Reader Memberships


A Reader Membership is a great deal, and it's a great way to support Leanpub authors and Leanpub. We hope you'll join us!

Unlock 2000+ Books — Forever, for just $99

Swap a single textbook’s price for a lifetime library and put money straight into authors’ pockets. A Lifetime Reader Membership gets you access to over 2000 books which are labeled “Free With Membership”.

You can also get a monthly or annual Reader Membership, of course!

“How can a one‑time $99 payment possibly be worth it?”

1. Opens an exclusive vault of every book or course on Leanpub labeled “Free With Membership.” This includes over 2000 books and courses on programming, data science, AI, DevOps, architecture, and beyond. Buying these books individually would top $15,000.

2. Pays the authors you read. Exactly 50% ($49.50) of your $99 goes into a royalty pool shared among the authors of the books you unlock. You’re directly supporting the very writers whose work you dive into.

3. Keeps Leanpub fiercely independent and helps us support more authors. We’re a tiny Canadian startup that’s never raised VC. We already pay our authors 80% royalties on regular sales over $7.99, whereas traditional publishers pay an average of about 10%. On Leanpub, a $20 book sale earns the author $16. When a traditional publisher sells a similar book for $40 on Amazon, they get about $20, and the author gets about $2. This is 10% of what the publisher earned, and 5% of the list price. So, in this example, on Leanpub the author earns 800% as much, and the reader pays half the price! Your support helps us keep building a better Leanpub — a fair platform for readers and authors alike.

A Reader Membership is a great deal , and it's a great way to support Leanpub authors and Leanpub!

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Quick Reality Check (No Gotchas)

1. Lifetime means lifetime. One payment. No renewals.

2. Not every Leanpub book is free with membership. Look for the “Free With Membership” badge on book or course pages—everything else remains pay‑as‑you‑go.

3. Want a refund? You have 60 days, no questions asked. Less than 1% of readers ever request one.

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Your Simple Next Move

1. Click the “Choose a Reader Membership” button below.

2. Click the Lifetime tab, and click the “Add Lifetime Membership to Cart” button.

3. Check out as usual. Done.

Thanks for supporting independent authors—and welcome to the vault!

Leanpub Authors Love Leanpub


Matthew guay
Matthew Guay

Content Marketer at Zapier

“While most eBook exporter apps today can generate PDF files and many support ePub, there's one tool we recommend above all after trying 8 of the most popular: Leanpub.”
Paul redmond
Paul Redmond

Author of Writing APIs With Lumen

“Leanpub forces you to focus on writing and gives you immediate feedback. Allowing Leanpub to take care of the curation and delivery helped me focus on shipping my book.”
Reg
Reg "Raganwald" Braithwaite

Author, JavaScript Allongé, the "Six" Edition

“Simple and lean, forces me to focus on writing and marketing, and pays excellent royalties.”
Geerling
Jeff Geerling

Author, Ansible for DevOps

“With Leanpub, the first person who purchased my book for $9.99 almost two years ago (and only received a preface, and two short intro chapters) has had access to almost every bit of knowledge I've gained in those two years, and *that's* the value.”
Daniel root
Daniel Root

Author, Trello Dojo

“I love that Leanpub makes writing and publishing a beautiful book so simple. I no longer spin my wheels with layouts and formats - Leanpub gets out of the way when it's time to write, and then automates everything when it's time to publish.”
Simonbrown
Simon Brown

Author, Software Architecture for Developers

“Leanpub allows me focus on content, takes care everything else and offers an amazing author royalty. It’s a fantastic platform for writing and publishing books.”
Paulbradshaw amsterdam
Paul Bradshaw

Paul runs the MA in Online Journalism at Birmingham City University

“I earn more royalties from my books on Leanpub than I do with well established publishers or through Amazon (which I publish on thanks to Leanpub's mobi conversion).”
Karen
Karen Greaves

Growing Agile

“Leanpub makes publishing your own book super easy. The fact that you can release updates continually helps with the mindset of getting a minimum version out ASAP and then iterating to improve. ”
Manuel kiessling 640x640
Manuel Kiessling

Author, The Node Beginner Book

“Four years ago, I joined Leanpub to just give it a try. Today, over 28,000 book sales later, I cannot help but say that I'm the biggest Leanpub fan on this planet!”
Aaron
Aaron Sumner

Author, Everyday Rails Testing with RSpec

“Leanpub made it simple for me to run with my book idea and build my reputation in the Ruby community. I went from first draft to first sale in days, not months or years.”
Johanna
Johanna Rothman

Author of 8 Leanpub books and counting…

“Leanpub helps me see my books as I write them. Even better, I can find readers early, to read my books and offer suggestions. I can pivot, if I see the need.”
Phil
Phil Sturgeon

Author, Build APIs You Won't Hate

“Leanpub helped me gauge interest in my book, get payments early on when it was only a few chapters, and has got me a bunch of sales just from people browsing around the site.”
Sam leanpub
Samantha Laing

Growing Agile

“Leanpub helped me achieve my goal of publishing a book. Its simple, easy to use interface got my book up and making money within weeks, I love Leanpub!”
Jason
W. Jason Gilmore

Author, Easy Laravel 5

“Leanpub is a game changer for independent authors, removing the hassles associated with formatting, book production, and electronic sales, freeing up the time to do what we do best: write.”
Taylo
Taylor Otwell

Creator Of Laravel

“I love using Leanpub because I can write my book using simple Markdown notation. Leanpub let's me focus on my content and they handle the rest.”
Ryan
Ryan Bigg

Author, Multitenancy with Rails

“Leanpub takes the pain out of publishing. They provide the tools, you provide the books and then magic happens.”
Chris
Chris Hartjes

The Grumpy Programmer

“Leanpub's book-creation tools allowed me to focus on creating the types of books I wanted to write instead of worrying how to create my own book publishing toolchain. I have never regretted using Leanpub to publish my ebooks.”
Roger
Roger D. Peng

Associate Professor of Biostatistics at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

“As an academic, I like Leanpub because it lets me write and get my ideas out there quickly. Leanpub is simply the best place for publishing my books. ”