Hey, look at you wanting to read. Look, I shot this live stream yesterday while I explored the self-publishing platform, Laterpress. If you’re in the mood to read, I’ll give you a quick recap.
What Is Laterpress and Why Should Authors Care?
Laterpress is a self-publishing platform run by indie authors for indie authors. One of the biggest draws is the royalty structure. Authors receive 100% of sales revenue minus payment processing fees. If Laterpress refers a buyer, they take 10%, and if another author refers a customer, the referring author gets 5%, leaving you with 85% (still far better than traditional publishing splits).
This direct sales model means authors keep a much larger share of their earnings, which is a huge advantage over traditional publishing, where royalties can be as low as one-eighth of what you’d get here. The platform also doesn’t require exclusivity, so you can use Laterpress alongside other retailers.
While I won’t dive too deep into all the features here—because a full deep dive review is coming soon—I wanted to share the publishing process and some practical insights from my recent live session.
Preparing to Publish: Metadata and Domain Challenges
Before uploading, I gathered my metadata sheet, which I use to keep all book details organized. If you want to use a similar template, you can grab mine at DaleLinks.com/MetadataSheet with no strings attached.
Getting Started on Laterpress: Uploading Your Book
Creating the book on Laterpress is straightforward. You can add a standalone book or a collection. I chose a standalone book for my YouTube for Authors project to keep things simple.
After uploading the cover design, I copied my metadata into their fields. One hiccup was with the ISBN entry—not accepting dashes and seeming buggy—but since Laterpress is a direct sales platform, ISBNs aren’t mandatory, so I skipped it.
Descriptions and formatting had to be adjusted because Laterpress strips some formatting from pasted text. I broke up paragraphs and added visual spacing to keep the text readable and polished.
Importing and Formatting the ePub File
Laterpress allows you to import an existing ePub file or convert your chapters into an ePub automatically. I uploaded my ePub file to save time on formatting. The platform nicely converts the ePub into web-readable chapters and lets you offer downloadable versions to readers who purchase the book.
This download feature is a big plus. Unlike Amazon’s Kindle system, where readers buy a license to read but don't technically own the book, Laterpress lets readers download DRM-free eBooks they truly own and can read on any device. This transparency is a great benefit for both authors and readers. (Side note: And, it’s completely optional.)
Working Through Formatting Challenges
Once the book was uploaded, I reviewed every chapter to ensure formatting was consistent. Laterpress’ editor supports basic formatting like bold, italics, and underlining, but some elements like bullet point indents and justified text are limited. Here are some key points I encountered:
Subchapter titles sometimes blended in with body text and required manual adjustment to stand out.
Lists and bullet points needed extra spacing to improve readability.
Footnotes and endnotes had to be manually re-labeled since the system doesn’t support automatic footnote formatting.
Centering subtitles and quotes improved visual appeal, but the platform lacks advanced layout controls.
It’s not possible to add hyperlinks within the book content yet, which is an important feature I hope Laterpress adds soon.
Despite these limitations, the platform’s simplicity and clean layout are impressive for a direct sales site. This platform truly shines for fiction authors, because it doesn’t require lists, footnotes, end notes, bullet points, and so on.
Publishing and Viewing Your Book
After fine-tuning the formatting, I published the book immediately, with zero issues. The publishing process is quick and offers options to schedule releases or send updates for free previews.
The final book view is clean and easy to read on desktop and mobile. The cover image is prominently displayed, and the download button for the ePub file is clearly visible for readers who have purchased access. The reading experience is web-based, with smooth chapter navigation.
Additional Platform Features and Insights
While exploring Laterpress, I discovered some neat features like:
Exporting your book as a Word document (docx), useful for further editing or repurposing content.
Custom chapter numbering and the ability to reorder chapters easily.
Dark mode and full-page reading options for reader comfort.
Storybook feature for fiction authors to organize plot, characters, and story notes.
Final Thoughts on Laterpress
Publishing live on Laterpress was a revealing experience. The platform offers indie authors a compelling alternative to traditional retailers with its generous royalty splits and direct-to-reader sales model. While the formatting tools are basic, they cover the essentials, and the ability to offer DRM-free downloadable eBooks is a standout feature.
Authors should be prepared to spend some time polishing the formatting, especially for nonfiction works with many lists, footnotes, and complex layouts. For fiction authors, the process should be much smoother.
Overall, Laterpress is a promising platform for authors who want to maximize earnings and maintain control over their work without exclusivity constraints. Stay tuned for my upcoming deep dive review where I’ll cover the platform in more detail.
Want to Try Laterpress?
Feel free to take a look at Laterpress when you visit Laterpress.com. No strings attached. If your ebook is NOT enrolled in KDP Select, you can publish it here. Dive in, experiment, and see what you think.
—Dale L. Roberts, the Guy Who Owns More Than One Orange Shirt (I swear, I do!)
