Frictionless self-publishing

Softcover is a new publishing platform based on the production system and business model used by the Ruby on Rails Tutorial by Michael Hartl. Using Softcover, authors can build multi-format ebooks (HTML, EPUB, MOBI, and PDF) from common source files, optionally bundle them with media like screencast videos, and publish them to Softcover’s integrated sales platform with a single command.

want more info on how to get started?

Watch the intro video A walkthrough of many of the Softcover features.
Read the manual Find out in detail how Softcover works in ebook form.
Sign up and install Create an account , visit the start page for installing help.

ENGINEERED TO BE AUTHOR-FRIENDLY

Generous author royalties The Softcover royalty for authors is a flat 90%. No per-sales fees. No storage or transfer fees. If you are an established author, contact us and we will be happy to discuss how we can get you onto Softcover.
Open-source tools The Softcover production system is open-source, so you aren't locked into a proprietary system. Build your books locally and deploy them to the Softcover website with a single command.
Complete author control Softcover puts you in control. You retain copyright on everything you produce, get access to your entire customer email list, and can use a custom domain (including Google Analytics) so that you can own your own traffic.
Direct account payments Softcover uses Stripe to handle all author payments. Our 10% cut is taken out and the rest of the payment is sent directly to you. No waiting for a monthly royalty check. Simple and transparent accounting.

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT SOFTCOVER

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Painless self-publishing

Write and publish with Softcover's powerful version of Markdown, including support for code and embedded LaTeX. We’ll take care of payments, downloads, permissions, and hosting. Set your own prices and offer custom discounts!

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Premium product bundles

Softcover makes it easy to bundle screencasts with your ebook as a premium package. When you publish your book, the associated screencasts are uploaded securely to S3 and made available to your readers.

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Publish in different formats

Write your book using Softcover-flavored Markdown or PolyTeX (a subset of the powerful LaTeX typesetting language), and publish it as HTML, EPUB, MOBI, and PDF. With one command, you can build all four output formats and upload them to Softcover's integrated sales platform.

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Built for maximum author happiness and control

We built Softcover with the goal of making it simple for authors to publish and sell books online without locking them into any contracts or proprietary production tools. We think you'll stick with us for the frictionless experience Softcover provides.

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CHECK OUT A SAMPLE BOOK!

Conquering the Command Line Mark Bates

Learn to master and conquer the most valuable and useful command line tools for Unix and Linux based systems. In this book you will find not only the most useful command line tools you need to know, but also the most helpful options and flags for those tools. Conquering the Command Line isn't just a rehash of the MAN page for these tools, but rather a human-readable walk-through of these tools to make you more productive in your daily development life.

READ THE BOOK