Completing your book is a great achievement, but getting mainstream publishing companies to accept it for printing can be a harrowing experience.
Some of the best-selling books out there today are self-published, and this is the best way to share your work with audiences around the globe. There are a lot of self-publishing companies, and deciding which one is right for you boils down to choosing one that is reputable and offers excellent publishing services, including exposure for your book.
These are the 7 best self-publishing companies right now if you are ready to get your book self-published.
1. MindStir Media Publishing
MindStir Media Publishing is a well-established self-publishing company that has managed to set itself apart from all the rest. The reason it finds itself first on this list is that it offers the full suite of publishing services required by anyone wanting to self-publish.
Their services include high-quality printing, control over design and editing, eBook conversion, distribution, marketing, and publicity.
J.J. Hebert, founder and owner of MindStir Media, is an award-winning and #1 Amazon best-selling author. He works together with each client, mentoring them through their self-publishing journey.
Self-publishing with MindStir Media allows you to retain the copyright and publishing rights for your book. Depending on the package selected, your extremely favorable royalty rates range between 50-100%. Most books are published within 90 days and are made available to 30,000 booksellers (both wholesale and retail) in over 100 countries.
2. Lulu
Lulu is the second-best self-publishing company and publishes 1,000 titles a day. It allows you to plan your book in your way, but it helps you with attention to small details like the formatting. Books are also packaged and pushed for maximum exposure and they reach audiences through Lulu’s distribution network of 40,000 retailers, schools, and libraries.
Lulu offers 2 eBook formats, EPUB and PDF, and you can upload your PDF to sell on the Lulu Bookstore.
There is a choice of various packages at Lulu, and you can choose according to if you need proofreading, editing, or marketing as an extra. There is also a marketing guide available as a free download.
3. Rakuten Kobo Publishing
The steps you follow to self-publish your book on Rakuten Kobo are very straightforward. You can have an eBook published and available for international purchase on their website almost instantly after uploading it.
Kobo’s Writing Life is the name of the self-publishing arm of the company. The first easy step is to describe your eBook before uploading your content. Next, you choose the relevant rights, set the price, and click the “publish” button. Your book becomes available in ePub format, all ready to sell in no time. If you distribute your book through Kobo, you have access to exclusive promotional opportunities.
Rakuten Kobo is a Canadian company and a subsidiary of Japan’s eCommerce giant Rakuten. It accounts for 25% of book sales in Canada.
4. Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)
Because of Amazon, Kindle Direct Publishing is a great market place for your book. You can also have print versions of your eBook published from Kindle, something which helps to increase your sales on Amazon.
Before you can publish your book, you need an Amazon Kindle account, If you don’t already have one it is easy to create. Before you can add a title, you need to submit your tax information. You are offered the choice to enroll your book on KDP select, but this prohibits you from making the book available anywhere else.
KDP Select gives you 5 days free promotion for your book every month, and your book is made available on Kindle Unlimited. Here you earn royalties based on the number of pages read by Kindle Unlimited Subscribers, one of the most popular Kindle services.
5. Barnes and Noble Press
The self-publishing platform Barnes & Noble Press was formerly known as NOOK Press. It is easy to self-publish your book with Barnes & Noble because of their user-friendly interfaces, and the company does not require exclusivity.
Recently, Barnes and Noble introduced a portal where authors can create marketing campaigns for their book on the company’s website. The company has print-on-demand services available and depending on the pricing of your book, you can expect the royalties to be between 40 and 65%.
6. Blurb
Blur is another popular self-publisher with an easy and inspiring interface to get you started. It offers a stunning variety of book formats and makes it easy for you to design and market your book.
You can sell your book on the Blurb Bookstore, in their global retail network of 38,000 retailers, schools, libraries, or through Amazon. Blurb offers several printing options for fulfilling orders and you can even have your book printed one copy at a time.
Blurb is also popular with people publishing visual works like photo books and magazines.
7. Smashwords
Smashwords is a popular large aggregator self-publishing website. It distributes books to Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Blio, and the Smashwords store, but not to Amazon.
You can sign up for free to get published, and they help with the branding and marketing. Their free tools include help promoting your book, free eBook conversion from Word.doc files, clear publishing guidelines, and plenty of other resources.
On average, you earn about 80% of the net sale revenue for your publication. One drawback of Smashwords is you need to do the formatting of your book yourself, not an easy feat for the inexperienced.
