- Xinxii Platform
- Tradebit Platform
- Smashwords Platform
- Selecting a Niche
- Pothi Platform
- Lulu Platform
- KDP Print and Kindle Platform
- General Info
- Files Used on Book Platforms
- Book Marketing
- Book Covers
- Author Website
- Ai Prompts
Aggregators Who Will Really Sell Your Books
An aggregator distributes your book to multiple retailers — Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and others — from a single upload, rather than you managing each retailer relationship separately.
Finding Free Images For Your Book Covers
There are plenty of places to find high-quality free images for a book cover — here are the most reliable ones.
ePub Error – element “img” missing required attribute “alt”
The error: element “img” missing required attribute “alt”
Creating A Book Cover For Your eBook
Your book cover carries more weight than almost anything else in your listing — it’s the first thing a reader sees, often reduced to a thumbnail the size of a postage stamp on a phone screen. Here’s how to approach it.
Smashwords Uploading Errors
One of the most common errors when uploading to Smashwords is a corrupted image — and it’s usually not actually corrupted, just mislabeled.
Do’s and Don’t When Formatting Your eBook For Smashwords
Smashwords’ conversion system, known as the Meatgrinder, is stricter than most other platforms — small formatting choices that work fine elsewhere can trigger “autovetter” errors here. Here’s what to avoid.
Selling Your eBook On Pothi
Pothi.com is a self-publishing platform focused on the Indian market, letting authors sell ebooks and print-on-demand books with no upfront cost. Setting up an account and publishing is straightforward, but there’s one formatting requirement that trips people up.
Goodreads
Goodreads is one of the largest concentrations of active readers online, and — since it’s owned by Amazon — activity there can feed directly into your book’s broader discoverability.
Creating A Website For Your eBook
Once your book is published, a website gives readers one place to find everything about you and your work — something no retailer page can offer. You have two realistic paths to get there.
How To Edit .MOBI Format Documents
Important update: Amazon officially stopped accepting MOBI files for new Kindle eBook uploads on March 18, 2025, completing a phase-out that began in 2021. If you’re formatting a new book for KDP, you don’t need a MOBI file at all — Amazon now requires EPUB, DOCX, or KPF, and converts it internally to their current KFX format.
Print On Demand Book Sizing
Amazon KDP Print offers a fixed set of trim sizes for both paperback and hardcover. Picking the right one affects not just how your book looks on a shelf, but your printing cost and royalty margin.
Breakdown Of Where Aggreggators / Retailers Ship Their eBooks
Before you publish anywhere, keep this rule in mind: don’t list the same book through two different aggregators that ship to the same retailer — most retailers won’t accept the same title twice, and it creates confusion about which listing is the “real” one. Know where each distributor actually sends your book before you sign up for more than one.
What Is A Mobi File
MOBI is an ebook file format originally created by Mobipocket in the early 2000s and later adopted by Amazon as the native format for Kindle devices. For years, it was the standard format authors needed to publish on Kindle.
The Mine Field Of ePub Errors
The error: Filename contains spaces. Consider changing filename such that URI escaping is not necessary.
What Is An ePub File?
EPUB is the standard file format for ebooks, used by nearly every major retailer and reading app — Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play Books, and (since 2025) Amazon KDP as well. The name comes from “electronic publication.”
Types of Licenses For Stock Images
Not every stock photo license permits the same uses — and for a book cover specifically, the license type actually matters, since your cover is a commercial, resold product. Here’s what each license type means.
How To Convert Your Book Into An eBook
One of the most common questions authors ask is: how do I actually turn my manuscript into an ebook I can sell?
Pursue Paid Book Reviews
A professional, independent review can lend real credibility to an author without an existing track record — useful for pitching libraries, seeking press coverage, or entering literary award submissions. Paid reviews aren’t the right fit for every goal, though, so it’s worth understanding what each service actually offers.
Selling Your Book Directly Without Using An Aggregator
Aggregators like Draft2Digital or Smashwords distribute your book to multiple retailers automatically, but they take a cut and put a layer between you and your reader. Selling directly means more control and a bigger share of each sale — at the cost of having to drive your own traffic. Here are the two main ways to do it.
FREE WordPress Templates Available For Selling Your eBook
If you’re building your own author website rather than using a page-builder service, these free themes are built specifically for authors and writers.
The Future Of eBooks Versus Traditional Printing
Back in the early 2010s, a common prediction in publishing circles was that ebooks would rapidly overtake print, driven by falling reading costs, instant delivery, and the rise of self-publishing. More than a decade on, the data tells a more interesting story than a simple takeover.
Selling Your eBooks On Smashwords
Smashwords remains one of the largest independent ebook storefronts, but the way you get your book there has changed. As of 2026, you no longer publish directly through Smashwords — instead, you publish through Draft2Digital, which now owns and operates Smashwords, and select the Smashwords store as one of your distribution destinations.
Selecting The Correct Niche Topic For Your Book
Writing a book is a real investment of time — it’s worth spending an hour on research before you spend months on the manuscript. The good news is you don’t need to guess: Amazon itself gives you the data to check whether a niche can actually support a new book, before you write a single chapter. Here are the six numbers worth checking.
Platforms For Advertising Your Book
Beyond retailer ads, there are dedicated platforms built specifically to put your book in front of readers actively looking for something new. Here are established, reputable options.
Making Use of Flickr.com Images
Flickr hosts millions of Creative Commons-licensed photos, but not every CC-licensed image is safe to use on a book cover you’re planning to sell. Here’s how to search correctly and stay within the license terms.