5 Best Free Flip Book Maker [2021 Update]

Josh Andrews
8 min readJan 30, 2019

If you asked me a year ago, could I become a free flip book maker, I would have said, no way!

I’m not a particularly techy person, so using a free flip book maker and publishing a PDF page turner free would have sounded absolutely out of my reach. However, we are put on this earth sometimes to surprise ourselves, and I’m delighted to be one of the best free flip book makers in my field today.

How did I do it? Well, that’s what I want to share with you. With my help, you can become a free flip book maker too at Yumpu Publishing.

Don’t think it’s possible?

Why not join me on my journey of discovery and I’ll tell you all my free flip book maker secrets!

Why bother making a digital flipbook?

If you’ve ever seen a PDF turn pages like a book, you’ve already experienced an HTML5 page flip publication. You don’t have to be a professional online animation creator to create flipbook from PDF publications; in fact, you don’t need any special skills at all.

There are a few good reasons to become a free flip book maker, whether it’s for work, for school, or just for fun. Some of the benefits of free flip book maker publications include:

  • More engaging: Using ebook creation software means you can build interactivity, such as video, audio, hyperlinks, and more. This makes your free flip book maker publication much more engaging and fun to read
  • Familiar format: Because the free flip book maker publications are like digital glossy magazines, people feel more comfortable reading them. The free page turning software makes it more like a leisure experience than reading a stuffy PDF.
  • Easy to share: Because your free flip book maker publication is done online, you can share your flipping book free to social channels in just a click.
  • Pure WOW factor: If you want your free flip book maker publication to look amazing, nothing is better than the result when you convert PDF to flipbook format. It looks cutting edge, like you’ve spent hours making it, and is designed to impress.

It’s not just small business owners who can benefit from being a free flip book maker either.

I’ve seen students create beautiful glossy reports using PDF to flipbook software, and e-retailers can create online catalog from PDF free too.

From authors to educators, there’s nobody who cannot benefit from learning about flip book software.

What is flip book maker?

Some of the best free flip book maker programs are barely more than an interface between your PDF and a beautiful flipping book.

As a free flip book maker, I made it my business to understand what they do and why they are so darn useful.

A flipbook animation maker takes your static PDF and turns it into a piece of graphic art. Each page is glossy, in full color, and flips like a book when you turn to the next page. It does this by converting PDF to flipbook HTML5 language, which makes it possible to create something interactive rather than boring.

HTML5 flipbook software speaks the same language as the internet, so it’s almost like it’s turning your PDF into a mini-website.

Can you imagine all the interactivity you find on a website? Well, that’s what a free flip book maker can do for your books.

The five best free flip book maker options for 2021

In my search for the best free flip book maker, I came across a surprising amount of PDF to flip book maker freeware.

It seems a lot of free flip book maker programs exist to lure you in but then hit you with a massive cost to download or share your publication.

To save you some time, I want to share my five best free flip book maker options for the coming year, based on how much usable functionality there is before you have to start paying.

1. Flip Builder

As a free flip book maker, this is one of the best PDF to flipbook converter tools out there. It converts PDF to flipbook free of charge and in just a couple of clicks, making it a great free flip book maker for novice publishers. You can add Flash elements to your flip book PDF, as well as audio, YouTube videos, and links. I particularly like the way this free flip book maker integrates with social media, so you can easily share your e flip books with the world.

2. 3D Page Flip

If you’re moving away from paid-for software, then this is the PDF to HTML5 flipbook open-source support you need. With support for OpenOffice and other free flip book maker tools, it’s a great place to start making your PDF page flip free. It’s got interactivity built-in and has no less than 63 free flip book template resources to help you design your creativity with ease.

3. Flipsnack

In terms of a free flip book maker for 2019, Flipsnack is nothing new. However, it’s still a solid free flip book maker with some of the best HTML5 flipbook software and is truly free to use (with some minor limitations). In the free flip book maker version, you are limited to 15 pages and will find some customization limitations. However, if you’re just starting out its powerful and effective free flip book maker that does everything you need.

4. Yumpu

Yumpu Publishing is a huge digital publishing platform with over 20 million magazines and millions of readers. The perfect flipbook maker tool. This free flip book maker lets you easily convert pdf to flip book for free. They also offer quite a few awesome features — even in the free version! Benefit from features such as unlimited pages per magazine; embed audio, video, and links; share on social media, and much more!

5. Issuu

My final pick for my favorite free flip book maker is Issuu. It’s nothing new, but it’s one of the best flipbook software options out there, even today. It’s truly a free flip book maker, with perfectly usable flip PDF free functionality without paying a penny. You can use it as a photo flip book maker, or as an Adobe like online flipbook maker for brochures and magazine publications. As a free flipbook creator online, this is one of the most powerful free flip book maker option you’ll find.

There are much more free flip book maker options out there, but I’m yet to come across any which offer as many free interactive ebook creator functions like these. However, I do encourage you to seek out your own free flip book maker too, so that you can compare what’s on offer and find the best free flip book maker for your needs.

How to make a PDF flip book?

To make flip book online itself is the hardest part of the process of making a flipbook. As a free flip book maker, you’ll probably be worried about using the free flip book maker software itself.

However, let me reassure you that all these free flip book maker programs are child’s play compared to the art of putting together your PDF flip book in the first place.

There are three key elements to think about when you decide to become a flip book maker.

These are:

  • Content: Your content needs to be targeted at your audience. It needs to be niche so that you don’t have a lot of competition, and it needs to be something you’re confident you can write about. Don’t go too niche, or you’ll never be able to think of enough topics to fill up your free flip book maker!
  • Images: Ideally you would use your own custom images; not a problem if you’re a keen amateur photographer. However, for most of us what you snap on your smartphone won’t be good enough for even a free flip book maker, so I recommend looking for free images to use in your free flip book maker. Try Unsplash, Pexels or Pixabay.
  • Marketing: Once you’ve developed the content and images you need, you’ll need to think about how you’re going to get your publication in front of readers. Some free flip book maker programs, such as Issuu, have their own virtual bookshelves where readers can find your material. You could also think about social marketing, email promotion, or embedding it on your website.

Summing up being a free flip book maker in three bullet points is somewhat optimistic.

It makes it seem like it’s something you can just brush over and get on with using the free flip book maker software.

However, I can’t stress enough that your success is all in the planning of your flipbook, so take the time to develop your idea fully before you get bogged down in free flip book maker nuances.

How to use flip book maker?

I said that my free flip book maker choices were easy to use, and they are. Some are more complex than others, but the majority follow the same basic format to get your flipbook published.

First, you’ll need to make your flipbook as a PDF. You may want to use a free flip book maker to find a template to help with the layout, but essentially, you’re putting it together yourself.

Some free flip book maker programs allow you to make it in PowerPoint or Word also but check before you try to do that.

Next, you simply upload your PDF (or another version) to the free flip book maker.

To do this you may need to create a free flip book maker account, or otherwise sign up for the service. Uploading is often as simple as drag and drop, and we can all cope with that, right?

Once uploaded, you should check your document within the free flip book maker to make sure it’s not thrown out the formatting when you uploaded it.

Just have a quick proof read, then you can move on to the actual conversion using the free flip book maker.

There is usually a very obvious button to start the conversion in the free flip book maker.

Most free flip book maker programs will convert your file in a matter of seconds, although some may take a minute or more.

Either way, in less time than it takes to boil a kettle, you’ll be able to view your new flipping page book in its full glory.

Finally, you’ll need to use the free flip book maker to add in any interactive elements you want.

This should take care of any video, audio, or other interactivity you want to add to the free flip book maker.

Once it’s all done, simply click ‘publish’ to finalize your document in the free flip book maker.

It’s now ready to share with the world, and your first task as a free flip book maker is complete!

Final thoughts

I absolutely love using free flip book maker programs to create exciting, impressive publications.

My clients are impressed, my colleagues are impressed and, most importantly, my competitors are terrified!

And I did it all without spending a penny thanks to the plethora of free flip book maker options on the market.

What do you think; will you try becoming a free flip book maker yourself?

I’d love to hear about your experiences with my free flip book maker recommendations.

--

--

Josh Andrews

Studied Computer Science & Information Systems at MIT; Web Developer, Self-proclaimed Flipping Book Expert