Short answer: there is no single best UK self-publishing company, because they sell completely different things. Start with the type:
- Free platforms: Amazon KDP, IngramSpark and Lulu. They cost nothing and pay you the most per sale, but you do the work or hire it yourself.
- Marketplaces: Reedsy finds you freelancers and takes a fee.
- Per-service firms: Matador, UK Book Publishing, Publishing Push, Whitefox and publishing.co.uk. You pay for the jobs you choose.
- Package firms: PublishNation (from £215), Grosvenor House (from £795) and SilverWood (from £3,197 plus VAT) sell a bundle.
- Contributory “hybrid” publishers: Austin Macauley and Olympia ask you to pay towards publication and keep part of your royalty.
Disclosure: we are one of the per-service firms on this list. So we haven’t ranked anyone “number one”. Every figure below was read from each company’s own website on 30 September 2026, and the sources are at the end, so you can check them.
The 15 compared
| Company | Type | Cheapest published price | Royalties | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon KDP | Free platform | £0 | Ebook 35% or 70%; paperback 50% or 60% minus print cost | Anyone willing to do it or hire it themselves |
| IngramSpark | Free platform | £0 to sign up and upload | Ebook 85% of what Ingram receives; print set by your discount | Bookshop and library distribution |
| Lulu | Free platform | £0 | 80% of the profit on print, 90% on ebooks | Selling direct and small-run print |
| Reedsy | Marketplace | Freelancer’s quote + 10% fee | None taken | Hiring vetted editors and designers |
| publishing.co.uk | Per service | £69 (paperback formatting) | None taken; you publish on your own KDP account | Paying only for the jobs you need |
| Matador (Troubador) | Per service | £650 (ebook only, incl. VAT) | 25% to 85% of the cover price by retailer | Full service with bookshop distribution |
| UK Book Publishing | Per service | Not published (“around £1,800” typical) | “All royalties are yours” | A managed service, priced per project |
| Publishing Push | Per service | Not published (quote only) | “100% of your NET royalties” | A managed service, priced per project |
| Book Printing UK | Per service | Priced per job (e.g. cover £250) | No royalty model: you sell the copies | Printed copies to sell yourself |
| The Choir Press | Per service | From £495 (print-ready files) | Paid monthly on print on demand | Printing a book you’ve already prepared |
| Whitefox | Per service | Not published | “We don’t retain rights to your work or to your royalties” | Premium, fully managed publishing |
| PublishNation | Package | £215 (ebook); £295 (paperback) | “You keep ALL royalties” | The cheapest done-for-you package |
| Grosvenor House | Package | £795 (up to 75,000 words) | Paid twice a year; no percentage stated | A bundle with five copies and a year’s distribution |
| SilverWood Books | Package | £3,197 + VAT (Silver, up to 80,000 words) | Not stated on price page | A long, fully managed production |
| Austin Macauley | Contributory | Not published | “Up to 60%” combined, publisher keeps the rest | Read the contract carefully first |
| Olympia Publishers | Contributory | Not published | Not published | Read the contract carefully first |
Free platforms: you keep the most, you do the most
Amazon KDP
KDP’s own words: “free and simple tools to self-publish your book in more than 10 countries”, and you “retain ownership of your content, publish on your schedule, and set your own list prices”. Paperbacks on Amazon.co.uk pay 50% of the list price at £7.98 or below and 60% at £7.99 or above, minus the printing cost. Ebooks pay 35% or 70%. Many UK authors end up here even if they use a company, because many companies publish your book through KDP. Start with our step-by-step KDP guide, and if you can’t get in, the KDP login guide.
IngramSpark
“It costs you nothing to sign up for an IngramSpark account and to upload your print or ebook.” It dropped its book set-up fees in May 2023. Its strength is the trade: bookshops and libraries order through Ingram. See KDP vs IngramSpark for UK authors for when it’s worth the extra work.
Lulu
“Free to Publish. No fees or charges to make and sell your book.” Lulu splits the profit (the retail price minus manufacturing and distribution) 80/20 in your favour on print and 90/10 on ebooks. One catch: if you use a Lulu ISBN, Lulu is the publisher of record.
A marketplace: Reedsy
Reedsy isn’t a publisher. It’s a marketplace of freelance editors, designers and marketers. You pay the freelancer’s quote plus Reedsy’s fee: “we charge a 20% commission fee on collaborations”, shared 10% each side on jobs up to $5,000, falling to 7% each side above $15,000. It takes nothing from your book sales.
Per-service firms: pay for the jobs you choose
Matador (Troubador Publishing)
The best-known UK assisted publisher. Its pricing page gives examples “including any VAT” for a text-only manuscript of up to 75,000 words: £650 to publish an ebook only, and £3,000 for a version with proofreading, print files, 200 printed copies and availability to the book trade. It asks for “an initial deposit of £500 when you return your contract”. Authors receive 25% to 85% of the cover price per sale depending on the retailer, and Matador doesn’t take the rights. Most authors publish under a Matador ISBN, though you can use your own. Matador also writes the page most people read on this subject, and it ranks itself in it; bear that in mind.
UK Book Publishing
No price list: “these prices are indicative only”. It gives “a typical spend of around £1800” covering typesetting, cover, ISBN, barcode, print-ready files and distribution, with ebook conversion “typically an additional £500” and proofreading “around £10 per 1,000 words”. On royalties: “We don’t take a cut of your royalties. All royalties are yours.”
Publishing Push
Quote only: “We provide a quote that details our offering and the cost for bringing your story to life.” It says you “Keep 100% of your NET royalties”, without saying what “net” is net of. Ask before you sign.
Book Printing UK
Primarily a printer. For an 80,000-word, 200-page book it prices the jobs separately: editing £1,200, cover £250, interior layout £300, proofreading £800, ISBN £119. (Its own ISBN page says £129; ask which is current.) There’s no royalty model: you buy printed copies and keep what you make selling them.
The Choir Press
“Prices from £495”, for books supplied print-ready; fuller services are priced through calculators on its site. Royalties on print-on-demand copies are paid monthly. Note: its site is now selfpublishingbooks.co.uk; the old thechoirpress.co.uk address didn’t load a working site when we checked.
Whitefox
A premium, fully managed service (“Consult, Create, Print, Sell & Distribute, Promote”) with no prices on its site. It is clear on rights: “we don’t retain rights to your work or to your royalties”, with “you as sole rights-holder in the published book”.
publishing.co.uk (us)
We sell the production jobs separately, at fixed prices: formatting from £69 (paperback) to £219 (picture book), covers from £129 to £399, and A+ Content from £89. You publish on your own KDP account with your own or KDP’s free ISBN, keep 100% of your royalties, and own every file. We don’t sell editing, printing or distribution. Full list: our prices.
Package firms: one price, a bundle of jobs
PublishNation
The cheapest packages we found: £215 for an ebook, £295 for a paperback with ISBN and barcode, £495 for both. A designed cover is £40 extra; you pay after publication. “You keep ALL royalties from the sale of your book” and “You retain ALL rights to your book, all over the world, forever.”
Grosvenor House
“For just £795* you will receive” typesetting, an ISBN, a cover made from your own image, five copies, “Online distribution to all major international retailers for one full year (renewable)”, wholesale through Gardners and Nielsen, and legal deposit. That price is for books “up to 75,000 words”; longer books cost more, and a bespoke cover is extra. Royalties are paid twice a year. Note the one-year distribution: ask what renewal costs.
SilverWood Books
The most expensive published packages: Silver Service £3,197 + VAT (up to 80,000 words, no images), Gold £4,297, Platinum £7,497. They include cover and page design, ISBN and barcode, and a paperback and Kindle edition, over a typical 16 to 24 weeks, paid as a booking fee and monthly instalments. SilverWood will also pass you print-ready files for your own KDP or IngramSpark account, so you’re paid directly.
Contributory “hybrid” publishers: understand this before you sign
These are not self-publishing companies in the usual sense. They offer a publishing contract, and for some books ask the author to pay towards it.
- Austin Macauley offers “a standard (no contribution necessary) or partnership contract (which would require the author to contribute financially towards the book)”. Royalties are “up to 60% combined eBook and Paperback (dependent on contract)”. The contribution isn’t published.
- Olympia Publishers describes a “Hybrid contract… based on a contribution, to be paid by the author”. One of its pages says the money covers production and printing; another says production and marketing. The amount isn’t published, and nor is the royalty rate.
With a contributory contract you pay up front and the publisher keeps part of every sale, usually with the ISBN in its name. That can work, but compare it with paying per job, keeping your own KDP account and keeping the whole royalty. Our vanity publishing warning signs guide lists the questions to ask.
Pay for the jobs, keep the book
Formatting from £69, covers from £129, per job, with no package and no share of your royalties. You see every page before you pay.
See all pricesHow to choose, in four questions
- What can’t you do yourself? For most first books that’s the cover and the typesetting, sometimes the edit. Pay for those and nothing else.
- Who keeps the royalties? Anything other than “you, all of them, after the retailer’s share” needs a reason.
- Whose ISBN is it? If the company’s name is on the ISBN, it’s the publisher of record. Moving the book later can mean a new ISBN. ISBN rules for UK authors explains your options, including KDP’s free one.
- What happens after year one? Ask about renewal fees, contract length and how to leave, with your files.
To see what the whole thing should cost, use the calculator in how much it costs to self-publish a book in the UK.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best self-publishing company in the UK?
It depends how much you want to do yourself. Amazon KDP is free and pays you the biggest share. PublishNation (from £215) and Grosvenor House (from £795) are the cheapest managed packages. Matador is the full-service option with bookshop distribution, with published examples from £650 to £3,000.
How much do UK self-publishing companies charge?
From nothing (KDP, IngramSpark, Lulu) to £215 upwards at PublishNation, £795 upwards at Grosvenor House, £650 to £3,000 in Matador’s examples and £3,197 plus VAT at SilverWood. Publishing Push, UK Book Publishing and Whitefox quote per project.
Do self-publishing companies take your royalties?
Most per-service and package firms say you keep them. Platforms take their share before paying you. Contributory publishers keep part: Austin Macauley pays “up to 60%” combined.
What is a hybrid or contributory publisher?
One that asks the author to pay towards publishing and then pays a royalty, keeping part of each sale. Neither of the two on this list publishes the amount.
Is Amazon KDP a self-publishing company?
It’s a free platform. It charges nothing to publish, takes its share from each sale, and leaves editing, cover and formatting to you.
Should I pay a self-publishing company?
Only for work you can’t or don’t want to do. Pay per job for the weak parts, keep your own KDP account, and don’t pay for things KDP gives you free.
Sources (all read on 30 September 2026)
- Amazon KDP: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/ and paperback royalty https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201834330
- IngramSpark pricing: https://www.ingramspark.com/pricing
- Lulu: https://www.lulu.com/sell/sell-on-lulu and creator revenue guide https://help.lulu.com/en/support/solutions/articles/64000262744-creator-revenue-guide
- Reedsy fees: https://reedsy.com/faq/common-questions/fees
- Matador: https://www.troubador.co.uk/pricing
- UK Book Publishing: https://www.ukbookpublishing.com/book-publishing-prices/
- Publishing Push: https://www.publishingpush.com/self-publishing
- Book Printing UK: https://www.bookprintinguk.com/self-publishing/about-self-publishing and https://www.bookprintinguk.com/self-publishing/isbn
- The Choir Press: https://www.selfpublishingbooks.co.uk/Self-Publishing-a-Book/Self-Publishing-Costs
- Whitefox: https://wearewhitefox.com/about-whitefox/
- PublishNation: https://publishnation.co.uk/getting-self-published/
- Grosvenor House: https://grosvenorhousepublishing.co.uk/what-do-you-get-for-795/
- SilverWood Books: https://www.silverwoodbooks.co.uk/book-publishing-prices
- Austin Macauley: https://www.austinmacauley.com/getting-published and https://www.austinmacauley.com/how-we-work
- Olympia Publishers: https://olympiapublishers.com/about-us/ and https://olympiapublishers.com/submissions/
Who wrote this, and our interest. I am Robert Prime. I run publishing.co.uk, which is one of the per-service companies above, so I have an interest in how this page reads. I've tried to make that harmless: no ranking, every other company described in its own published words, and a link to every source. If a company's prices or terms change, its own page is right. Tell me and I will update this one and say so.
