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
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
- Bestseller Book Marketing: Amazon Kindle KDP Self-Publishing
- How to Become a Bestselling Author on Amazon Kindle
- eBook Best Seller Bootcamp
- How to Launch a book on Amazon
- Complete Kindle Launch Plan
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
- Selling Self Published Books at Barnes and Noble
- Barnes and Noble Royalty Calculator
- Steps to getting published on Barnes and Noble (NookPress)
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:
- Formatting for Kindle
- Self-publishing with Smashwords
- How to Succeed with Kindle Short Reads
- Amazon Self-Publishing – Create Kindle Books Fast
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.
