Home » Books, Poetry & Writing » Books » Book publishing industry

Resources for Self-Publishing eBooks

4 Comments

27 Like

Like 27

Pin It

Ranked #2,588 in Books, Poetry & Writing, #103,357 overall

Self-Publishing Your eBook

If you have decided to self-publish your own ebook online, this is the right lens for you! We will cover the different features and benefits of using each of the major online self-publishing companies available to choose from.

Self-Publishing Services

Amazon has a few different services to choose from if you decide to self-publish with them.

Amazon Kindle eBook Reader

Self-Publishing With Amazon

You can self-publish your ebook for free to sell on Amazon.

CreateSpace: Self Publishing and Free Distribution for Books, CD, DVD: CreateSpace provides free tools to help you self-publish and distribute your books, DVDs, CDs, video downloads and MP3s on-demand on Amazon.com and other channels
Digital Text Platform: Self-publish to Amazon's Kindle Store: Amazon's Digital Text Platform allows you to self-publish your books and make them available on Kindle, iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Mac, and PC. All you need to get started is a digital file of your book.
Amazon.com Bestsellers: The most popular items in Kindle Store: Browse the bestsellers list in the Kindle Store over at Amazon.
How To Gift An eBook - eBookNewser: How To Gift An eBook
How To Copy, Paste & Share Your Kindle Highlights - GalleyCat: How To Copy, Paste & Share Your Kindle Highlights
Find Free Kindle Books – Fevered Mutterings
10 Kindle Tricks and Tweaks - Dear Author

Kindle Store

Shop in Amazon's Online Kindle Book Store for eBooks Self-Published by Authors.

Recommended Self-Publishing Products

Self-Publishing With Barnes & Noble

PubIt! Registration: Home: PubIt! by Barnes & Noble is an online, self-service Web portal where independent publishers and authors can upload their eBooks and make them available for sale through the Barnes & Noble eBookstore. This easy-to-use distribution platform offers qualified users the expanded distribution, visibility, and protection that only Barnes & Noble can offer. eBooks, essays, articles, poems, and short stories sold through the Barnes & Noble eBookstore are available for sale on BN.com, NOOK eBook Readers, and our free NOOK eReading software for iPad, iPhone/iPod touch, Android, PC, etc.
Barnes & Noble - Books, Textbooks, eBooks, Toys, Games & More: New! Lower Prices on Millions of Books, DVDs, Music, Toys & Games and More. Shop for eBooks, NOOK, and textbooks. FREE Shipping on $25 orders!
NOOKbooks, Download Free NOOKbooks, eReader - Barnes & Noble: BARNES & NOBLE - Shop over 1 million NOOKbooks. Thousands of titles Under $9.99. Download our free eReader to get free NOOKbooks today.

Nook Reader

PubIt

Use the PubIt service from Barnes & Noble to self-publish your ebooks for the Nook Reader.

Lulu Publishing

Self-Publishing Services

"Lulu is creating a new model in publishing - open publishing - that empowers more creators to sell more content to more readers more profitably than ever before. Through our open publishing platform, we are helping creators make works available in multiple formats and markets and improving discovery so buyers can more easily find the content they need. Since our founding in 2002, 1.1 million creators from more than 200 countries and territories have signed up with us. And each month, we add approximately 20,000 titles to our catalog."
-Lulu's About Page

Smashwords

In Their Own Words...

"Welcome to Smashwords! Smashwords is an ebook publishing and distribution platform for ebook authors, publishers and readers. We offer multi-format, DRM-free ebooks, ready for immediate sampling and purchase, and readable on any e-reading device.

For readers, Smashwords provides an opportunity to discover new voices in all categories and genres of the written word. Once you register, the site offers useful tools for search, discovery and personal library-building, and each week we add new features based on feedback from members.

At Smashwords, our authors and publishers have complete control over the sampling, pricing and marketing of their written works.
Smashwords is ideal for publishing novels, short fiction, poetry, personal memoirs, monographs, non-fiction, research reports, essays, or other written forms that haven't even been invented yet.

It's free to publish and distribute with Smashwords."

Book Marketing

More Useful Resources

Search Engines, Discovery Links & Other Tools

The following list is a collection of additional ebook and self-publishing resources. Included are the following: search engines and discovery tools, pricing info, blog to ebook formatting, PDF resources, journaling sites and much more.

As a bonus, for the creative writers, I have also added some excellent links to writing prompts, creative writing exercises, fiction feedback sites, writing contests, book recommendation resources and more.

Tools for Writers & Authors

Creative Links & Other Resources

Page99Test.com | Find & rate short book excerpts: Published and unpublished writers upload page 99 of their book manuscript to Page99Test.com. Huge community of readers read the book excerpts and rate books.
ShelfLuv - Builds a Bookshelf as You Type: ShelfLuv - Builds a Bookshelf as You Type
The eBook search engine comparing prices and availability on iBookstore, Nook and Kindle - Leatherbound: No more searching the Kindle, Nook, and iBook stores to find the eBook you want at the price you want. Search once with Leatherbound.
First Line Fiction - A short story contest where the writers determine the winners: A short story contest. We provide the first line, you provide the fiction.
WordSift - Visualize Text: visualize texts.
Write for Ten - write for 10 minutes about anything

Excellent Resources

Subscribe to My EZineArticles!

Additional Self-Publishing Resources

Other Companies & Services

The following list includes many other online self-publishing tools for authors to use for their ebooks. It has everything from cover design services, print on demand services, blog post conversion resources, formatting tools, feedback, book reviews, manuscript editing, marketing, promoting help, blogs and more!

Self Publish, Print-on-demand, Read books online - CompletelyNovel: Welcome to CompletelyNovel; the book publishing innovation centre. The centre is home to a friendly community of book futurists, provides professional book production facilities and a wide variety of reading, publishing and discovery experiences. Our goal and passion is to create the best possible way to get good books to their target audience. The centre has two wings, the hub and the business wing.
Free Book Writing Software: self-publish and sell your book or ebook with just a few clicks. - FastPencil: FastPencil is book publishing without the pain. The traditional book publishing process can take many months of effort and more money than most writers anticipate. It's no wonder authors get discouraged.
Page99Test.com | Find & rate short book excerpts: Published and unpublished writers upload page 99 of their book manuscript to Page99Test.com. Huge community of readers read the book excerpts and rate books.
Myebook - get it out there!: myebook aims to revolutionise the way we create, publish and share ebook content online. Built on a feature-rich social platform, complete with powerful, browser-based, builder software, and a slick reader environment, there's never been an easier way for anyone and everyone to 'get it out there'.
eBooks made simple - Wobook.com: Digital Magazines, ebooks and virtual catalogues: transform automatically your PDF files into a wobook for free.
eBookCake | We Turn Your Blog Posts & Articles Into Elegantly Designed Ebooks: We Turn Your Blog Posts & Articles Into Elegantly Designed Ebooks. Increase revenue from your existing site content. Have your cake & eat it too!
Zinepal | Online eBook Creator: Use Zinepal to create printable PDFs and eBooks from online content. You can create printable PDF, Kindle/Mobipocket and ePub eBooks. You can select stories from blogs, websites and Atom/RSS feeds. Print you eBook, read it on your eBook reader or e-mail it to your friends.
eBook Cover Creator - eCover Design Online Free: myEcoverMaker.com is a Free Online eCover Maker - Create ebook and software box covers for your products. For Free and Paid Options
3D-box maker - 3d-box & package on-line for free: 3d package is a 3d-box graphic generator. 3d package lets you instantly create 3d-box images online, free! Just upload three pictures for cover, side and top and then get 3d-box in you favorite image format (JPG, GIF, PNG supported). Post them in your blog or anywhere else.
Mobipocket.com - eBooks and ebook reader for your PC, PDA and Smartphone: Palm, Windows mobile, Symbian, Blackberry, or PocketPC.: Mobipocket.com sells electronic books, or ebooks, for all PDA and Smartphones (and for your PC): Read them on your Windows Mobile Blackberry Palm Symbian ( Nokia Series 60 1st 2nd 3rd edition, UIQ 2, UIQ 3) or Pocket-PC .
MergePDF.net: Merge PDF Documents easily using an online free service (no registration)
Read free books online - Short stories - Poems - Novels And more...: Read, write and network free literature on the internet & featuring the latest in digital flipbook technology providing you a unique online reading experience & have fun!
eBook Architects - eBook Formats: eBook conversion services and expert consultations.
Publishing - GalleyCat: Read all Publishing news
Reader Spoils: Readers - Authors
LibraryThing | Catalog your books online: LibraryThing catalogs your books online, easily, quickly and for free.
Choosing the Perfect EBook Publisher: Start an eBook Publishing Business
Home Choosing the Perfect EBook Publisher
One of the many hidden opportunities that arose from the Internet roar is the rise of online publishing groups. This is by and large considered to be a great option for young eBook writers who do not have enough

Some Great Sources of Information

Feedback:

Post your comments & feedback

Reply

sallemange Mar 27, 2011 @ 4:34 am | delete

This has really helped me in my research of this area because i want to publish an e-book soon.

Reply

thegirlnextfloor Mar 28, 2011 @ 5:32 pm | delete

Hi there, I'm really glad you found some useful things on here and I wish you the best luck with your e-book! It's been quite an adventure since I decided to self-publish, and I think it's a great and empowering movement of creative people. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Reply

BFuniv.com Jan 30, 2011 @ 9:48 pm | delete

I would add Smashwords.com to your list. They take your submission and forward it to Amazon, Sony, B&N, and other distributors -- and sell it themselves as well. A great resource.

I paid a freelancer a small amount to get formatted for Smashwords. I'm doing the formating of my trilogy for Createspace right now, it's a steep learning curve.

I found an inexpensive but quite competent and pleasant book cover designer named Donna. She was on a list provided (not guaranteed) by Smashwords.

This is fun.

Reply

thegirlnextfloor Mar 23, 2011 @ 4:37 am | delete

Hi there, I added Smashwords as you suggested. I don't know as much about them, but I added them to this list of resources. If you have any tips for using the site, let me know and I will gladly update their section. Thank you for commenting!