Self-publishing platforms:

I’ve only included the free platforms that I can and have used in this list, since I view self-publishing platforms that levy fees for the very basic opportunity of publishing a book, with contempt. That said, here is a list of fine FREE self-publishing platforms:

Smashwords: Smashwords gives the user complete control over eBook distribution, pricing, library access etc. and is also completely free. Their distribution channels are impressive and will get your eBooks to most of the usual channels – except Amazon, unless your book reaches a minimum sales point on the other channels first. (No idea why they do that, since other platforms all provide unrestricted access to Amazon even on free membership.) Smashwords’ dashboard gives a great amount of detail, including daily sales updates via various channels. They pay out monthly via Paypal and their cut is reasonable. The only thing I can complain about re Smashwords is the pedantic, anal level of micro-management when it comes to formatting of uploaded manuscripts – and each time their system finds a comma out of place or perhaps a paragraph which is styled slightly different to the rest of the text, the book is flagged and the user receives a string of snarky emails to ‘stick to the Smashwords guide’! Other than that, once you’ve got past the hiccups and pedantic obsession with their style guide, Smashwords is a joy to use – they have several sales per year, with customizable pricing! Since being taken over by Draft2Digital in April 2022, they’ve become very quiet and response times in getting manuscripts reviewed has more than tripled. Instead of receiving a response in a matter of hours on a new submission, you literally wait anything up to a few weeks. New management really sucks. I have to downgrade their rating to THREE STARS from four.

EBooks2go: This platform make self-publishing a book simple and easy. Although I’ve only used them to distribute my eBooks in the last year or so, they do also tie into the paperback market, with options to facilitate turning them into audiobooks as well. Their distribution channels differ from and overlap slightly with most other platforms, and their help team is responsive, friendly and I’ve found them to be helpful. Their dashboard is informative and updates daily with new sales. They’re free to use – and uploading and publishing new titles is a simple, easy business! Once you’re used to the form you need to fill out while doing so… and just remember to click “save and continue” and not “save and exit” if you want to actually publish your work, or it will lie there in limbo until you figure it out! Also, from what I can tell, you need to supply your own ISBN number (which is easy if you already have a free one from another platform for the same version of your book). I’ve had modest sales via EBooks2go in the last year or so (and these are increasing since I’ve moved the rest of my titles there from Lulu and expanded their distribution) – and they pay out via Paypal without much fuss. The only bones of contention I have with them is their vague understanding of their own phrase “three business working days” when it comes to money actually being paid into my Paypal account. They also don’t offer free ISBNs for books being published through them, unlike any of the other platforms – you have to pay $29 for an ISBN, or use ISBNs from other platforms (except KDP). As of 2022 their website is frequently down or loses its security rating for no particular reason causing browsers to block access, which doesn’t bode well. I have to downgrade them to THREE STARS from four.

Draft2Digital: I’ve had some of my books on D2D since sometime last year, and as of July this year I’ve also added most of them there to increase my distribution. Perhaps it’s a little soon to tell, but although I’ve selected distribution options in order to not clash with those selected on other platforms, I still haven’t had a single sale via this platform. As I said, more mainstream distribution options haven’t been activated to prevent duplication on book selling platforms, so it’s probably not a true reflection of what D2D can really do if I went all-out D2D. That said, their upload (publishing) interface is simple and easy to use, they’re free (most importantly) and they pay out via Paypal. In 2021 D2D went a little nuts and started getting pedantic about foreign authors (outside the US) and tax registration, and made life complicated by not accepting my South African tax information, which made using D2D and getting paid a pain in the ass, so I closed my account there. Unfortunately, they seemed to follow me by taking over Smashwords, but fortunately haven’t extended their paranoia into that platform as yet. If you’re in the US, you shouldn’t have a problem. Nevertheless, I have to downgrade D2D to THREE STARS from four.

StreetLib: I only added my books to this platform about a month ago and as yet have not made any sales from it – although it has to be said that the channels I selected are mostly to smaller markets in primarily non-English-speaking countries (Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and the like) – but they do offer mainstream distribution like Amazon, Barnes & Nobel, Baker & Taylor, Overdrive etc. etc. – which I couldn’t use since the same books are already being distributed there via other platforms. StreetLib does have a very easy to use uploader and a simple dashboard – and the longest list of linked distribution channels on offer I’ve ever seen (including many I’d never heard of), so I’m very impressed! Most importantly, they’re free, they pay out to Paypal and offer free ISBN’s. FOUR STARS.

Lulu.com: Lulu used to be my mainstay self-publishing platform between 2005 and 2020, until they performed what they described as a ‘long overdue upgrade’ – and which, as far as I’m concerned, turned out to be nothing less than a disaster of Brobdingnagian proportions! Although still free to use (if you do everything yourself – as I’ve always done – at least up the point where you decide to actually publish anything) Lulu has done away with everything on the dashboard that allowed users to keep thorough tabs on their sales and distribution, scrapped their perfect publishing and design wizard and replaced it with some monstrosity that no longer accepts Word manuscripts – and also chucked away any previous sales databases, spanning decades of sales data, in the process.

Logging in at Lulu became a pain in the ass too, since even when the correct password is entered, some users keep getting referred back to the log-in page. Their help desk has also deteriorated and most likely imploded under the weight of complaints from irate users. On the plus side, they’re still free, offer free ISBN’s, and (as of the last time I checked, in 2022, Lulu no longer offers free self-publishing services at all) If you’re willing to pay $$$ for what you got for free, their distribution channels are still good.

They accommodate eBook and paperbacks, pay out in paper checks (which are less than useless in South Africa) but at least they still offer payment via Paypal, and unless something else has changed, they don’t take a heavy slice of the royalties. Another thing that hasn’t changed is their habit of only updating sales figures after the 5th of every month, so you would spend the rest of the month checking in the vain hope of seeing sales updates, only to find a flurry of new figures appearing after the 5th. Live reporting doesn’t mean anything to Lulu. It’s up to you if you want to choose Lulu or not, but as you can see from previous examples there are other free platforms that don’t treat the user as an afterthought. I rate them at TWO STARS.

KDP: I started using KDP in April 2022, so this is an update and an addition to this list. You might say I’ve left the best for last here, but no, not really. KDP only recently opened their membership up to authors and publishers from South Africa, and so they’re still new and shiny in my repertoire of publishing platforms. Yes, they’re the easiest to use compared to any of the others, I can now add having actually used them – but there the good news pretty much ends. Their help desk is pedantic, stupid and has got to be staffed by AI bots. No human being could possibly be so willfully obtuse as the bots I’ve had to deal with on KDP and its sister platforms at Amazon and ACX! You could show them a blue square and tell them it’s blue and they would still deny it and refuse point blank to tell you what documentation to submit in order to accept that it is indeed blue. In the last nine months of 2022 I’ve had numerous arguments with them over issues of book rights, ownership, proving my identity as the author of various pieces, and short of giving up, I just barely managed to get most of those issues sorted out. Logic simply does not apply. The AI danger is real, believe me! Suffice to say, dealing with KDP’s “help” desk is beyond frustrating!

Beyond that, they offer free ISBNs, have a clear, simple, easy to use interface. Feedback on submitted manuscripts turnaround time is just a few hours. They have the distribution and market presence to make the struggle of all the other stuff worthwhile. After all, all roads lead to Amazon, you might as well cut to the chase and use them – if you’re in one of the countries KDP supports. I rate them at FOUR STARS.

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A Guide To Self-Publishing In South Africa – a guide to being an indie author in spite of being stuck in South Africa by Christina Engela.

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ECommerce & Distribution Service Providers:

Payhip: I saw a writer raving about how many books he was selling via Payhip some time ago, and rushed over to give them a try. Payhip is not a publisher or distributor of any kind – they’re an ecommerce solution that allows users to upload digital content and sell it. As such they’re free (Payhip only takes a cut of each sale). EBooks are easy to upload in any format you choose (epub, mobi or pdf, or all three), and you can include a cover or any other images you’d like the buyer to have with it. You can create “collections” for a series or box-set if you like, and set pricing. They offer a shop page on their site as well, that displays your books for sale, so you can place links on your own website to take visitors either to the shop or to the individual book pages. They pay out conveniently via Paypal. You can also set affiliate marketing as you choose – and share the link on your social media pages or on your book website etc. But there it ends. They don’t advertise or distribute for you – that’s entirely your baby – but to be fair, they don’t claim to. They also don’t respond to help-email suggestions to improve anything in the marketing department.

As such, I’ve had most of my books up there for close on 3 years, including the free download samples, with links to them from my website, and have still not had a single sale – despite some of them receiving over 150 views (probably from bots). I’ve opted to just leave it all up there just in case people see my profile and titles – as a free marketing exercise. I haven’t rated them because frankly I haven’t found any other similar site that does what they do – but if I did, I’d have to give them FIVE STARS.

File Converters:

These are services offered for free online via conversion engines that will convert a file from one format to another for free.

Ebook Online Convert.com: Need to convert your Word doc into an epub? An epub into mobi? Or a mobi into Word? This free online tool will convert just about any file into anything.

Google Drive: Need to convert a scan (or a photo) of typed pages into editable text? Use Google Drive – there’s a nice free built in OCR function that allows you to convert images of typed text into editable text – with fewer errors than any app I’ve ever seen! I even used it on photos taken with a mobile phone camera which I emailed to myself and then uploaded, with brilliant results! Plus the storage is a brilliant way to safeguard your files from data loss.

Online tools, strategies, and editing software for writers: A listing of tools for the writer, including items like style editors, cloud storage and list tools.

Royalty-Free Image Sources:

Pixabay: Simply the best royalty-free FREE image library on the web where you can use images in your projects, covers, posters etc. without paying a cent or having to give attribution to the creator. I might not like the way they treat people wanting to contribute images to their catalog, but there’s no denying the quality of the content or the service provided.

Pexels: Another very nice royalty-free FREE image library where you can find elements or complete images you can use to make book covers or posters etc. without paying a cent or having to give attribution to the creator.

Public Domain Vectors: Free clipart site.

Cover Creators/3d Mockup Generators:

MyEcovers: This nice online app will help you to turn your 2d book covers into 3d mockups for displaying on your website or Facebook page. Although they are a paid service, you can open a free account and use the small selection of templates to make very nice 3d mockups of your books! (You can save them as png files and transpose the covers over a variety of backgrounds using other apps, like PowerPoint.)

DIYBookcovers: This great free site will allow you to create great 3d mockup marketing images you can download as png files to transpose over other backgrounds.

AbsoluteCovers: This online service will allow you to create some nice free 3d mockups of your book covers.

Covervault: If you use Photoshop to create covers and posters and marketing material for your books, this site has a truckload of free template files to download – for FREE.

Dunnnk: While not entirely about books, they offer free means to put your book cover on the screen templates of laptops, phone, and smart-watches for marketing purposes.

Useful Free Reference Tools:

Free Character Name Generator: This easy to use tool will help your pick original and authentic-looking names for your characters!

Italian Name Generator: Find the perfect Italian names for your characters.

Amusing, Odd & Funny Last Names For Your Characters: A list of over 200 amusing last names to liven up your characters. This is the longest list on the internet.

Australian slang terms: Over 125 Australian slang terms to use if you’re writing a piece featuring Australia or Australian characters.

List of Hairstyles (unisex): An non-exhaustive list of hairstyle descriptions and names for males and females.

Men’s Facial Hairstyle Names: Need to know the difference between side-burns and muttonchops for your character description? Consult this interesting list!

Glossary of Mafia Jargon: for when you’re writing a crime story involving the Mob. Also see “How to write about the Mob” and “The Structure of the American Mob“.

Currency exchange tool: Convert currency exchange between currencies to make your stories more realistic.

A Few Military Terms For Writers: Some military terms and acronyms for the writer. Regularly updated.

Advice & Guides For Writers:

Theater Seat Store Blog: (Edit August 31, 2021: It’s thanks to Carol Briggs and her young friend Anna that I’ve added this section to my article!) This is a US commercial site which deals in what looks like home theater (and theater) furnishings and equipment, but they also have a related blog. Most importantly for the purposes of this listing, they also have a guide “Writing for Theater and Film” which includes a great breakdown on understanding the importance of setting, writing for different kinds of stage productions, how to write in a way that translates to the screen, etc. At the bottom of the page there’s also a listing of readable/downloadable resources like: Screenplay Basics, Screenplay Format Example, How to Write Dialogue(Video), Script Sample (PDF), How to Write a Script (PDF), Character Narrative and Structure (PDF), Basic Elements of Theater, How to Write a Play, Scriptwriting Essentials, How to Write a Script, Tips for Writing Engaging Scenes, and The Standard Stage Play Format(PDF)!

How to Make Your Writing More Sensitive – and Why It Matters: There’s a lot of information out there about increasing diversity in the workplace, representation in the media, and inclusivity in all areas of life. This is a guide on how tricky it can be to incorporate them into your content.

Money-Saving Guide For Authors & Writers: Becoming an author or writer is a dream that many people have, though it can be hard to know where to start. How much do writers make? Should you find an agent or publish your book yourself? How much will getting a book published cost you? We have put together some resources for writers who are looking to improve their craft and save money on career expenses.

Hand Hobbies: A Resource Guide to Writing Basics: (Edit November 23, 2022): A big thank you to Linda Price and her group of young NaNoWriMo writers for suggesting this article be added to the list! It’s a guide to writing basics, and covers everything from inspiration and outlining all the way to editing and proofreading. It also refers you to other great additional resources!

A Brief Introduction To Self-Publishing: A 5 part series of articles introducing the reader to the concept of self-publishing.

Forewords, Prologues, Prefaces & Introductions Explained: this explains the differences and similarities and when it is appropriate to use them and for what.

The Interrobang – What Is It?!: What is the interrobang, where and when should it be used? Should it be used at all?

Asterism Or Dinkus – What’s In A Name?: Do you still write in actual chapters? For god’s sake – why?

Afterwords & Epilogs Explained: this explains what afterwords and epilogs are for and when it is appropriate to use them.

Word Length – When Is A Novel, A Novel?: This explains the word lengths for different categories of book or story.

Which Self-Publishing Platform – Or All Of Them?: An article about experimenting with which self-publishing distribution platforms to  use concurrently. Also read the follow-up article: More Isn’t Always Better – My Self-publishing Platform Strategy Revisited.

A Guide To Self-Publishing In South Africa – a guide to being an indie author in spite of being stuck in South Africa by Christina Engela.

Well there you are! I hope you find this list of resources useful!