Upload a PDF and a cover. That's it. No formatting nightmares, no gatekeepers, no ISBN required. Go from manuscript to live in minutes.
If you can attach a file to an email, you can publish on OpenShelf.
Drop in your PDF and a cover image. Add a title, a short description, and pick your genre. That's the entire process. No formatting tools, no technical specifications, no approval queue.
One decision: sell it or share it free. Set your own price, change it anytime, or offer it at no cost. OpenShelf never locks you in or takes your rights.
Your book appears on genre pages, curated shelves, and search results. Readers browse paid and free titles side by side — discovering voices the big platforms would never surface.
Publishing your work shouldn't require a technical degree. We built OpenShelf because the existing platforms are either too complex, too expensive, or take too much. There's a better way.
OpenShelf is an independent marketplace giving every writer — from first-timers sharing a poem to seasoned authors building a catalog — the same simple tools to reach readers on their own terms. No ISBN. No formatting software. No waiting weeks for approval.
Upload, describe, publish. The entire process takes under 10 minutes for most authors.
We take 10% on paid sales only. Free books cost nothing. Ever. No monthly fees.
Your rights, your files, your readers. OpenShelf is a platform, not a publisher.
No conversion tools. No formatting checkers. If you have a PDF, you're ready to publish.
Join hundreds of authors already on the waitlist. We'll send one email when the doors open — no spam, ever.
No credit card. No commitment. Unsubscribe anytime.
Not every book needs a price tag. Not every writer wants to give their work away. OpenShelf is the marketplace that finally lets you choose — and keeps choosing, for as long as you write.