to have your new book written on many differnent writing websites. Including these, so you don’t make the same mistake.

    1. I can tell for sure that there’s nothing as painful as losing your manuscript before it sees the light of day. The good news is that nowadays you can back your work on the cloud, think Google drive, apart from saving them in a flask disk so that you can always access them.

    1. Which would you recommend for a medical instructional digest? Had been looking into Book Baby, just because that was the only one I was familiar with off the top of my head, but after reading this article, it doesn’t seem like it’d be the correct choice.

  7. I have just written a book entitled An Act of Sabotage it is an historical fiction work inspired by the 1944 Fauld Explosion. Where would be the best place to publish such a book?

    1. I should have added a couple details to my question – no editing, illustrating, or design services will be needed.

  8. Hi I’m Vevine Goldson and I’ve self publish a poetry book call poems spring to life. Some readers find it quite interesting.

    1. Hey Leon,
      I haven’t tried Tablo before. If you are considering them, then you may want to do a bit of research online first. I hope all goes well.

  9. This is so helpful, thank you! I’m currently looking at options to self-publish a children’s paperback. I’m based in Malaysia for the next couple of years and have been struggling to find an online platform that sells and distributes in Malaysia and Asia more generally. Any ideas at all?

    1. Hey Clare, so am miles away. However, if you are looking for a local publisher in Malaysia, you can easily find by searching on Google with queries like self-publishing in Malaysia, etc.
      The very best

  10. This has been really helpful. I´m an eighth grader writing my first book (an upper middle grade fantasy) and I´ve been stressing out about where to self publish and how. This really helped. Thanks!

  11. Hi Mysson Victor
    Wow!! I’m at awe with your research skills. I find your article very resourceful. Thank you for sharing. I’m going to stick around learn and share.

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