Ranking Print-on-Demand Companies in Self-Publishing from Best to Worst for 2025

These four self-publishing companies (Kindle Direct Publishing/KDP, Ingramspark, Barnes & Noble Press, and 48 Hour Books) all have their pros and cons for printing both paperback and hardcover books — so today I'm ranking them based on nine different categories:
(1) how easy they are to use
(2) cost of printing
(3) author royalties (how much YOU make)
(4) customer service
(5) printing/shipping time
(6) any hidden extra costs
(7) can you do preorders
(8) sales reporting
(9) and anything else that you need to know about these specific companies!

Hopefully this DEEP DIVE into self-publishing and printing options will help you decide what's best for YOU.

Mentioned in video:
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📖 T H E Q U E E N ' S R I S E S E R I E S :

📚 T H E S T O L E N K I N G D O M S E R I E S :

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📒 M Y O T H E R W O R K :

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❤️ C O M P A N I E S I L O V E & A M A N A F F I L I A T E F O R :

💬 L E T ' S C O N N E C T 💬

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Thanks for watching!
❤️ Bethany

Note: some of these links are affiliate links and will support me with a little extra income at no extra cost to you. :)
#novelwriting

#SelfPublishing#authortube

0:00 - Introduction
2:15 - 9 Things I'll be discussing for each company
4:29 - Kindle Direct Publishing
14:41 - Ingramspark
28:13 - Barnes & Noble
33:33 - 48 Hour Books
38:19 - Overall Thoughts and Final Rating!

[saritaschaffter]

Thanks for being transparent about the Print On Demand companies. This is useful for a beginner like me who wants to be an Indie Author in the near future.

Also, I have friends who own bookstores, and Ingram takes 15% of the wholesale discount. So if you set it to the max 55% discount, the bookstore only gets 40%

[feelswriter]

You're so organized and methodical! Thanks for taking on this analysis. It's such a complex area, it's cool how you can sail past little non-comparable comparisons and still give a good overview. Helpful.

[tammiegipson]

Such a great deep dive. Never heard of 48 Hour Books. They did such a great job with your Kickstarter for Queen’s Rise. Such a stunning book.

[HopelandPublishers]

Wow--This was such perfect timing! I am coming close to publishing another book, and this information, especially concerning KDP vs IngramSpark was SO helpful. I am kinda ticked about IngramSpark's pricing...but I also really want to dust jacket soooo.... anyways thank you for such an informative video! It is SO helpful, maybe more than you realize!

[AuthorJenniferKrigbaum]

Awesome video! ☺️
Seriously thank you for breaking all of this down in such a detailed way. This information is ✨gold✨ for new indie authors.

[drleahwatson]

I really appreciate your insights, now I know who not to think of working with which is gold.

[SherryLand]

This is really informative for a newbie!! Thanks a lot for making this video!! ❤

[lindacgrace]

Thanks for fabulous information. BUT I am now deeply discouraged. I'm retired. Life is hard on my modest pension and social security. How the HELL am I supposed to self - publish when I don't sell any books? How do you make it from a 100% completely humiliating and very expensive debut novel to novel 20 with NO money, NO positive feedback (except for book awards - which aren't nearly as much help as you would think they would be) and NO sales? This is a very very expensive hobby! I need income, not an expensive hobby. Even with inexpensive cover design, proofreading, editing, help with beta reads (I can NEVER find anybody that's free - the author exchange groups limit you to one chapter per month, a painfully slow process), ISBN, etc., it's several thousand dollars BEFORE spending a dime on promotion or advertising. I don't have $10K to $20K to squander on my dreams without making any returns. How do you go from dead broke (and in debt) to book #8 or so, when I have some hope of earning the cost of the book back? I'll be dead (I'm in my 70s) long before I start making even modest side-hustle income.

[Mr.Ron-E]

Thank you for this!! I finished my first draft of my first book and this information is gold!! 🎉🎉

[ashleyseybolt]

Barnes & Noble somehow bound my manuscript and another customer's into the same book! I got my book and there were 2 stuffed inside. When I went to address this it took months to get another copy. It was super disappointing.

[hewen]

Wow this is sooo helpful. Thanks a million.

[jinnadennisauthorscreenwriter]

I am not sure if you have done a video on this already but could you go over ordering proof copies and then author copies for book signings and events with costs? If you have made a video on this, can you send me there. :) THANK YOU. I am getting nervous, I am about 6 months out from publishing my debut.

[johnparnham]

I have published my two books on kdp and Draft2 Digital. print I particularly like the features of D2D like the print surround for the back covers. I have tried Ingram Spark and got to the very last stage but It wouldn't accept my colourful covers and because I write Middle Grade, the colours are important. I would like to get past this barrier but don't know how. I have a hardback and it looks terrific but I have never yet sold one. I don't know if the cost puts the buyers off. Because of the young audience, I don't want dust jackets. They would not last long. I like the author copies that I have been sent so far. I am trying Publishdrive next. It's an experiment at present to see what benefits they might have, Mostly, it's about distribution.

[isabellajuanitalyn]

This is really informative! I would love to use 48 Hour Books one day to do special editions.

[janetmorgan]

I used kdp for my children's book, and, while the print time is so quick to people who buy my book from Amazon (usually just a few days) the time it takes me to get author copies is MUCH longer often 10 days to over two weeks. Have you ever noticed this? It's kind of frustrating because if I want to get stock for local shops it takes me so long to get their orders in.

[SimilarFrequencies]

Thank You!

Out of all these self-publishing platforms, I'd like to know if any pay immediately. Like, we get paid as soon as the reader purchases and not quarterly or monthly. That'd be a game changer.

[joys.]

I love case laminates and don't really understand the hype about "needing" a dust jacket. They just get in the way when you're trying to read it and don't actually protect the book from dust??

[authorjoannawhite]

I have used lulu for individual books. I will say they are more expensive and slow though not as slow as my experience with B&N press. I had no idea that they will ship books to kickstarter stuff because that would have been so much better than how I did it through B&N press so I'll be looking into it. Thanks for breaking these down. I wanna do special edition hardbacks for my next kickstarters with foiling and sprayed edges but not sure whether to do 48 hour books or not. It seems so expensive even for minium of 10!

[Michaelthom]

Why did you turn off the comments on your "Words to Delete" video? I enjoyed it and felt a bit lost that I couldn't comment. Is this a pattern on many of your videos? How many videos have comments turned off and why do this?