For authors · Guide
What does it cost to put your book in front of local readers?
Ads charge per click with no promise anyone reads a page. Some book sites charge every month whether or not anyone visits. Others are “free” but want your rights or your exclusivity. Most authors just want to know what it costs and what they get.
Listing: free to start, then once per book
Your first book is free to list. Each further book is $1.99, once. There’s no subscription and nothing renews.
Launch offer: until March 31, 2027, your first 5 books are free. Books you list free stay free.
What every listing includes
Your book in the directory and on the map, under its genres and every place it uses. Your author page. The reader, with a free sample. Echoes. Book stats. A trailer with 100 free views in the reader, and its video.
Your other sales stay yours
Add links to wherever your book is sold: online stores, your website, a local bookshop. Readers buy there, and LocalBooks takes nothing from those sales.
Selling your ebook on LocalBooks
Coming soon: you’ll be able to sell the whole ebook here at your own price, paid into your own Stripe account. LocalBooks will keep 15% and Stripe its card fee. Readers who buy will read without trailers. You can already read the step-by-step Stripe setup.
How to list a book on LocalBooks
Add your book
Sign in, go to My books and click “+ Add a book”.
Publish
Click “Publish to the directory”. If you have a free listing left, it’s used, and the book goes live.
Pay once if needed
If your free listings are used, the button shows the price, and you pay once by card.
Questions
What counts as a book?
Each title you list. A new edition or a corrected file replaces the old one on the same listing at no charge.
Can I get a refund on a listing fee?
No. Listing fees are one-time and non-refundable, so please check your book’s details before you pay.
Can I open more accounts for more free books?
No. Free listings are per author: accounts that share an email inbox share them, and we review listings that look like a second account.
Do readers pay anything?
No. Browsing and samples need no account, and a free account opens the books authors share in full.
Do you take a cut of my sales on other stores?
No. LocalBooks never touches sales made through your where-to-buy links.
What does it cost to put your book in front of local readers?