 |
| The Two Best Self-Publishing Sites for 2025 |
The Two Best Self-Publishing Sites for 2025: A Comprehensive Comparison Between Amazon and Draft2Digital
If you lack the funds for traditional publishing, you face significant challenges in turning your manuscripts into published books. These difficulties extend beyond the hurdles of traditional publishing to include every stage of the process, from editing to distribution.
Thanks to self-publishing, the dream of turning your manuscripts into published books has become a reality. Self-publishing is the process where an author handles every step of the publishing process themselves, from writing and design to marketing and distribution. Through self-publishing platforms, you can reach millions of readers worldwide.
This article provides a comprehensive comparison of the two best self-publishing sites, exploring their features and drawbacks so you can make an informed decision and choose the platform that is right for you and can help you generate profit.
Amazon Kindle
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is a tool that makes the dream of turning your ideas into a book that millions of people can read a reality. It is considered one of the most important self-publishing platforms in the world.
How to Publish on Amazon
Simply upload your manuscript and book cover, and Amazon will handle the selling and distribution. Most importantly, you retain all your rights and have full control over your book's price and royalties.
What are the advantages of self-publishing on Amazon Kindle (KDP)?
No Registration Fee: You can create an account for free.
Easy File Upload: You can upload your manuscript in a simple Word (.docx) file, and the platform will automatically convert it into a professional e-book (ePub) for free.
Free ISBN: The platform provides a free ISBN (International Standard Book Number) for each version of your book (electronic or print), which would be expensive to purchase on your own.
Access to a Huge Audience: Amazon gives you direct access to millions of readers worldwide, which significantly increases the chances of selling your book. You do not need a literary agent or a traditional publisher.
Full Control: You are in complete control of your book. You can set the price, design the cover, write the description, and make changes at any time. This flexibility is not available with traditional publishing.
Higher Royalties: You can earn up to 70% of the book's sale price, which is a much higher percentage than what traditional publishers offer (often between 5% and 15%).
Free and Fast Publishing: There are no costs to publish on Amazon KDP. You can upload your book in minutes, and it becomes available for sale within just 24 to 48 hours.
Print on Demand (POD): Amazon allows you to print physical copies of your book without having to pay for printing costs upfront. The book is only printed when a customer orders it, which eliminates the risks of inventory and storage.
It also offers 12 other free features to help authors publish their manuscripts, which we mentioned in a previous article.
Drawbacks of self-publishing on Amazon Kindle (KDP)
You Do All the Work: You are responsible for everything: writing, editing, proofreading, and design.
Intense Competition: The Amazon marketplace is crowded with millions of books. It can be difficult to make your book stand out amid this massive competition, especially in popular categories.
Marketing Difficulties: As an independent author, you do not have a marketing team to promote your book. You must learn digital marketing strategies yourself, which can be time-consuming and challenging.
Editing and Design Quality: Readers can easily spot books that have not undergone professional proofreading or design, which negatively affects sales and reviews.
Sales Restrictions: If you enroll in the KDP Select program to maximize promotional benefits, your book will be exclusively available on Amazon, and you will not be able to sell it on any other platform for 90 days.
Draft2Digital
Draft2Digital (D2D) is a self-publishing platform that acts as an intermediary between the author and major global stores. Instead of uploading and formatting their book separately for each store (such as Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, etc.), an author can upload the manuscript once to D2D, and it handles the rest.
It is a more comprehensive platform than Amazon Kindle because it publishes the e-book on many platforms, including Amazon Kindle.
How to Sign Up for Draft2Digital
Registration is completely free via email or a Google account.
What are the advantages of the Draft2Digital platform?
No Fees: This is the biggest advantage for authors who don't have a budget. Draft2Digital charges absolutely no fees for creating or distributing books. Their business model is based on a royalty share.
File Conversion: You can upload your manuscript in a simple Word (.docx) file, and the platform will automatically convert it into a professional e-book, with a copyright page, an interactive table of contents, and professional chapter formatting—all for free.
Free Distribution: Your book is distributed to the stores you choose for free.
Free ISBN: The platform provides a free ISBN for each version of your book, which is expensive to purchase yourself.
Wide Distribution and Global Reach: Instead of limiting your book to one store, D2D allows you to reach a global audience through a vast network of digital stores and libraries, including:
Amazon Kindle
Apple Books
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
Scribd
OverDrive (a major distributor for public libraries, which means your book can be accessed by readers through borrowing).
And many other stores worldwide. This saves you a tremendous amount of time and effort and ensures your work reaches a wider segment of readers.
Print on Demand (POD): In addition to e-books, D2D offers a print-on-demand service for paperback books. This means:
No need for inventory: You don't need to pay thousands of dollars to print and store 500 or 1000 copies in advance.
Automated printing and shipping: When a reader orders a physical copy of your book through one of the stores, the platform prints a single copy and ships it directly to the customer, then adds your royalties to your account.
Professional formatting: The platform also helps you design and format the paperback version professionally, ready for printing.
Free and Simple Marketing Tools: D2D understands that marketing is the biggest challenge for independent authors, so it provides useful tools to help them:
Universal Book Links (UBLs): The platform creates a single smart link for your book. When any reader clicks on it, they are automatically directed to their preferred store in their country (Amazon, Apple, Kobo, etc.). This makes it easy for you to share one link in your social media marketing campaigns.
Free Author Page: You can create a dedicated author page on the Books2Read platform (owned by D2D) that displays all your books, your biography, and links to your social media accounts.
Promotional Tools: The platform helps you automatically add pages to the end of your book, such as an "About the Author" page, a list of your other books, or even a teaser chapter from your next book, which encourages readers to follow you and buy more of your work.
Drawbacks of Draft2Digital
Limited Edits: You can only edit your book once every 90 days, so you must not make a mistake the first time.
Paid Edits: If you try to make an edit before the specified period, you need to purchase an ISBN, as it is only available for free after 90 days.
We have provided a detailed explanation of the Draft2Digital site in a previous article.
Conclusion & Call to Action (CTA)
Both sites are excellent and wonderful solutions for talented young authors who face the obstacle of financial costs and marketing. Both act as a gateway that opens the doors to global publishing without the need for capital.
If you want to specialize and make your book rare and available only in a specific place, which increases the chances of high sales and price, choose Amazon Kindle.
If you want your book to be widespread on the internet, choose Draft2Digital because it acts as an intermediary between authors and publishing platforms, including Amazon Kindle.
You can reach a global audience with either of them for free.
Which piece of advice did you like the most? Leave us a comment below!
Want more exclusive tips? Subscribe to our newsletter now!
Read also...