The best self publishing companies are the ones that match your goal: maximum reach, maximum control, or maximum help with the work you don't want to do. No single platform wins on all three. Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing remains the default starting point because it lowered the bar to entry for anyone publishing without pitching editors, but according to SlashGear, many authors have grown tired of the KDP route, citing issues like massive competition, high fees, and limited marketing tools.
The practical answer is a short checklist, not a ranking. Evaluate any platform on four things: what you keep from each sale, where your book can actually be bought, what it costs you upfront, and who holds the rights when the contract is signed. Run every candidate — KDP, IngramSpark, BookBaby, Barnes & Noble Press, Lulu, Google Play Books — through the same four questions and the choice usually becomes obvious.
This guide walks through each check, then looks at how the major platforms differ in practice. If you are still weighing self-publishing against a traditional deal, our Book Deals: Advances, Royalties, Rights Clauses explainer covers what a publisher offers in exchange for those rights.
What should you check before signing with any self publishing company?
Start with the contract, not the marketing page. Self-publishing means you retain the rights to your creations — that is the core advantage the model offers — but service agreements still vary in what they claim, what they charge, and whether they take a cut of sales you could have made elsewhere.
- Royalties. Ask what percentage of the retail price you keep, and on which formats. Rates differ by platform and by list price.
- Distribution. Ask where the book is sold. A platform tied to one store reaches one audience; one with a wholesale network reaches retailers and libraries.
- Costs. Ask what you pay before any sale happens. Setup fees, printing charges and optional packages add up quickly.
- Terms. Ask whether the agreement is exclusive, how long it lasts, and how easily you can leave with your files.
A platform that charges you to publish is not automatically worse — you may be buying editing, design or fulfillment you genuinely need. It becomes a problem when the fee buys nothing you could not do yourself, or when the contract quietly limits where you can sell.
How do royalties and distribution actually differ between platforms?
This is where the platforms separate. Barnes & Noble Press lets authors publish through a free account by uploading content and adding a cover file, and the company states that royalty rates run as much as 70% of a book's retail price, with your title appearing on the Barnes & Noble website and the Nook app. That is a strong rate, but the reach is largely one retailer's audience.
Google Play Books works differently: it puts books in front of readers in 75 countries, and the setup — a free account, an upload, and a choice of countries — takes minutes. SlashGear describes the commission there as a generous 70% as well.
IngramSpark approaches the problem from the print side. Its print-on-demand service means books are printed as they're ordered, so you don't need massive storage space or a huge publishing budget to get started. More importantly, it provides access to a global distribution network that includes thousands of retailers, online stores, and libraries. If your goal is seeing your paperback on a bookstore shelf, that wholesale reach matters more than a headline royalty rate — our piece on how bookstores get books explains why distribution into stores runs through wholesalers.
Amazon KDP, for all the complaints, still reaches the largest single audience of book buyers. Many authors use more than one platform for exactly this reason: one for the big store, one for everywhere else.
What does a full-service company cost, and what do you get?
There is a second category of self publishing company: firms that do the work for you, for a fee. BookBaby is the clearest example. It offers physical book printing, editing, book design, sales and marketing, e-book publishing, and even audiobooks — a suite aimed at authors who want to focus on writing while someone else handles cover design, proofreading and the odds and ends that get in the way of a finished product. The print-on-demand setup fee starts at $199, per SlashGear's reporting.
That fee buys convenience, not a guarantee. Before paying for any package, price the individual services separately. Editing, a cover, and a proofread are the three that most often justify outside help; everything else you can usually do yourself. Our guide on how a book gets published, start to finish maps which steps you can handle alone and which benefit from a professional. This connects to our earlier piece, How to Get a Book Published: How a Book Gets Published, Start to Finish.
Treat this part of the industry with care. Some author-services companies extract money from beginners by selling packages of dubious value. Compare verifiable costs and contract terms before committing, and be wary of any company that promises publication outcomes rather than describing services.
Which platforms suit which kind of author?
Match the tool to the project, not the other way around.
- Maximum reach, minimum fuss: KDP for the Kindle store, paired with IngramSpark or Google Play for everywhere else. Google Play's 75-country footprint is wider than Amazon's alone, per SlashGear.
- Bookstore and library presence: IngramSpark, whose distribution network includes thousands of retailers, online stores and libraries, with step-by-step guidance on details like getting an ISBN or choosing a book size and paper type.
- Hands-off production: BookBaby, if you want editing, design and audiobook production bundled — and are willing to pay the setup fee.
- Direct sales from your own site: Lulu, which offers a printing API that connects to your e-commerce store; when customers order, the job goes straight to Lulu for printing and fulfillment. It also handles photo books, notebooks, journals, calendars, cookbooks and magazines, and offers a pricing calculator that shows how book size, cover and paper quality affect price.
- One retailer's loyal audience: Barnes & Noble Press, with its stated royalty of up to 70% and placement on the Nook app.
Notice what none of these choices require: giving up your rights. Self-publishing's defining feature is that you keep them. If a contract asks for more than a license to print and sell, read it the way you would read any publishing agreement.
What this means for your next book
Our analysis: the phrase "best self publishing companies" hides a simpler question — best for what? A novelist who wants library copies and bookstore placement needs IngramSpark's wholesale network. A cookbook maker selling from her own website needs Lulu's API. An author who dreads cover design needs BookBaby, and should pay for it knowingly. A writer chasing the widest possible readership probably needs two platforms, not one.
Do the four checks in order — royalties, distribution, costs, terms — before you fall for any platform's onboarding. The companies are not hard to compare once you ask the same questions of each. The expensive mistakes happen when authors skip the contract and judge by the sales page.
