The publishing industry has changed a ton over the past few years. Today, anyone can be a self published author in a matter of minutes.

Self publishing is a great way to make monthly passive income. Just last month I made $1,738 selling erotica on Amazon!

The cost of self publishing is also very low. I regularly self publish books for less than $2.

However, some first time authors are overburdened on where to publish their books.

Here are the 15 best websites to self publish your ebooks:

1.  Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)

Amazon KDP is the best platform (by far) to self publish. They sell the most ebooks so your books will get the most exposure.

I make the majority of my money selling books on Amazon. It is free to self publish on Amazon KDP. All you have to do is create an account.

Under Amazon KDP you have two royalty options:

• 70% royalty option: Your book must be priced between $2.99 and $9.99.
• 35% royalty option: Your book must be priced between $0.99 and $200.

Also, if you want to learn more about Amazon KDP Select (and how  it can help boost your sales), check out this post.

Click here to start self publishing on Amazon KDP (it’s free to sign up).

2. Nook Press

Nook Press (owned by Barnes and Noble) is one of the larger self publishing sites. All you have to do is sign up for a free account.

Nook Press is a decent platform for certain genres. I find that the niche categories that I publish under are not too popular on Nook. However, it is still a great platform if you want to go wide.

They have an unusual royalty structure which incentivizes authors to price their books within certain ranges.

Here is the royalty structure for Nook Press:

• 40% royalty: Book must be priced between $0.99 – $2.98
• 65% royalty: Book must be priced between $2.99 – $9.99
• 40% royalty: $Book must be priced between 10.00 – $199.99

Click here to start self publishing on Nook Press.

3. Smashwords

Smashwords is another popular self publishing platform. They sell all sorts of ebooks. The one complaint I have about their platform is the interface looks a little outdated.

However, they do get decent traffic so your books will get exposure.

The great thing about Smashwords is you can give them permission to publish your books on other platforms as well.

Some of the other platforms Smashwords will publish your books to include:

• Apple
• Baker
• Barnes and Noble
• Tolino
• Inktera
• Gardners
• Scribd
• OverDrive
• Kobo

Because of the extended distribution channel, the royalty structure is much more complicated.

You will earn a 45% – 85% royalty depending on which channel your book is sold through. 

Click here to start self publishing on Smashwords.

4. Kobo

Kobo is a Canadian company that sells ebooks, e-readers, and tablets. It is a great way to tap into the Canadian market.

They claim to serve over 21 million readers worldwide.

Kobo pays authors royalties ranging from 45% to 70% depending on the book price and geographic region.

eBooks that are priced within the following ranges are eligible for the 70% royalty:

• CAD – Canadian dollar $1.99 – 12.99 CAD
• USD – US dollar $1.99 – $12.99
• GBP – British Pound £1.99 – 7.99 GBP
• AUD – Australian dollar $1.99 – 11.99 AUD
• EUR – Euro €1.99 – 12.99 EUR
• HKD – Hong Kong dollar $15.99 – $99.99 HKD
• NZD – New Zealand dollar $1.99 – $12.99 NZD

Click here to start self publishing on Kobo.

5. Apple iBooks

Authors can self publish on Apple’s iBooks platform.

Apple pays self published authors a royalty rate of 70% no matter where the book is sold. 

In general, I don’t like self publishing my books on Apple. I have found they don’t sell well. Also, I find the interface very hard to use.

Also, if you are selling erotica (like me), Apple has very strict guidelines against that. As a result, many of your books might get blocked. You’re much better off publishing on Amazon in my opinion.

Click here to start self publishing on Apple.

6. Lulu

Lulu was an print and on-demand self publishing platform that was founded in 2002. They have about 2 million titles on their site.

Lulu is kind of like Smashwords. You can sell your book on their site or have them distribute your books to other platforms.

If you sell your book on Lulu, you will earn a 90% royalty. The catch is, Lulu isn’t as popular as Amazon or Nook so they have to incentivze authors with a higher royalty.

Lulu distributes to a ton of other sites including, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Kobo.

If you distribute your books to those sites through Lulu your royalties will be much lower (because of distributor fees). Plus, Lulu will still take a 10% royalty.

As a result, I would not recommend having Lulu redistribute your book to other sites.

Click here to start self publishing on Lulu.

7. Lot’s Cave

If you publish erotica like I do, Lot’s Cave might be a good alternative to some of the other self publishing companies I’ve listed here.

Lot’s Cave is exclusively dedicated to self publishing erotica. As a result, they are much more lax in what you are allowed to write about.

Lot’s Cave pays authors a flat 75% royalty on all books.

They also distribute your books to other platforms, but the royalty rate is much lower.

Click here to start self publishing on Lot’s Cave.

8. Draft2Digital

Draft2Digital (D2D) doesn’t actually sell any books. However, they do help you format, publish, and distribute your ebooks (and print books).

D2D pays authors 85% of the net royalties on book sales.

Draft2Digital is a good site to use if you (1) need help formatting books or (2) would like to distribute your books to a wide variety of other self publishing companies.

Click here to start using Draft2Digital.

9. Createspace

Createspace is an on-demand publishing company. They help authors and artists self publish books, music, and video through multiple outlets. It is also owned by Amazon.

Createspace is a great outlet to promote the print copy to your ebook. The royalties will depend on the color of your book (black/white vs. color), trim size, and number of pages.

Plus, unlike ebooks, there will also be printing costs, which reduces the net royalty amount. Generally speaking, you should expect a 30% – 40% royalty (which includes print costs).

Click here to sign up for Createspace.

10. Blurb

Blurb is another self publishing website that specializes in the design and distribution of ebooks and print books. They distribute books to many of the major online retailers including Amazon and Apple.

In addition to eBooks, they also specialize in magazines, trade books, and photo books.

Click here to sign up for Blurb.

The Best Self Publishing Company

So after going through this list you’re probably wondering which is the best self publishing site to use?

Without a doubt, I would say Amazon KDP is the best for five reasons:

1. They get the most traffic

If you want to make money selling ebooks, you need to sell through Amazon. They get the most traffic out of any of the self publishing sites I listed.

I’ve had the most success selling on Amazon. In fact, 95% of my ebook royalties come from Amazon KDP.

There’s a reason why Amazon sells the most ebooks online!

2. Platform is highly intuitive and very modern

The Amazon KDP site is very easy to use. Everything is intuitive and they have helpful hints when you first try to fill out information about your book.

The Amazon KDP staff are also very professional. They will typically get back to you within 24 hours if you have any concerns/questions.

The author support is tremendous and much better than the other platforms I listed.

3. Highest royalty rates

Not only does Amazon have the best traffic out of all these sites, but they also pay the best royalty (70%).

Amazon could sure as hell get away with paying authors less, but I’m glad they don’t try to squeeze us!

4. They pay monthly

Amazon pays us authors our royalties on a monthly basis and they have NEVER been late!

P.S. Want to make $1,000+ a month writing erotica on Amazon? Check out my post HERE!