The best online platforms to self-publish your book

Have you written your own novel and would like to give your project a commercial outlet? Bet on Do It Yourself: There are online publishing platforms through which you can self-publish your book proposal to the market.

The Internet age has revolutionized everything, and its tools and solutions to everyday problems also reach the realm of literature. In addition to the importance that the phenomenon of crowdfunding has implied for the cultural patronage of projects, the appearance of the electronic book -with the consequent lowering of prices- and its reading devices, the rise of web pages for the sale of second-hand books or the online platforms to autodite literary works that we will talk about in this article.

If you write, you spread your work through a blog or website and you are tired of receiving negative or null responses from the publishers to which you send your copies, you should know the possibilities that desktop publishing offers you. Did you know that this trend already represents 43% of the books published? The alternative of self-publishing a book -something that could previously be done with more rudimentary instruments and a more local diffusion-, is based on assuming for yourself the entire editorial process: correction, magazine printing, design, multiple graphic, typographic or content.

In short, self- publishing your book with the help of an online platform implies that you take care not only of the incubation and of development of the literary proposal, but of all subsequent steps: dissemination, promotion, sale, etc. We tell you the main advantages of this alternative.

5 advantages of betting on self-publishing

• You control the entire editorial process of your work yourself, correcting all sections and from your home, with the comfort that this implies.
• You are responsible for the design of your book, which you can adapt to your ideas, configuring the image or photograph of the cover and choosing the text on the back cover.
• As a good manager, you can choose the date of release of the literary work yourself.
• And you also take care of the promotion! Most of the platforms that we will talk about below offer it for sale in the main online bookstores as a printed book -printing on demand- or e-book.
• You can use social networks and different Social Media channels to publicize your work for free, making your personal content marketing strategy and generating more traffic to your personal blog.

This process represents a significant reduction in costs, and a greater amount of net profit for each copy sold than in conventional publishers. Even if publishers reject your book, you can still publish it online, thanks to your creativity, work and effort.

What are the best online platforms for self-publishing books?

There are multiple desktop publishing platforms on the network, also called self-publishing. These are Internet portals with very useful tools at your disposal that allow you to distribute your works online with a professional finish, instead of doing it in an amateur way.

A very interesting fact is that the authors and publishers that use them retain their copyright, since they only function as instruments of publication and distribution. Its use is very simple and intuitive and they have many different design and self-correction possibilities. Stand Bubok, Amazon KDP and Lulu.

Usually, all you have to do is upload the file of your literary work in a suitable format such as Doc, Docx or PDF to the chosen desktop publishing platform, create a cover, describe the book with aspects such as the synopsis, title or category and finally, choose the sale price of each copy in printed or electronic format.

On all platforms, there are several very interesting recommendations to guide each author in the guidelines for layout and edition of texts, since they determine the final display of the work and endow it with a professional image.

To set the price of a work, in the case of electronic books, the cost can be free or variable, although at Amazon KDP it is usually carried out through specific promotions of the work. However, in paper books, there is a production and manufacturing cost of the publication that depends on the type of paper, number of pages or dimensions chosen by the author.

As for the distribution of the net profit, it is 80% for the author and 20% for the Lulu and Bubok platforms. On the other hand, in Amazon KDP you choose two possibilities: in the first, the author earns 35% of the sale price; in the second, the distribution is 70% for the author and 30% for Amazon, once shipping costs are discounted.

If you look at the fundamental differences between these desktop publishing platforms, both Lulu and Bubok are on-demand paper publishing platforms that allow you to edit the electronic version of the work. One of the advantages of Lulu is that it makes it possible to distribute a paper work on other channels, including Amazon. On the other hand, Bubok offers you a varied letter of professional payment services: from the layout of texts by professionals in the sector to the production of press releases to publicize your work.

Finally, Amazon Kindle Direct Publisher is specifically for publishing electronic books that can be purchased on some of the devices compatible with your store, including the iPad and the Kindle range. This alternative has all the advantages of being part of an electronic commerce giant like Amazon.

Which platforms are better according to your priorities?

Depending on whether you want to publish in paper or electronic format, edit in a more professional format or opt for a simpler edition, some platforms will be better than others.

• Distribute your work in different powerful stores: Lulu
• Have a simple editing process: Bubok and Amazon KDP
• Manage your digital rights: Lulu and Amazon KDP
• Have a preview on compatible devices: Amazon KDP
• Opt for more advanced publishing services with a professional finish: Bubok

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