10 Best Self-Publishing Companies of 2024: Price & Royalties

• Nov 06, 2023
• 4 min read

• Tags: Book Cover Design, Book Marketing, ISBN, Self-Publishing

After months of hard work, your book is finally complete. You can’t wait for people to read it, but how exactly do you get there? Easy: Just get help from the best self-publishing companies! The world of publishing is competitive and ever-evolving, so you’ll need some guidance along the way.

From author services that help you perfect your book to retailers that help you sell it, self-publishing companies help you solidify your career. But which of these is the best of the best? Which ones offer the highest royalty rates and which ones boast unparalleled customer support? Let’s take a look.

Here are the 10 best self-publishing companies of 2024:

• Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)
• Apple Books
• Kobo Writing Life
• Barnes & Noble Press (B&N)
• IngramSpark
• Blurb
• PaperTrue
• Draft2Digital (D2D)
• PublishDrive
• StreetLib

Self-publishing can be confusing and difficult, riddled with important decisions you must make about your book’s editing, design, and pricing. The success of your book depends on these factors, so you can’t afford to go wrong here! The best self-publishing book companies help you make these choices, helping you publish your book easily.

Let’s find out more about the top 10 self-publishing services of 2024.

#1 Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)

Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing offers a vast array of self-publishing services, from designing and printing your book to selling it. The platform boasts an extensive distribution potential for eBooks and offers a print-on-demand service in paperback and hardcover formats. 

KDP’s exclusive program KDP Select helps you market and sell your book on Amazon more effectively. It can help new writers gain some initial book reviews, paving the way for future success. KDP also offers extended distribution for print books, helping you reach bookstores and libraries, albeit at a reduced royalty rate of 40%.

Royalty rates: 35–70% for eBooks, 60% for print books, and 50% on Kindle Vella

Pricing: Free to upload (file delivery fee is $0.15 per MB)

Distribution: Worldwide

#2 Apple Books

After Amazon, Apple Books is the largest retailer of eBooks, offering access to millions of Mac users. The platform makes it very easy to upload your file on iBooks and doesn’t charge a file delivery fee. Unlike KDP, this self-publishing company also doesn’t ask for additional payment on preferential store placement for your book.

You need to be a Mac user to upload your book to the Apple Store, but you can simply hire an aggregator. Aggregators are companies such as PaperTrue and PublishDrive that upload your book on various self-publishing platforms of your choice.

Royalty rate: 70% for all eBooks

Pricing: Free to upload (no file delivery fee)

Distribution: 50 countries where iBooks store is available

#3 Kobo Writing Life

If you’re looking for self-publishing websites with a strong presence in the international market, look no further than Kobo. The platform boasts a broad distribution potential and offers various promotional features to Indie writers. Kobo’s international partnerships with booksellers and libraries help you reach an international audience of eBook readers.

The best part is that the platform is quite simple and easy to use for new writers. It’s an open platform, supporting various digital formats such as EPUB, EPUB3, and PDF. So you can upload your book in the format of your choice!

Royalty rate: 45–70% for eBooks

Pricing: Free to upload (no file delivery fee)

Distribution: Worldwide, with a strong presence in Canada

#4 Barnes & Noble Press (B&N)

Barnes & Noble Press is an established name in the publishing industry. The self-publishing platform offers print-on-demand and retailing services and has affiliations with several author service companies. However, authors from only 11 countries can publish their books on B&N: the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands, and Belgium.

B&N’s distribution is limited to the United States, but it offers a unique opportunity to have your book sold in physical bookstores. However, books published by Barnes & Noble Press can only be sold in their stores, both online and physically. So it’s a good idea to hire an aggregator to upload your book to their stores.

Royalty rate: 30–70% for eBooks and 55% for print books

Pricing: Free to upload (no file delivery fee)

Distribution: United States

#5 IngramSpark

IngramSpark is a powerhouse in the self-publishing industry and offers print-on-demand and distribution services. The company distributes to over 40,000 retailers and libraries, including major platforms such as KDP, Apple Books, B&N, and Kobo. If you want to target a diverse demographic, IngramSpark is one of the top self-publishing companies to work with.

IngramSpark is equipped to print various books from children’s books to academic textbooks. The company offers free uploads for some types of books, but pricing often varies based on trim size and color options.

Pricing: $49 for print and eBook, $49 for only print, and $25 for only eBook

Distribution: Worldwide

#6 Blurb 

Blurb features in our list of self-publishing companies because of its visually stunning print-on-demand books. It also supports eBook publishing, but it’s most popular for its stunning photo books and magazines. They support a wide variety of print book formats with various paper and color options!

When publishing through Blurb, you can sell your book on Blurb Bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other major retailers. They’ve also partnered with IngramSpark to bring their distribution network on par with other self-publishing platforms.

Pricing: Varies based on the print format (no delivery fee)

Distribution: Worldwide

So these are the ten best self-publishing companies of 2024! We hope this list has given you an accurate idea of the self-publishing landscape and how you can step into it. If you have any doubts, feel free to leave comments and we’ll do our best to solve them!

#7 PaperTrue

PaperTrue is an end-to-end self-publishing service, offering pre-publication author services as well as printing and distribution. From book editing and cover designing to formatting and printing, their experts can elevate your book to global standards before you publish it.

PaperTrue offers three self-publishing packages consisting of various services, but you can also customize a package based on your requirements. At $1,826, you can have your book polished, published, printed, and distributed worldwide! This is a great option for new writers who need some help on their self-publishing journey.

Pricing: $348–$1,826

Distribution: Worldwide

#8 PublishDrive

Although comparatively younger than most other book self-publishing companies, PublishDrive boasts a strong international distribution power. It offers access to 400 niche and mainstream online stores, libraries, and subscription services in over 170 countries. This impressive reach is backed by the option to keep all your royalties for a monthly payment of $100!

PublishDrive helps you publish most eBook formats, audiobooks, and print books. Their modern interface is complete with various marketing and sales tools to help you promote your book and track sales. The Abacus software, for example, helps you split royalty rates between multiple authors and understand Amazon KDP reports!

Pricing: 10% of the retail price per copy sold or $100 per month

Distribution: Worldwide

#9 Draft2Digital (D2D)

Draft2Digital comes packed with self-publishing services and tools to help you format, sell, and market your book. Their handy formatting templates are free and they charge you for distribution alone. D2D distributes your book to all major online retailers as well as physical storefronts in the United States.

D2D hosts several promotional and admin tools such as the Books2Read page, where new releases are publicized. You get unique book and author pages on the platform, which you can use in your marketing efforts instead of a website. Other latest tools such as automated endmatter and error detection boost the market value of your book, keeping it updated. 

Pricing: 10% of the retail price per copy sold

Distribution: Worldwide

#10 StreetLib 

Specializing in eBooks and audiobooks, StreetLib helps you format and publish your book. Their free typesetting tool comes with a free online editor. They work with 50 distribution partners, more than any other aggregator in the industry.

So, StreetLib is one of the best self-publishing companies for writers seeking an international readership. The platform’s global distribution network features digital portals in 20 countries, dominating South America and Europe. What’s more, their dashboard is configured in Italian, Hindi, English, and Spanish, boosting accessibility for ESL Indie writers!

Pricing: 10% of the retail price per copy sold for eBooks, 20% for audiobooks

Distribution: Worldwide

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Prasanna

Prasanna is on a little break from academia and spends his time compiling fiction writing tips. He enjoys poetry, mythology, and drawing lotuses on any surface he can find.