Digital e-book self-publishing

The self-publishing of a book is not limited to the paper format, the e-book format is also very common. Digital self-publishing, by freeing the author-publisher from the constraints of printing and paper, distribution via traditional networks, or dispatch by post, allows direct contact with the reader and authorizes sales from a very small number of copies. The eBook sector has thus enabled the emergence of a large number of new authors.

Digital self-publishing has only existed since the early 2000s, with the first platforms Lulu.com (2002), and Blurb (2005). However, it was in 2007 that the method took off with the creation of Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing service. The latter is today the leader in the field, with a 60% market share in the distribution of digital books and a very wide range of services, which notably includes the marketing of self-published books on its online bookstore ( both in digital Kindle and in print), a book lending service (Kindle’s Owner Library), a subscription service (Kindle Unlimited) as well as print-on-demand services (KDP Paper). Amazon completes its range with various promotional tools for authors, a community reading platform (thanks to Amazon’s takeover of Goodreads in 2013, which unites twenty million readers worldwide), a platform intended for exchange between authors (Writeon), an advertising platform that allows you to create links to your books (Amazon Advertising), as well as a real publishing house, launched in 2013 (Amazon Publishing).

The challenge, for writers who choose to turn to this method of publication, is to publish on a number of platforms and through distributors that will allow them to reach as many readers as publishers and to promote of their books to be purchased and read.