How to publish a book online (and an ebook) with BookGroup

What changes when you publish here

On a digital bookstore, the file joins the catalog and the reader disappears. On BookGroup, the book is born inside a reading group: people read in the platform’s reader, highlight sentences, and comment on the paragraph, and the author follows that conversation. It is a self-publishing platform made for people who want readers, not just downloads.

BookGroup works in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, and each book lives in the language it was published in.

Step by step: from manuscript to published book

This is the full path to publish a book:

1. Ask for your author access. On the page for those who write, enter your name and email. You get an access link by email and go straight in, with no password. At sign-up you confirm your date of birth and your country and accept the terms of use.
2. Upload the manuscript to MakePub, BookGroup’s conversion tool. It accepts Word (.docx), preferably, or PDF.
3. Pick a template and adjust the layout. There are templates for fiction, nonfiction, poetry, young readers, and other genres, and you adjust margins, headings, and typography by chatting with the layout assistant or in the visual editor.
4. Check the preview and publish. See the Draft and the Proof of the EPUB, tap “Publish to BookGroup,” and enter the title. Author name and synopsis are optional.
5. Get the group and the link. The book goes through editorial review and you are notified by email once it is approved. From then on, the book’s group and its sharing link are yours to use.

Word or PDF: how to prepare the manuscript

Word is the best starting point: the text arrives clean and becomes an EPUB with few adjustments. Use Word’s heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2) to mark chapters and sections; MakePub recognizes the structure automatically and builds the table of contents. If the document has no formatted headings, the result can come out less organized, and MakePub warns you.

PDF works too, but it keeps less of the text’s structure, so the formatting can come out different from the original. In both cases the book is converted to EPUB, the format in which a reader highlights a sentence and comments right there.

Layout and preview: what MakePub does for you

MakePub detects parts, chapters, and sections, shows a summary of the structure, and lets you fix the role of any heading. In the chat panel you describe in plain language the change you want, such as widening a margin or changing a heading style, and you see the result in the preview beside it. The visual editor lets you adjust font, spacing, hyphenation, table of contents, and margins.

The preview simulates a phone, a tablet, and an e-reader. The layout assistant handles style and formatting; it does not rewrite your text.

After you publish: your book’s group and your link

Each book gets a reading group of its own, which starts empty and exists because the work exists. Every comment and every conversation there is about your book. The group has its own link: whoever joins through it is tied to you, and if that reader later buys another digital book on the platform, you earn a commission.

Reading happens only inside BookGroup, with no download for the reader. That protects the work against piracy and keeps the conversation in the right group.

What it costs to publish a book

Converting, formatting, and publishing through MakePub has no cost, and the first book starts with no subscription fee. MakePub credits only come into play if you want to download the finished EPUB file to use somewhere else; you can generate and publish first and buy credits later.

The manuscript size that fits the free path grows with the active readers in the group: up to 150 thousand characters while the group has up to 50 readers, up to 1.35 million characters with up to 500. Beyond that a paid plan is needed. Starter, Professional, and Business bring more capacity, and the current prices are on the plans page. These limits may change, with advance notice.

Selling your book, if you want to

You decide whether and when to charge for access to your book’s group. Whoever pays joins the group, reads, and takes part; there is no separate store. In Brazil, payouts go by PIX, with an Asaas account; outside Brazil, through Stripe. The net margin reaches up to 85% of the cover price, depending on the payment method and the territory. Publishing for free first is a visibility strategy, not an obligation.

Copyright and self-publishing

The work stays yours. There is no exclusivity: you can publish the same book with other stores, publishers, or platforms at the same time. That is why BookGroup works well as one more path for the independent author, a place to build a community around the book alongside your other sales channels.

Questions about how to publish a book

How do I publish a book on BookGroup?

Ask for author access on the page for those who write, upload the manuscript in Word or PDF to MakePub, adjust the layout, check the preview, and tap “Publish to BookGroup.” After editorial review, the book gets a reading group and a sharing link.

Do I have to pay to publish my first book?

There is no subscription fee for the first book. Converting, formatting, and publishing through MakePub is free; credits are only needed to download the finished EPUB. Paid plans exist for people who need more capacity.

How long until the book goes live?

Author access is usually granted within a few hours, up to 24 hours. After you submit, the book goes through editorial review and you get an email when it is approved.

Can I publish an ebook on BookGroup?

The book is converted to EPUB, the ebook format used on the platform, and read in the BookGroup reader. If you want the EPUB file to use elsewhere, you can download it with MakePub credits.

Can I publish the same book on another platform?

Yes. There is no exclusivity, and the copyright stays with you.

Can I publish in Spanish or Portuguese?

Yes. BookGroup exists in English, Portuguese, and Spanish. The book and the group live in the language they were published in.