One of the technological revolutions of the 21st century is undoubtedly ebooks. isn’t it?
well, technically, the history of e-books began in the previous century, in 1971, when michael hart of the university of illinois started project guttenberg. however, it has recently gained worldwide appeal with the proliferation of mobile-enabled devices.
You are reading: Publish books online for free
The growth trend within the e-book category is only growing upwards. According to a report published by mordor intelligence, the global e-book market was valued at $18.13 billion at the end of 2019 and is on track to reach $23.12 billion by 2025.
This has been especially apparent during 2020 as people turned to books and e-books to escape the claustrophobia that followed stay-at-home and confinement orders. in fact, an article in the guardian mentioned that ebook and audiobook sales for uk publishers were at an all-time high during the pandemic.
The e-book market is growing at a rapid rate as e-book publishers have lowered the barriers to entry for all budding writers. Whether you want to promote your business or become the next millionaire author, writing an e-book is the perfect medium to achieve your goal.
You no longer have to be at the mercy of publishers to enter the literary field by becoming an author. all you need to do is create an ebook and learn how to publish your ebook for free online.
what! Can I be an author without paying a dime?’ you wonder?
While it’s a fact that anything that sounds too good to be true probably isn’t, there is one exception when it comes to getting your eBook published.
The reality is that you can become the next best-selling author without spending any money. Several online publishers allow you to publish your eBook at no cost. you should consider publishing your ebook on all the free desktop publishing sites online to give your ebook maximum exposure.
So, whether you’re thinking about writing an eBook, are more than halfway there, or have already written an eBook, you’ll save a lot of time and hassle by reading our list of 5 great places to publish your book. electronic. free.
1. amazon kindle direct publishing (kdp)
amazon kindle direct publishing (kdp) is a free e-publishing site that allows you to publish your e-book without paying a single penny to the publisher.
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To upload the eBook to the site, you may need to convert it to Amazon’s proprietary format. the website automatically converts word (doc), pdf, html and epub formats to the proprietary kindle format.
However, you can also use caliber or mobipocket e-book creator to easily convert the e-book to the required format without paying any additional fees. using the free software you can convert from a large number of formats. In addition, the conversion software can scale the font size of the eBook to ensure it meets Amazon specifications.
when you publish the ebook, you have the option to make it exclusive to amazon kindle for a limited period of time. This way, your ebook will be included in the lending library of Kindle owners, allowing you to earn a certain percentage of sales. you can read more about the kdp select program here.
2. barnes & noble press™
formerly known as nook press, barnes & noble press™ became part of the bookstore company’s offering in 2018. the relaunch changed the name of the press, making it more accessible to self-publishing authors.
b&n’s press website, which provides much easier, smoother and more streamlined user experiences, has gained popularity quite quickly. In fact, the company covered 3% of e-book sales in the US. uu.
If you have a manuscript complete, edited and ready for the world, it will take you less than 72 hours to set up an account and have your book appear in b&n’s online bookstore for readers to see.
The platform is fast and free to use and competes with kdp. If you want to take your desktop publishing business to the next level, the website also offers printing services where customers can order paperback or hardcover versions of your eBook.
3. smash words
smashwords is one of the pioneers in e-book publishing. It has a large selection of published books containing works by more than 40,000 authors. you can also publish your ebook on the site without paying any money.
Using the online resource, you will be able to quickly publish your e-book to a wide variety of online stores in no time.
Publishing your ebook on smashwords is more of a DIY task. You must first upload your ebook and a cover image using the ‘metagrinder’ tool on the site. the online tool will create an e-book in the required format in just a few minutes. and that’s it.
You can sell and promote the eBook directly on the desktop publishing platform. Plus, you have the option to sell the eBook to Apple iBooks, Barnes & noble, baker & taylor’s bilo, kobo and many other major online publishing platforms. the online publisher has also made deals with third-party companies like axis360 owned by baker & Taylors for distributing the e-books to public libraries.
Smashwords does not currently support publishing the eBook to amazon’s kdp. and this is not likely to change any time soon. amazon does not allow automatic loading of smashwords titles. therefore, it is better if you upload the ebook directly to kdp or use another third party publishing platform.
4. apple ebook store
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apple’s ibook store and itunes u are two free desktop publishing platforms that allow you to maximize your ebook’s exposure. You can learn more about online desktop publishing platforms by clicking here. Both online stores have different requirements for uploading digital books.
To publish your ebook on the ibooks store or itunes u, you must convert the file to the epub or ibooks format. you can use the free conversion tools mentioned above to convert the books. to publish to itunes u, the file must be saved as an .epub file or as an .ibook.
If you want to publish your work as a subscription product through the ibook store, you must use the ibook format. however, to get maximum ebook exposure, you should consider uploading the ebook as an epub, pdf, or text file to make your digital work freely available on other platforms.
You can publish your eBook to the iBook Store for free through iTunes Connect. this requires you to complete an online application. Once you have successfully registered on the site, you can download iTunes Producer to sell the e-book on the iBook store. you can make your digital work available in the store for free or set a specific price for the ebook.
To publish your eBook on iTunes U, you must create an iTunes U site. don’t worry; It’s easy to create the site by following a few simple steps. To create the website, just visit this site here and then follow the on-screen instructions.
once you publish the ebook on the apple store, you retain all rights to the content of the ebook. however, if you distribute the e-book in ibooks format, the digital work will be subject to certain restrictions that are mentioned in the terms of the agreement.
Apple’s royalty payment to e-book authors is similar to that offered to iPad and iPhone app developers. the publisher, author, or rights holder of the e-book will receive 35-70% of the proceeds from sales. to receive royalty payments, the price of the e-book must meet the list price requirements. one of the pricing conditions includes listing 20% below the lowest price set for a physical book. in addition, the title of the e-book must be available to all places where the publisher or the author has rights.
5. rakuten kobo writing life
Finally, rakuten kobo writing life is another perfect website to save your e-book for potential readers to find. Competing with Amazon’s Kindle, Kobo has its own e-reading tablet and its own library.
You have access to millions of readers. all you have to do is set up your account, describe your eBook, upload your content, choose the relevant publishing rights, and choose a price.
If your book is professionally reviewed, the platform will do the rest for you and publish it in the correct format (epub) in a matter of seconds. and there you have your ebook for everyone to read.
one of the most unique things kobo offers in e-book land is exposure to canadian readers. Surprisingly, the platform accounts for 25% of eBook sales in Northern Canada.
On a final note, the effort put into publishing the eBooks is well worth it in the end. for individuals, it can serve as an additional source of income. Businesses can benefit from publishing the eBook by not only increasing their revenue but also promoting their products and services online. But the most promising of all these websites offer is the realization and materialization of the authorial dreams of aspiring writers.
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