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How Leanpub Works

Leanpub helps you connect with readers and sell your ebook, while you’re writing it and after it’s done.

Leanpub is part of a movement called Lean Publishing, which is the future of self-publishing. If you're curious about what the big idea is, read our manifesto.

You write a Leanpub book using Markdown.

When you sign up to write a book on Leanpub, we create a Dropbox folder for the book and we email you a sharing request. If you already have a Dropbox account, you get the new folder in your existing Dropbox account. If you don't already have a Dropbox account, you need to create one. (Dropbox is a fantastic free private file sharing service used by hundreds of thousands of people.)

Once you have the Dropbox folder set up, you start writing your book. You can either start from scratch or click a button to import your blog's RSS feed as a starting point for your book. If you choose to import your blog, when we do the import we convert it into Markdown.

Whenever you want to preview what your book looks like, just click a button on Leanpub. We generate PDF, EPUB and MOBI versions and put them in the Dropbox folder that you shared with us.

When you're ready to sell your book, just set your price and click a button on Leanpub. We generate and sell PDF, EPUB and MOBI versions of your book. (PDF is for computers; EPUB is for iPad and other ebook readers; MOBI is for Kindle.) We also automatically create free sample versions of your book if you specify files to include in the sample.

Whenever you publish an updated version of your book, your current readers get automatic updates. This lets you create a community around your book as you write it. Or just publish your book when it's done; it's up to you!

Leanpub is the best way in the world to self-publish a book while you're writing it. This is true whether you're writing a programming book, a business book or even a cookbook!

Leanpub is FREE to join and use. Best of all, you earn a 90% royalty, minus a 50 cent flat fee, per sale.

Why is this royalty important? It means you earn $17.50 on a $20 Leanpub ebook. If you worked with a traditional publisher who sold your print book for $35, you'd typically make about $1.75! (The publisher gets about $17.50; you get about 10% of that.) So, if your print book cost 75% more, you'd still have to sell about 10 TIMES as many print books to be ahead!

In fact, we're so proud of our royalty rates, we're putting a table of common examples right here! This way you can see exactly what you'll earn at different prices of your book.

Book Price	Royalty % Before Fee	Royalty $ Before Fee	Flat Fee	Actual Royalty $	Actual Royalty %
$0.99	90.00%	$0.89	$0.50	$0.39	39.49%
$1.99	90.00%	$1.79	$0.50	$1.29	64.87%
$2.99	90.00%	$2.69	$0.50	$2.19	73.28%
$3.99	90.00%	$3.59	$0.50	$3.09	77.47%
$4.99	90.00%	$4.49	$0.50	$3.99	79.98%
$9.99	90.00%	$8.99	$0.50	$8.49	84.99%
$14.99	90.00%	$13.49	$0.50	$12.99	86.66%
$19.99	90.00%	$17.99	$0.50	$17.49	87.50%
$29.99	90.00%	$26.99	$0.50	$26.49	88.33%
$49.99	90.00%	$44.99	$0.50	$44.49	89.00%

We hope you compare these royalty rates and what Leanpub offers to everyone, including traditional publishers, Amazon, Apple, Lulu, Tinypay and E-Junkie. (How many traditional publishers put their royalty rates on their homepage?)

Finally, Leanpub lets you choose your own minimum and suggested prices from $0 to $100. Choosing a variable price with a low minimum price lets readers pay what they want, as long as it's at least your minimum price. Books can have a minimum price of either $0 or any amount between $0.99 and your suggested price.

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Leanpub: The Movie

Finally, if you prefer cartoon animals to tables of royalty percentages, this hilarious video explains what Leanpub is and why we're creating it...