If you want to publish your book in the traditional fashion, these 15 ebook publishers are accepting submissions. One of these might be the perfect publishing house for your digital book.
On the other hand, if you want to self-publish, below you’ll find 18 top ebook publishing platforms.
Continue reading to learn about the platforms and what you need to do to get started with them.
1. Kindle Direct Publishing (CreateSpace)
CreateSpace and Kindle Direct Publishing (both owned by Amazon) have recently combined their services. They now operate under Kindle Direct Publishing, one of the most popular eBook publishers amongst independent authors today. The great thing about having their services combined is that KDP can not only publish your book in e-form, but as physical paperback copies, as well.
With KDP, publishing your book can take up to five minutes, and can be available on Kindle worldwide within 24-48 hours. Through this particular platform, you can earn up to 70% royalty on your ebook sales (a significant amount when compared to traditionally published authors). As a bonus, there are no fees associated with publishing your book. It’s just that simple!
Kindle Direct Publishing has been known to have excellent 24/7 customer service and support. Whether it’s a question about the publishing process itself, formatting, questions about earnings and royalty, their knowledgeable staff is more than capable of guiding you and lending a helping hand.
2. IngramSpark
You can easily publish, distribute, promote and manage your work through this platform. IngramSpark is an ebook publishing platform that has often been said to rival those services of Kindle Direct Publishing.
The platform has been designed to help independent authors succeed, offering both ebook, paperback, and hardcover printed copies of your work. IngramSpark has the capability of reaching nearly forty thousand retailers, libraries, and online retailers around the world to increase your books visibility in the market.
Unlike KDP, publishing your ebook through this particular channel is not free. Rather, there are flat rates to publish with IngramSpark, but it does come with a wide variety of support services like 24/7 customer support, affordable conversion services, accessibility to retailers like Amazon, Kobo, Nook, and iBooks, and advertising opportunities.
It costs $25 to publish an ebook, $49 if you want to publish in print, but IngramSpark also has a deal where you can bundle both ebook and print publishing together for just $49. For more information, visit their website. Their support center is more than happy to help should you have any questions.
3. iBooks Author
Supported by Apple, iBooks Author provides a simple way to publish your ebooks and reaches all Apple users through the platform, whether they’re on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac. When it comes to this platform, it was designed specifically with educators in mind.
You’ll be able to include a variety of texts, fonts, colors, images, interactive widgets and even charts! If you’re more of a writer than a formatter, iBooks offers a wide selection of templates to choose from to help get you started.
4. Nook Press by Barnes & Noble
Fortune 500 company and renowned bookseller, Barnes & Noble, has its very own ebook publishing platform for aspiring independent writers to use called Nook Press. In a day and age where almost everybody has a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or computer, self-publishing is a great way to get your book out into the world without having to go through the tedious and long process of traditional publishing.
You can easily upload your book in as few as 20 minutes through Nook Press, potentially reach millions of readers, have the option to print hardcover and paperback copies, all while making money while doing so! Through Nook Press, independent ebook authors can earn up to 60% royalty on sales.
5. Kobo Writing Life
With over a million Kobo readers, Kobo Writing Life offers an excellent and easy-to-use platform for first-time ebook authors. It’s as easy as signing up from an author account, uploading your manuscript and hitting submit! You should see your book available in the Kobo store within 72 hours. You get to set the price of your book, run your own promotions, and have detailed reports available to let you know how your book is selling.
The great thing about Kobo Writing Life is that they do not own exclusive rights over your published ebook. You’re more than welcome to publish your manuscript on other platforms as well to widen your potential readership.
6. Smashwords
For those independent writers in search of a free ebook publishing platform, considering using Smashwords. Smashwords is actually the world’s largest distributor of indie ebooks. They provide authors with free tools to market, distribute, and manage their content. Any independent author looking to publish their book with Smashwords will definitely feel supported throughout their publishing journey.
Founded in 2008 by Mark Coker, Smashwords has successfully published over 135,000 authors since its inception. The platform is able to distribute to readers using their iPhones, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, as well as other e-reading devices.
7. Draft2Digital
Independent writers who are looking for support through their publishing journey should consider checking out Draft2Digital. They will help you format your ebook, publish in both ebook and print form, and distribute on your behalf.
You get to choose the listing price and manage your sales through detailed reports and analyses. The service is completely free to use, and Draft2Digital only charges 10% of the retail prices (a really great deal in comparison to a lot of other ebook publishers).
8. Lulu
Lulu is an online publisher that can easily turn your books into print or ebook form. It’s free to publish on this platform, and you control the details of your project from start to finish. With global distribution capabilities, easily reach readers worldwide!
In comparison to publishing platforms like Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, Barnes & Noble’s Nook Press, and IngramSpark, you can actually earn a lot more in terms of royalty. Lulu has a great forum for authors to support other authors, and even offer professional publishing services like cover design and illustration, editing, and marketing services at an additional cost.
9. BookBaby
BookBaby works closely with Amazon to help distribute your ebook to a wide readership. One of the best things about this particular platform is the fact that they don’t take any commission. You get to keep 100% of your net sales. You also get paid every week upon hitting a set threshold that you choose. BookBaby provides a great deal of support by offering expert ebook file conversion, fast and affordable editing services, and professionally designed ebook covers,
10. Inkshares
As seen in the Wall Street Journal, Jamie & Adam Tested, Wired, and the New York Times, Inkshares is an online publisher that helps independent authors from start to finish. They offer editing and proofing services, are able to produce your ebook and give you full control over internal layout design, cover design and printing, as well as distribute to hundreds of independent bookstores and online retailers like Amazon, Apple and Barnes & Noble. You can even set pre-orders for your book!
11. Blurb
Create beautiful and captivating ebooks with Blurb. Compatible with Apple iPhone, iPad and Amazon Kindle, easily reach your readers through Blurb’s online publishing platform. Blurb even offers a free desktop tool called BookWrite that will help you format your ebook and make it ready for publication.
There is a one-time $9.99 (USD) fee to publish, but any sales made after aren’t subject to any royalty charges from Blurb. They offer distribution through their own bookstore, through Amazon, IngramSpark and Apple iBooks.
12. eBookIt
eBookIt was created in 2010 and offers ebook publishing services to its others, including creation, formatting, distribution, author and book promotion, print on demand services and even online courses to assist independent authors on their publishing journey all for a flat fee of $99 (USD). They only take 15% of net payments earned, and are able to distribute to retailers like Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Ingram, Kobo, Google Play, Baker and Taylor, Scribd and their own ebook store.
13. PublishDrive
Trusted by major brands like Forbes, Apple and Google, PublishDrive is an excellent ebook publishing platform for any independent author hoping to get their work out to the world. There are no upfront costs to publish, and their platform is intuitively designed to help authors get published.
Simply upload your book in the form of a word document or ebook file, watch your book get published and distributed through retailers like Amazon, Apple, Google Play, Kindle, Scribd, Barnes and Nobles and nearly 240k libraries worldwide. Easily track your ebooks sales through their analytic display screen and watch as you earn royalties.
14. Hummingbird Digital Media
While smaller than some other ebook publishing platforms, Hummingbird can help those looking to publish their ebooks or audiobooks. It only takes a few minutes to register your account as a merchant, and you can start selling your ebook right away. Earnings will be directly deposited to your account, so there’s no need to wait for your royalty cheques in the mail! You’ll earn roughly 12-23% of your retail price for each ebook sold.
15. Streetlib
With Streetlib, there are no up-front costs, no subscription fees, and you even get a free ISBN for your ebook. Streetlib only charges 10% of the list price for each copy of your ebook that you sell. Your ebooks will be compatible with both Android and iOS smartphones, as well as any desktop computer, meaning that you’ll be able to reach a wide and eager audience.
Partnered with Amazon Kindle, Google Play, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and over 150 other retailers, distribution of your ebook is a simple process! Streetlib even offers writing forums to help you connect with other ebook and indie authors to discuss reading, writing, publishing and every other related question you may have.
16. FastPencil
With FastPencil, you can choose to publish ebooks, and print books in paperback or even hardcover. The platform offers an in-browser workspace where you can write, edit and format your manuscript before deciding to publish your work. FastPencil is partnered with some major retailer names like Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Nobel and more.
There’s no need to worry about buying your own inventory and worrying about distribution. You can easily track and manage your book’s promotion, sales and calculate your earnings with FastPencil’s in-browser analyses page. And what’s more, signing up to use their services is completely free!
17. Outskirts Press
Self-publishing an ebook can be an intimidating process, and the staff at Outskirts Press understand that we all need a little guidance sometimes. Their ebook publishing services can be tailored to meet your distribution needs.
They offer four packages: ebooks for Apple iPad/iPhone, Barnes & Noble Nook ebooks, Amazon Kindle ebooks, and their 3-in-1 Elite ebook bundle that is designed to be distributed across all three aforementioned platforms. Their 3-in-1 service is normally listed at $1097 (USD). While on the higher end of publishing fees, Outskirts Press helps with professional formatting, editing, promotion and distribution to really make your ebook standout from the competition.
18. Slicebooks
For as little as $9 (USD) a month, Slicebooks can help independent writers get their ebooks published and distributed to a wide range of retailers and public libraries. With a few simple clicks and an intuitive website design, you can publish ebooks.
Founded in 2013, Slicebooks has often been referred to as “the iTunes for ebooks.” Based out of Aurora, Colorado, this ebook publisher represents authors from the US, Europe, Asia and even Latin America. Easily repackage your content and redistribute your ebook to your own preferred channels with Slicebooks!
What did you think of our list of 18 top ebook publishing platforms? Are there any others you know of? Please tell us about them in the comments box below!
K. Z. Kwan is a freelance writer based out of Halifax, Canada.