# r/selfpublish

> Reddit's most focused community for the practical business side of self-publishing — from KDP and ISBN decisions to cover design and scam avoidance. Strictly no self-promotion outside weekly threads.

Source: https://selfpublishingdirectory.com/communities/r-selfpublish
Website: https://www.reddit.com/r/selfpublish/
Category: Author Communities (https://selfpublishingdirectory.com/communities)
Pricing: free — $0
AI-powered: no
Tags: reddit, forum, advice, discussion, free, community, indie-authors, kdp, amazon
Last verified: 2026-06-18
Best For: Authors researching KDP, IngramSpark, ISBNs, and distribution decisions — practical self-publishing mechanics, no self-promotion
Community Type: social-group
Genre Focus: general
Member Count: 110,000+ members
Platform: reddit

r/selfpublish, founded in 2011, is Reddit's most focused community for the practical business side of self-publishing. With over 110,000 subscribers, it covers the full indie publishing workflow: choosing a POD platform, pricing ebooks, navigating KDP and IngramSpark, evaluating cover designers, decoding ISBN ownership, spotting vanity press scams, and debating the Kindle Unlimited exclusivity trade-off.

The subreddit explicitly identifies itself as not a promotional venue — its sidebar reads "Not a place for self-promotion." Book promotion is restricted to a weekly Self-Promo Saturday thread. Newcomers are directed to read the subreddit wiki (covering ISBN ownership, Library of Congress registration, and POD platform comparisons) before posting questions the FAQ already answers.

## What You Get

- **Self-Promo Saturday thread:** The one weekly venue where members can share and promote their books. All other self-promotion is prohibited and removed.
- **Detailed wiki:** Covers ISBN ownership, Library of Congress copyright registration, trim sizes, and POD platform comparisons — useful reference for authors at any stage
- **Peer discussion:** A July 2025 analysis of 600 high-visibility threads found visibility/marketing topics dominate (~31%), followed by cover design (~20%), Kindle Unlimited debates (~7%), editing costs, and scam avoidance warnings
- **AMAs:** Periodic threads where indie authors discuss their experience, sales, and strategies with the community
- **Archived discussions:** Searchable thread history covering years of KDP policy changes, Amazon algorithm shifts, and distribution debates

## Who It's For

- **New indie authors:** The wiki and FAQ threads answer most foundational questions about ISBNs, POD platforms, and KDP setup without requiring a post
- **Authors making distribution decisions:** KU vs. wide, IngramSpark vs. KDP print, D2D vs. Smashwords — these debates are heavily represented and frequently updated as platforms change
- **Authors evaluating services:** Cover design vendors, editing services, and marketing tools are regularly discussed and vetted by the community, including active scam warnings for predatory vanity publishers

**Pricing:** Free. Reddit Premium ($5.99/month) removes ads but has no effect on subreddit access or functionality.

## Strengths

- **Practical focus:** Discussions center on business mechanics rather than craft or motivation. Questions about royalty calculations, advertising ROI, and platform policies are the norm.
- **Strict no-promo culture:** The prohibition on self-promotion keeps the feed free of marketing noise. What gets upvoted tends to be substantive advice, not promotional posts.
- **Honest signal:** The community has a documented culture of sharing real sales figures and transparently discussing what works and what doesn't, including failures.

## Limitations

- **Echo chamber risk:** Most advice comes from mid-tier authors, not six-figure earners or industry veterans. Crowdsourced wisdom can entrench conventional thinking over advanced or contrarian strategies. One prominent indie publisher (Derek Murphy of Creativindie) described it as "an echo-chamber of inexperienced writers giving each other advice."
- **Low post volume relative to size:** The community has 110,000+ subscribers but generates approximately 2 posts and 9 comments per day — most members are passive readers, not active participants.
- **Amazon/KDP bias:** Discussion skews heavily toward Amazon-centric publishing. Authors publishing wide or focused on non-Amazon retailers may find advice less applicable.
- **Member count unverifiable:** As of September 9, 2025, Reddit removed public subscriber counts from all subreddit pages, replacing them with rolling Visitor and Contribution metrics. Third-party trackers now diverge wildly — as of June 2026, The Hive Index reports roughly 251,000 members (35.8% annual growth), while other trackers show figures closer to 75,000–110,000. No current figure can be directly verified from the subreddit page; the 110,000+ used here is a conservative floor.

## Alternatives

r/selfpublishing (35,000–40,000 members) covers similar topics with a warmer, more beginner-friendly tone — useful as a companion to r/selfpublish. For curated expert guidance rather than peer discussion, the SPF Community (54,000+ members) and Wide for the Win circle are more moderated environments where experienced authors are more active.