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Top Five Online Places to Create, Publish, and Sell your Books and Make Money
There are many places to create, publish and sell books online, and we are talking about the real books and not just the eBooks. Doesn’t matter if you’re an established author or someone new to writing, the following services can help you establish yourself as a renowned author in next to no time.
Take the time to review each, before deciding on the one that best suits your needs and requirements.
The Amazon Direct Publishing platform is considered by many to be the number one digital self-publishing venue on the Internet. Once your book is published, you can expand your reach even further with the help of Amazon-owned CreateSpace, which allows you to sell printed versions of the book.
Amazon makes it very easy to create the book or books of your choice, even if you have no prior experience. The site offers a wealth of tutorials, videos and a forum to answer almost all questions imaginable, from cover design to formatting and more. There is absolutely no cost to publish on this platform.
Depending on the price of your book, you can earn as much as a 70% royalty on each copy sold. Uploading your finished books will take approximately five minutes. The title is then available for world-wide purchase within 24 hours.
Blurb.com features many free tools, which enable authors to publish print books of bookstore quality. These tools include templates, layout suggestions, paper choices and more. This option is especially good for those who want to create books filled with vibrant photos such as cookbooks or travel journals.
The site has a set price for each type of book it sells. Authors determine their own price and receive 100% of profit generated, over and above the base price. These books can easily be converted into iPad format, which makes them appealing to an even broader readership.
Blurb offers print-on-demand volume discounts, in the event that you choose to promote your books at book fairs, book signings or other events. The minimum purchase requirement for this discount is only seven books.
InstantPublisher.com is a subsidiary of a one-hundred years old publishing company, based in a small community in Tennessee. They offer fast turnaround at affordable prices. The site features detailed FAQ’s and a variety of templates to assist authors with their self-publishing needs.
The merchant can assist you in the conversion of your print book into digital format. In regard to eBook fees, authors have the choice of paying an annual flat fee or a per book percentage to list a single title on iTunes and Amazon.
They also offer services such as custom cover design, ISBN assignment, book display ideas that help to promote overall sales and detailed manuscript preparation. Writers are encouraged to request a free self-publishing guide that will go a long way in regard to answering additional questions.
Lulu.com offers free consultations as a means to help authors decide if they want to take advantage of the site’s paid services. These services include cover design, formatting, editing, book reviews and much more. Depending on the package purchased, it’s possible to get an ISBN number at no additional charge.
It’s free to publish on Lulu. However, the site claims that authors who utilize their paid services typically sell more books through sites such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, the Apple iStore and other top online retailers.
Lulu offers writers a wide variety of book sizes to choose from… everything from a small pocket book to a large square book, suitable for beautiful photo collections. There are also three grades of paper to choose from. Those wishing to do everything on their own will appreciate the site’s video tutorials on topics including do-it-yourself cover design.
SelfPublishing.com features a wealth of information pertaining to all types of writers. The site stands by its low price guarantee and claims, when it comes to printing, they won’t be undersold. To date, they’ve printed over 105 million books.
This vendor offers book layout and design, editorial services and more. If you’ve always been interested in writing children’s books, SelfPublishing.com is worth your consideration. They have a package that includes everything necessary to get your paperback published, from start to finish.
These sites are just the tip of the iceberg, when it comes to self-publishing on the Internet. Consider them as the starting point of your successful journey into writing.