The amazing thing about self-publishing is that any person can write a book and launch it to the public without much problem. The gatekeepers of very old publishing houses don’t exist when going at it on your own.
Although publishing your book is extremely amazing. It can also be quite disturbing, mainly if you are just starting out and not sure how to get started.
This guide will cover the top self-publishing companies you can select for your books today!
- What do self-publishing companies do?
- How to pick the right self-publishing company
- Best self-publishing services to know
- Self-publishing companies' FAQs
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What do self-publishing companies do?
In simple words, self-publishing firms help independent authors produce and publish their books on different retailers and platforms.
🍀 The process can sometimes be complicated, so such firms can help you navigate it with ease. This is their key offerings, but many may provide extra services, or helpful tools, to make publishing easy.
There are all different types of services that exist to help your book look excellent, read better, and sell better. They all take on different aspects of the process. For this reason, we have listed a big range of firms from printing, to aggregation, and editing.
Because so many choices exist now, it is vital to know some of the best self-publishing firms to work with.
How to pick the right self-publishing company
There are 2 ways you can publish your books – through self-publication or via a publishing firm. If you self-publish a book, you have complete authority over the book. Anyway, you have to bear some expenses such as professional editing, cover design, and other related expenses.
🍀 On the other hand, if you publish via a publishing firm, they will bear all expenses, but they will have authority over your book and may replace some aspects of it.
Anyway, you need to be alert when picking a self-publishing firm. Here are a few things you must consider:
The price they set for your book
A best book publishing firm will know the value of your book and assign the best price tag. If your books are too costly, it will drive away potential customers.
If the price is very low, then you will not be getting sufficient money from selling your books. So have the best look at the price the self-publishing firm puts on your books. If the price is around the average mark, then that is the mark of the best self-publishing firm.
The royalty
For each book sold, the self-publishing firm will take a cut but leave you the rest. This is known as royalty. It should be clear that the higher your royalty, the better it is for you financially.
Anyway, there are different ways to guess this royalty. If the book is sold on an online platform, then those platforms will pay based on the royalty calculator payment. Amazon pays sixty percent whereas eBay pays about 40-60 percent.
Right to change the contents of the book
If the self-publishing firm mentions having the right to replace the contents of the book, then this is a red flag. Self-publishing firms are not the same as traditional publishing firms. They just provide their service and should not have the right to replace the book in any way.
The reviews of the firm
The final thing you can do is to discuss with other authors who worked with a self-publishing firm and ask for their reviews. This is the very best way to judge a firm.
The higher the reputation and right reviews, the excellent success you will have working with that firm. But ensure you hear opinions from different authors and do not just depend on the works of one individual. Research their track record, their commission rates, and other unique advantages.
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Best self-publishing services to know
Here are some of the best self-publishing companies and services:
Amazon KDP
Amazon is the world’s biggest online retailer. It dominates the American market, capturing fifty percent of book sales. With over two hundred million people visiting the channel monthly, Amazon is an excellent place to be.
Amazon Kindle is a big e-reading service. The KDP Select program gets your book in kindle stores in thirteen countries, along with the Amazon subscription program Kindle Unlimited. Do note that KDP select needs exclusively, which means you can only sell your book on Amazon for the first ninety days.
Website: https://kdp.amazon.com/
MPL-Publisher
MPL-Publisher creates print-ready PDF book, eBook, EPUB for KDP, or audiobook MP3 from your Substack, Revue, Ghost, or WordPress publications.
Writing a successful book is a challenge nowadays and self-publishing an ebook can be very painful without the best tools. But with Kindle Direct Publishing, and other platforms of self-publishing, audiobook, e-book, and self-publishing a book can be very easy.
MPL-Publisher is a self-publishing service -also available as a WordPress plugin- that permits you to gather blog posts into a one file format that you can upload to other publishing platforms.
The key benefit of using this tool instead of just writing directly into MS Word is that the tool knows the right file format you need to use for each platform.
Website: https://mpl-publisher.com
Lulu
One of the top-known self-publishing platforms is Lulu and for the best reason. Since its inception in 2002, Lulu has produced nearly 2 million publications in more than 225 nations.
The developers at Lulu know how to format, push and package your book to get the highest effect. It is a one-stop shop to make, publish, and sell your books for free. The website is part of a group of self-publishing services permitting you to do most of the work yourself which lowers the price.
There is even a platform known as Lulu Jr permitting kids to become published authors.
Website: https://www.lulu.com/
IngramSpark
Ingram Book Company is the biggest distributor of books and one of the top self-publishing companies in America. And Ingram is the biggest book wholesaler in the country.
Ingram is a 44-year-old publishing firm, so it is no shock that IngramSpark will follow in the footsteps of big brother Lighting source. The lighting source is a fulfillment firm with locations around the planet, and IngramSpark has access to those distribution places.
In 2013, Ingram wanted to include an easy-to-use publishing platform for writers who want to publish a book, but have restricted resources. So IngramSpark came into the self-publishing area with all the tools that Lightning source has in its self-publishing tool brand.
Website: https://www.ingramspark.com/
Draft2Digital
Draft2Digital provides full formatting and distribution of your manuscript. When you use this platform, you can upload something as easy as a Word Doc and it will turn into an eBook. D2D provides a print-on-demand service, but it is present in the beta testing phase, so you may not want to trust that for book printing.
D2D provides you one place to distribute your book to many of the big sellers, including Apple Books, Amazon, Kobo, Barnes, and Noble, plus many others.
Website: https://www.draft2digital.com/
Print-on-demand companies:
The most popular print-on-demand publishing firms include Blurb, BookBaby, and IngramSpark. You can check their sites for pricing details, but you can be sure to have your books seen on important distributors such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Apple books. They give other services too, such as book editing, book cover design, and formatting.
🍀 The POD service will most likely get your book in their book shop as well. Anyway, if you do plan to consider them, you would have to know what makes their print-on-demand services stand out from old publishing.
POD may not be for every self-publishing author but is perfect for those who have seen some success with the proof of sales. This is primarily because of the discoverability they get with POD services.
Self-publishing companies' FAQs
Will I keep my rights?
Self-publishing firms and platforms should forever permit you to retain ownership of your publishing copyright and rights. They will ask only for non-exclusive rights to publish and potentially market your book.
The exclusive rights should remain yours.
How many book sales should I anticipate?
This depends on lots of factors including the book marketing, book format, level of marketing, price, and distribution you have deployed. You cannot guess a stream of sales if your book centers on a niche topic that few people find amazing. The indie books that sell 100s or 1000s of copies are aggressively marketed to a big group of interested buyers/consumers.
How long does it take to self-publish?
If there is no standard control taken into account, you could easily self-publish within a few days. But an author that wants to be taken seriously should forever focus on the standard over speed.
With that being said, it takes time to produce standard book editing, and designs, and to rightly launch a book tied to a robust marketing program. If you want to self-publish, you should guess that the project will take about 1-4 months to fully complete.
Do I need an ISBN?
ISBNs are needed if you want your book to be accessible to online retailers, libraries, and bookstores. If an author chooses to purchase an ISBN, their book will be accessible for sale on websites like Apple book and Amazon.
If you don’t intend to sell your book and just plan to print copies to donate or give to friends and family, you may not need an ISBN.
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Getting help in self-publishing your book is the best idea. There are lots of amazing firms to guide you via the process without requiring you to learn a fully new skillset. Anyway, scams abound and it is vital to go into this process with practical expectations.
Self-publishing firms can help you turn your manuscript into a printed and bound book, but they would not tell whether your book sells. Only you can do that.
