best book publishing websites

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

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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?

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

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

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

• Guided Approach to Publishing on Smashwords

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

• How to Self-Publish on Kobo

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)

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

• IngramSpark Review

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.

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Last update on 2024-06-06 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

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• Self Publishing
• March 9, 2024

55 Responses

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?

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

I am writing a book about supernaturalism .

Sounds like an interesting read

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/

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

I love Wattpad especially because of the community

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.

Thanks for sharing above list to share content online. All above website were nice. Awesome list!

Hey Andrew, am glad you found this list resourceful. And of course, great to see you here.

Most of these websites suck and don’t work

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!

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.

Though this guy doesn’t like Lulu too much:

This guy – https://selfpublishingadvice.org/publishing-allis-new-watchdog-checks-out-lulu/#comment-787658

For me, I just “published” some photo books mainly for myself there.

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

Hey Dowless, I am currently working on something in that line. I will let you know once I publish it.

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

Thanks for visiting my website Ama

Thanks for sharing an informative content related to best self publishing sites

You welcome Darly.

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.

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.

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.

Thanks Jerry for sharing. I noticed Showflipper is more inclined to selling art

Hi Victor, when was this list done?

We last updated this post last December 2019, so these sites are very relevant

AuthorHouse.com???? any comments on them. I heard good and extremely bad views on this.

I hear that authorhouse owns the rights, not the author

I m writing a book on _meaning of life Are these sites suitable for me to publish this book

Hey Mayraah, Amazon Kindle and CreateSpace would be the first places to look into and later think of distributing it to the other sites as well

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.

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.

You can try http://www.bookrivers.com to self publish your book in ebook and paperback version

Your homepage’s copy could do with a bit of touch-up. You want to spend some time analyzing other self publishing companies’ website content

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.

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?

Hey David, I believe having it on Amazon is a good way to start. Remember you can self publish your book in all the other channels as well

What about Ingram Sparks. Aren’t they one of the more popular ones?

Yes, David. We’ve updated the post to include IngramSparks

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

I am writing a book about someone who writes books. If my book succeeds I plan to write a book about it.

Okay, Interesting! Send me a copy of ‘Someone Who Writes.’ It would be glad to read a book where I am the character haha

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

Congratulations Vevine. Having your book out is quite an achievement. The very best in your writing ventures

What are your thoughts on Tablo publishing website?

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.

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?

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

Anybody here have any experience with Tablo.io?

Thanks for all your research with these services. Looking forward to more of your articles.

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!

Thank you Victor for such a profound post. Well-done; I want to go into selfpublishing; though I am a traditionally published author. My book is a children’s book Cindy And Her Beautiful Bird. I just wanted to expand my Writing career.

Once again thank you. http://www.kingsley-osajie.com

Nice article! I am about to publish my first novel. Hope I can publish in more than one self publishing website.

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.

Hey Allison. Thanks so much for your nice comment. You have a great site and wishing you the very best in the world of marketing.

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Home / Book Publishing / The 8 Best Self Publishing Companies [2024] (Retailers and Aggregators)

The 8 Best Self Publishing Companies [2024] (Retailers and Aggregators)

Why should you know the best publishing companies available? Picture this:

You’re done. No more long nights and sleepless days. No more worrying about potentially gaping plot holes. All that’s left is to publish (and a victory beverage, of course).

Easy enough, right?

Wrong. Publishing–especially self-publishing–can be a very daunting task. There is a lot to consider and one false step can lead to a very poor introduction for your book into the world.

Don’t fret though. There are some great self publishing companies out there to give your book the fighting chance it deserves. But in order to ask “What are the best self publishing companies?”, you must first understand which type is best for you and some key differences between aggregators and marketplaces.

In this article, you will learn what are the best self-publishing companies for writers:

Kindle Direct Publishing (Retailer)

Apple books (retailer).

• KOBO (Retailer)

Barnes and Noble Press (Retailer)

Draft2digital (aggregator), bookbaby (aggregator), publishdrive (aggregator), ingramspark (aggregator).

Let’s go ahead and learn the difference between the two types: retailers and aggregators.

Table of contents

• Book Retailers vs Book Aggregators vs Full Service
• So, Should You Choose a Retailer or an Aggregator or Full Service?
• Best Self Publishing Book Companies of 2023
• Extra Resources for Kindle Direct Publishing
• Extra Resources for Apple Books
• Extra Resources for Kobo
• Extra Resources for Barnes and Noble Press (NOOK)
• Extra Resources for Draft2Digital
• Extra Resources for BookBaby
• Extra Resources for PublishDrive
• Extra Resources for IngramSpark
• Which of These Self-Publishing Companies Should You Use?
• What Do I Personally Do?

Before we get into the list of best self-publishing companies, it's important to understand that there are three types of companies: Retailers, Aggregators, and Full Service.

Book retailers are markets that directly sell books. Through these, as an author, you can upload your book and directly sell on their market. Book retailers consist of Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, and more.

However, there is another self publishing company called ‘aggregators.'  With these, you can submit your book, and they will send it out to all the other 40+ book retailers saving you time and energy.  Some of the most popular book aggregators are Draft2Digital and PublishDrive and more.

Finally, there are Full Service book publishing companies. These companies help in every facet of book writing , getting an editor , formatting the books , publishing and even book promotion marketing .

Well, all of this depends on how you want to market your book . Just remember… with retailers, you get a bigger slice of the pie. But in theory, aggregators can help you put your work in front of a wider audience.

As you can see, Amazon rules to the roost with over 85% of book market share. However, that other 15% is pretty important. So, how do I self publish my books? Which market or aggregators do I use? Well, scroll down to the bottom to find out. But in the meantime, let's look at the top self publishing companies and see what type of aggregators or retailers are out there.

Owned by Amazon, KDP is the top dog when it comes to the best self-publishing companies. The amount of sales done through Amazon dwarfs the competition. All of it. This comes from their widespread reach to customers and lucrative royalty offers. KDP pays out 35% or 70% of the book’s price, depending on the option you choose.

KDP offers a very unique program with KDP Select as well. This is where you give Amazon 90 days of exclusive rights–meaning you can’t list it anywhere else for that time–in return for discount promotions and countdown deals. Also, if using KDP Select, your book becomes part of the Kindle Lending Library and Kindle Unlimited. Here you will get paid by the amount of pages your subscribers read. And here’s the best part: If you find success through KDP Select, you can re-enroll your book as many times as you want.

When publishing on Amazon, you must make sure that your eBook is formatted into an Amazon approved file format . This is a MOBI or AZW (or AZW3) format. Many eBooks are written in EPUB, so make sure that you use a program such as Calibre to properly convert your formats .

If you’re looking to put your book in front of the most powerful market out there, KDP is right for you. Now granted, the competition on Amazon can be rather fierce. That’s why it pays off to have a great marketing and release plan . This includes properly choosing your keywords and categories and establishing the best AMS ads you can. Luckily through the help of tools such as Publisher Rocket , you can effectively self-publish and launch your book!

• KDP Tools and Resources
• Digital Pricing and Royalty Rates
• Is KDP Select right for you?
• Pros and Cons of KDP Exclusivity

Apple Books is Apple’s answer to Amazon KDP. Although it does not nearly have the retail power of KDP, it does have one major advantage.

Direct access to Mac users.

This is actually a lot bigger than you would expect. Mac users tend to focus more on brand loyalty. Mac users are more likely to have iPhones and vice versa. Apple tends to create a full user experience through their products and Apple Books is no exception. As a matter of fact, many Mac users start their eBook experience on Apple Books and are happy enough to not need to find anything else.

You must also be a Mac user in order to directly publish on Apple Books. If you are not, then you must go through a book aggregator to make your manuscript available on Apple Books. But if doing so, make sure that your book is formatted properly. This shouldn’t be too difficult however. Apple Books recognizes and accepts both EPUB and PDF formats .

When it comes to royalties, Apple offers a flat 70% rate.

• How to publish your eBooks on Apple Books
• Best things to know about Apple’s iBook store

Better Keywords & Categories Fast

See why over 47,000+ authors and publishing companies use and love Rocket to help them sell more books.

Kobo (Retailer)

While it’s true that only a very small percentage of books sold in the US come from Kobo, it can still be an awesome platform to utilize. Why’s that?

It’s estimated that Kobo accounts for 25% of all Canadian eBook sales. That’s a sizeable number to compete with Amazon’s KDP. Based out of Toronto, this Canadian company has gone global as well. It is readily available in regions all over the globe.

If you’re interested in a global outreach, Kobo may be the best self- publishing company for you to choose from. It pays out a maximum royalty rate of 70% on all books listed for more than $2.99.

• How to publish a book on Kobo
• Selling more books on Kobo with Joanna Penn and Mark Lefebvre
• How to Set the Price on your Kobo
• Kobo Tips and Tricks

Previously known as NOOK, Barnes and Noble Press is the self-publishing platform of the aforementioned book retailers. This is another exclusive eBook retailer. All books published here are only sold via Barnes and Noble’s online and physical bookstore locations.

Barnes and Noble Press comes with the added benefit of Print-on-Demand services. This means you no longer need to have that stack of unclaimed paperbacks taking up a corner of your living room.

The royalty payout rates for Barnes and Noble Press are definitely competitive as all books priced over $2.99 receiving a 65% royalty.

• Barnes and Noble Press Royalty Rates and Calculator
• Self-Publishing Services for Barnes and Noble Press
• Barnes and Noble Print on Demand Services
• Getting your Self-Published eBook Sold in Barnes and Noble as a Physical Copy

Draft2Digital (D2D) is the undisputed king of ebook aggregators. Ever since they acquired Smashwords in 2022, they've had little to no competition, instead becoming a potential rival of the big retailers themselves.

D2D has a lot of hidden features, in addition to being able to distribute to all major retailers and libraries. They also have universal book links for all of your books, print services, and a partnership with Findaway Voices to distribute audio.

Another advantage to D2D is that they provide formatting services free of charge. This in itself is not necessary but is a very welcome quality of life change. As far as commissions go, D2D takes a 10% piece no matter where your book is sold.

• Draft2Digital vs Publish Drive

If there ever was a fully complete one stop shop for self publishing, BookBaby would be the one.

BookBaby goes above and beyond when it comes to your journey of self-publishing. Their goal is to make everything as simple as possible for you. From formatting, to publishing, to distribution, to social media promotion, and more!

BookBaby distributes to both the eBook and print markets. Their partners include all the major retailers including Amazon, Apple Books, Google Play, Kobo, and Barnes and Noble.

On top of all this, BookBaby also offers print on demand services and cover design services as well.

You can figure out pricing using their user-friendly calculator to ensure that you stay within your budget. They also offer complete package deals (and I mean COMPLETE) for eBooks starting at just $1699.

• Quote and Pricing Calculator for BookBaby
• Deep Dive into BookBaby

PublishDrive is a relative newcomer to the self-publishing world and is already one of the best self-publishing companies available. Established in 2015, Kinga Jentetics wanted to find a way to reliably publish her master’s thesis. She and her team now operate in over 75 countries in 75 different languages.

Publish Drive works with all major online retailers including Amazon, Apple, Google, Kobo, and Barnes and Noble.

Perhaps, the most unique feature about Publish Drive is their pricing options. Whereas most companies offer royalty options, Publish Drive offers another option: Subscription pricing. With their subscription, you get to retain 100% of your royalties. You simply pay $100 per month to maintain this. This is an excellent option for well-established authors.

• Global Publishing with Kinga Jentetics from Publish Drive
• Publish Drive FAQs

With over 15 years of Self-Publishing and Print on Demand experience, I cannot in good faith construct this list without IngramSpark . Their Ingram Content Group is the largest distribution network in Self-Publishing right now with over 39000 separate marketplaces in 195 different countries. If you're looking to extend the long arm when it comes to your self-published titles, IngramSpark may be the company for you.

For those of you considering offering Print on Demand…IngramSpark should definitely be an option. They deliver one of largest selections of print formatting available and with a quality that is second to none. Looking for clear, crisp text? Or more vibrant colors for your illustrations? IngramSpark is the Print on Demand service you need.

One thing to note is that IngramSpark is not the cheapest Print on Demand service available. And they don't claim to be. But their quality is worth the price.

For your ebooks, you can have one of two rates for royalties. You receive a 40% royalty when utilizing the full strength of IngramSpark. However, if you choose to opt out of Amazon, you will receive a 45% royalty of the list price.

• IngramSpark Print and Ship Calculator
• Why you need both KDP and IngramSpark

Format Beautiful Professional Books

Easy to use, and and full of amazing features, you can quickly turn your book into a professional book.

If I had to define one clear-cut winner, I simply couldn't. Each have strengths distinctly unique to them. And nobody said that you couldn’t use more than one.

For example:

Let’s say I wanted to release a book in the US market. KDP and Amazon would absolutely be on my list. It is the largest retail market for books on Earth. If I were to forgo the option of enrolling in KDP Select, then I could also take advantage of Draft2Digital.

–BUT–

Let’s say my major market is in Canada or South Africa… Is Amazon going to be the most beneficial for me? At this time, I would probably focus more efforts into Kobo. Once again, I could couple this with a book aggregator to maximize my reach.

–OR–

What if you just wrote a book and know nothing about self-publishing? What if you would rather just have the joys of self-publishing with some of the benefits of traditional publishing? Then perhaps BookBaby’s complete package deal is right for you.

Here are my sales in the different markets at the time of writing this article:

As you can see, I've made the most of my sales through Amazon, but I've had a significant amount of sales thanks to aggregators as well. Although the information above is lifetime values, here is my current layout of the self publishing companies I use for my books:

I personally upload to the following retailers:

• Kindle Direct Publishing
• Barnes & Noble

Then for the rest of the retailers (there's over 40 others) I use the following aggregator:

• Draft2Digital

Why D2D? Well, I spell that out here . However, I've been in contact with PublishDrive and I'm REALLY impressed with what I've heard.

Choosing one of the best self publishing companies is not about selecting the company with the biggest reach for the most niche sales. It is about finding out what is best for your book and your situation.

Dave Chesson

When I’m not sipping tea with princesses or lightsaber dueling with little Jedi, I’m a book marketing nut. Having consulted multiple publishing companies and NYT best-selling authors, I created Kindlepreneur to help authors sell more books. I’ve even been called “The Kindlepreneur” by Amazon publicly, and I’m here to help you with your author journey.

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4 thoughts on “ The 8 Best Self Publishing Companies [2024] (Retailers and Aggregators) ”

We are complete novices at self publishing so are looking at Book Baby or Archway. We are trying to compare author satisfaction and returns for our self published book. Do you know anything regarding the reputations, author satisfaction, and return comparisons for these two companies?

I’ve heard of Book Baby but not Archway. And it’s hard to say whether they’d be good or not without knowing your specific needs. That said, the best companies will usually be widely known, and we try to keep this article up to date.

Thanks for the info. It’s very helpful. Just a quick question, on this ‘What Do I Personally Do?’ section, you listed Amazon. Was the sales promoted by D2D service or it was from your own KDP? Are you suggesting that we should do both KDP and D2D? Thanks,

I put my book through KDP for Amazon, and then went to Draft2Digital to put it on all the others.

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Self-Publishing Platforms – 12 Options for Authors

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Deciding on the right self-publishing platform is an exciting time for any author.

When you reach this stage in the process, your book is so close to being enjoyed by readers. All of the time and energy you’ve invested is about to bear fruit. All that’s left to do is choose the best way to make your book available to the world.

Choosing a platform isn’t something you should rush. Your choice will impact the number of potential readers you are able to reach. It also determines how much you can charge for your book and the royalties you receive. 

So what are your options? Which self-publishing platforms are available, and how can you choose between them?

Read on to discover our guide to twelve options available to independent authors today.

This guide to self-publishing platforms covers:

Apple books.

• Barnes & Noble Press

Draft2Digital

• Ingramspark

PublishDrive

What is a self-publishing platform?

Before we delve into our list of self-publishing platforms, let’s stop and consider exactly what the term refers to. 

A self-publishing platform is simply a service that allows you to offer your book to the world. 

Broadly speaking, you have two types of self-publishing platform available:

• Retailers 
• Aggregators 

Retailers are stores such as Amazon that allow people to browse and buy books. 

Aggregators are specialist services that allow authors to distribute their books to a large number of retailers through a single service. 

Choosing an aggregator involves a trade-off. You can save time and effort by not having to manually upload your book to multiple retailers and monitor its performance, but you will have to pay for this convenience in the form of a one-off fee per book, a monthly subscription, or a portion of your royalties, depending on the retailer. 

Now that the basic idea of a self-publishing platform is clear, let’s take a closer look at your options!

Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing service is the dominant platform in today’s self-publishing marketplace. 

Offering your book on Amazon should be an easy decision. It’s the platform where most people go to buy new reading material. Amazon also offers the Kindle device and app, giving customers another way to discover your book that doesn’t exist on some other platforms. 

For self-published authors, there are plenty of benefits to being on Amazon. You can easily offer print and audiobook versions of your work. You also have the ability to create a hub where readers can discover more about your work via the Author Central service.

If you decide to offer your book on Amazon exclusively, you gain access to special programs like Kindle Unlimited . Every author should evaluate if that’s a choice that makes sense for their situation.

Whether or not you decide to publish on Amazon exclusively, you should make its platform part of your approach to publishing. Otherwise, you’re missing out on a vast number of potential readers.

Apple Books might not account for the same level of sales as Amazon, you would be unwise to dismiss it.

There are plenty of iPhone, iPad, and Mac users out there who prefer to stick to apps made by Apple wherever possible. Apple is known for frictionless integration across its entire ecosystem, so this preference makes sense.

Aside from access to devoted fans, Apple Books has a number of other benefits. A 70% royalty rate is on offer no matter the price of your book, so you don’t need to go through the price constraints imposed by Amazon. Apple also offers authors more control by not engaging in automatic price matching, allowing you to know your book’s price will remain stable.  

Barnes & Noble Press

While Barnes & Noble might be one of the biggest names in the publishing world, the company has struggled to compete with Amazon’s success. However, they provide an easy to use platform for self-published authors, meaning there’s no harm in offering your book there if you decide to avoid Amazon exclusivity.

Barnes & Noble Press supports both ebooks and print books, and also has the benefit of promoting titles to customers of its Nook device and app. 

One final benefit to choosing Barnes & Noble Press is that all of the platform’s print books can be ordered by request to any physical Barnes & Noble bookstore. 

Although Blurb is most famous as a major provider of print on demand services, the company also offers the ability to create eBooks using either its own tools or 3rd party options like Adobe InDesign. 

When you decide to use Blurb as a platform for creating a print or eBook version of your book, the company lets you sell it through either its own retail service, or via its partnerships with Amazon, Apple, Ingram, and even Kickstarter. 

If physical books are an important part of your approach to self-publishing, you should check out Blurb further. In addition to print on demand you also have the option to order a large batch of your book with a lot of options relating to design and format. 

BookBaby is one of the powerhouse players in the self-publishing world, offering not only one of the best-known aggregator services out there, but also its own retail store. 

Authors who choose BookBaby as their self-publishing platform benefit from the size of  its distribution network. The company claims to have the widest reach, partnering with over 60 retailers from across the globe.

If you’re willing to invest money upfront, and you need the full range of services provided by BookBaby , it’s a platform worth exploring further. However, if all you’re looking for is a simple retailer or aggregator, BookBaby probably isn’t the best fit for your needs. You can learn more here .

Draft2Digital is one of the most famous aggregators out there, distributing books to almost all of the major retailers, including Amazon, Apple, and Kobo.

As well as its aggregation service, Draft2Digital offers authors help with formatting and promotional abilities such as Universal Book Links. One of the major reasons to choose Draft2Digital is the company’s lack of upfront fees. Instead, Draft2Digital makes money by taking around 10% of the retail price each time a copy is sold. 

Before you settle on Draft2Digital as the right aggregator for your next book, take a moment to read in more detail how the service compares to Smashwords . 

IngramSpark

IngramSpark is a good option if you are looking for an aggregator with global reach that offers excellent customer support. 

Authors who decide to use IngramSpark as a self-publishing platform tap into one of the largest worldwide distribution networks possible. As well as the major book retailers IngramSpark’s titles are available to libraries, universities, and indie stores.

You need to pay an upfront fee to publish via IngramSpark. The company supports both eBook and print formats and you get a discount if you will only be offering one type or the other. Check out our full guide to IngramSpark here .

Rakuten Kobo, commonly referred to as just Kobo, is one of the biggest international book retailers on the market. As well as its retail operations, the company provides a self-publishing platform known as Kobo Writing Life. Like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, Kobo also offers a physical eReader device. 

Kobo distributes books to more countries than the vast majority of other platforms, claiming over 190 nations at the time of writing. 

The ability to set your own pricing, the backing of parent company Rakuten, and the lack of an exclusivity requirement are some of the major reasons to think about publishing with Kobo. 

Like a lot of the other aggregator platforms featured in this guide, PublishDrive boasts of the wide reach of its international distribution network. However, while offering everything you would expect, PublishDrive also has some rarer features that help it to stand out.

A lot of aggregators support print and eBook formats, but PublishDrive also supports audiobooks. Also, PublishDrive offers you control of how you want to pay for their service. Most platforms either charge a flat fee per book or take a slice of your royalties. PublishDrive operates on a subscription model where authors pay a monthly rate depending on the number of books they have.

If you’re trying to decide between different book aggregators, it’s worth crunching the numbers and seeing how many copies you would need to sell to cover PublishDrive’s monthly subscription. Depending on your popularity, PublishDrive might make a lot more financial sense than giving up a portion of your royalties. 

Smashwords is one of the oldest and most famous book aggregators out there. For many authors, the choice of platform comes down to weighing up the pros and cons of Smashwords and Draft2Digital. So what are they?

Draft2Digital is widely considered to be an easier and more intuitive service than Smashwords. The Smashwords interface is older and looks a little dated. Smashwords also doesn’t provide the formatting capabilities found at Draft2Digital. 

Also, one thing to be aware of is that Smashwords doesn’t distribute to Amazon. It has a wide reach other than that, but it’s something to keep in mind. We feel that most authors will prefer Draft2Digital to Smashwords after weighing up both options .

If international publishing is a big part of your approach to self-publishing, you should check out StreetLib. 

An international approach is baked into everything StreeLib does. For example, its dashboard is available in a wide range of languages and the company website has dedicated pages for almost any country you can think of.

StreetLib distributes audiobooks in addition to print and digital. You can access all of your worldwide sales data directly within the StreetLib dashboard, removing the need for any external sales tracking service. 

If you’re based outside of the USA, or are an American author who wants to sell books around the world, take a closer look at what StreetLib has to offer. 

XinXii is another example of an internationally-focused book aggregator. So what are the key facts you need to know about XinXii?

This aggregator offers support for eBooks and audiobooks only. There is no print on demand option, so if you are looking to sell physical copies of your work, this isn’t the right service for you. 

Although XinXii has a wide range of international distribution partners, there isn’t anything that really stands out about their service. If you don’t care about the lack of print book support, and you particularly like the markets XinXii distributes to, you might want to explore further. 

What is the best self-publishing platform?

So now that you have a good grasp of the different self-publishing platforms, how can you determine which is the best fit for your needs as an author?

Overall, there’s no single best platform. Different companies have various strengths and weaknesses. It’s all about asking the right questions to narrow down exactly what you’re looking for. 

To help you determine the right self-publishing platform for your needs, take the time to ask yourself these questions:

• Am I looking for a retailer to upload my book to directly, or an aggregator service that will distribute to multiple retailers on my behalf?
• What formats do I want to offer my work in? 
• Would I rather pay an upfront fee for aggregated distribution, a portion of my royalties, or a monthly subscription? 
• How important is international distribution to my book marketing plan ?
• Do I need help with formatting and other services, or do I want a simple distribution platform with no added extras?

Want the “fast pass” to finding the right self publishing company for you?

You now have everything you need to choose the best self-publishing platform for your book

Will you decide to be exclusive on Amazon to take advantage of their special author programs? Or will you go for the widest international reach possible with a powerful aggregator?

No matter what type of platform you end up going for, we wish you and your book every success!

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