13 Best Canadian Self-Publishing Companies (Print to Ebook)

Self-publishing is a great option for authors looking to retain creative control over their work and reach a wider audience.

But the whole publishing process can be overwhelming, especially for first-time authors. Fortunately, Canada has a whole slew of self-publishing companies that can help with everything from editing to printing and marketing. This list covers the main types: ebook platforms you can use for free, assisted self-publishers that run the whole project for a fee, short-run book printers, and memoir specialists. For each one you’ll find what it does and who it suits, so you can compare quotes before you pay anyone. After this guide, be sure to visit my detailed database of over 3,000 publishing companies.

Submission policies change without notice, so check the publisher’s own page before you send anything, and never pay a reading fee. Last verified: October 2, 2026.

Here Are The Best Self-Publishing Companies in Canada:

1. Rakuten Kobo Inc.

Rakuten Kobo, founded in Toronto in 2009 and now owned by the Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten, sells ebooks and audiobooks through its e-readers and apps. Its free Kobo Writing Life platform lets you publish your own ebook or audiobook straight to the Kobo store, fiction or nonfiction, and set your own price. Kobo also runs the Emerging Writer Prize for debut authors in Canada, and self-published books are eligible. Kobo Writing Life.

Working on a book of your own? You can publish it yourself with PublishDrive (affiliate link).

2. First Choice Books

First Choice Books, based in Victoria, British Columbia, is a book printing company with more than six decades in the business. It helps self-publishing authors in Canada and the US with design, printing, binding, and ebook conversion, and it prints softcover books in small runs. It suits authors who want a printed book without managing printers and designers themselves. Self-publishing services.

3. Friesens

Friesens, an employee-owned printer in Altona, Manitoba, has printed books since 1907 and is known for high-quality art, photography, and picture books and for its environmentally responsible practices. Self-publishing authors can work with its team on cover design, typesetting, and printing, which makes it a good fit for a premium hardcover, graphic novel, or history book. Friesens website.

4. Tellwell

Tellwell, founded in Victoria, British Columbia, in 2014, is an assisted self-publisher. You pay for a package, and its team provides book coaching, editing, cover and interior design, illustration, ghostwriting, audiobook narration, and distribution in print and ebook. You keep your copyright and full creative control, and Tellwell says you receive up to 100% of net royalties. It’s a good fit if you want a guided process like a traditional publisher‘s but on your own terms. Publishing packages.

5. Coast Dog Press

Coast Dog Press is a small British Columbia press best known for Jack Schofield’s award-winning aviation memoirs, Flights of a Coast Dog and Coast Dogs Don’t Lie. It also offers pre-press publishing services to other authors: a series of consultations about your book, interior layout, and a custom cover, all delivered as print-ready files for the printer. It suits memoir and nonfiction authors who want hands-on design help. Publishing services.

6. Island Blue Print Printorium Bookworks

Printorium Bookworks, the book division of Victoria’s Island Blue Print, has been printing for more than 55 years. It prints full-color and black-and-white books, art and photography books, comics, and graphic novels, with in-house design and layout and a list of local editors and publicists it can refer you to. Its site walks you through preparing your files, with a submission checklist and pricing pages, and you can request an estimate online. Submission checklist.

7. Life Writers

Lifewriters.ca has helped individuals, families, organizations, and communities tell their stories in print since 2004. It specializes in memoirs, family histories, and corporate histories, and can run the whole project for you: recorded interviews, ghostwriting, editing, book and cover design, and printing. A full life story usually starts with 10 to 15 hours of interviews, and a letter of agreement sets out the scope before work begins. How the process works.

8. Page Two Books

Page Two, founded in Vancouver in 2013 by Jesse Finkelstein and Trena White, helps thought leaders, subject-matter experts, and organizations publish nonfiction books. Its model sits between self-publishing and a traditional deal: you invest in the book, keep more creative control and a faster path to market, and get an editor, designer, and launch team in print, ebook, and audiobook. Pitch your project by email through its submissions page. Submissions page.

9. Leanpub

Leanpub, a Canadian self-publishing platform and bookstore, lets you write, publish, and sell ebooks and courses, including books still in progress. Readers get every future update free, and you earn an 80% royalty on sales in the Leanpub store. You can write in its own Markdown-based formats or upload finished files, then sell EPUB and PDF editions. Most of its catalog is technical and business nonfiction. How Leanpub works.

10. Writers’ Exchange

Writers’ Exchange is a Vancouver non-profit that builds literacy skills and confidence in under-resourced kids and youth. Volunteers run its writing programs, and the young writers see their work published in the organization’s own books. It isn’t a service for adult authors, but it’s a great place to volunteer or to find a program for a young writer in your life. Publications page.

11. Creative Writing for Children Society

The Creative Writing for Children Society in Vancouver is a not-for-profit that helps children and youth read, write, and publish their own books, with mentors who are published children’s authors and illustrators. Its workshops and camps run on Zoom and in class, and enrollment for fall 2026 workshops is open. Like Writers’ Exchange, it’s for young writers, and its gallery shows the books students have made. Student book gallery.

12. Ardith Publishing

Ardith Publishing, based in Ontario, offers self-publishing services for every stage: editing, cover design (including the spine), proofreading, printing, distribution, and marketing. It sells packages, from a self-publishing package to an all-inclusive Elite package listed at $4,999 with six months of coaching, and it also offers one-to-one book coaching. Ask for a full quote and compare it with a printer before you commit. Self-publishing packages.

13. Blitzprint

Blitzprint, a Calgary book printer, was the first company in Canada to offer digital short-run book printing and has produced more than 6,000 titles, including best-selling self-published books. Its free self-publishing guide, checklists, and file-preparation help walk you through every step, from short print runs to binding and finishing. Request a free quote to price your paperback or hardcover. Author’s toolkit.

Names you may be looking for

Notion Wave

Notion Wave, the Aurora, Ontario software company behind the PUBNiTO ebook platform, now focuses on AI consulting and training.

Wrap up

Self-publishing is a real option for authors in Canada who don’t want to be tied to a contract with a large publishing house. Start with a free platform such as Kobo Writing Life or Leanpub for your ebook, add a printer such as Friesens, First Choice, Printorium, or Blitzprint for print copies, or hire an assisted self-publisher such as Tellwell, Ardith, or Page Two to manage the whole project. Get quotes in writing and keep your rights. Next up, you may want to explore a guide to publishing companies in Portland.