Once your ebook is finished, you'll need to decide where to sell it. Amazon is often the first place to consider, especially for a novel. If you've written a guide, a workbook or a cookbook for people who already follow you, selling from your own checkout may suit you better. You can do both, as long as you avoid one Amazon program.
Wherever you sell your ebook, readers need somewhere to buy it, a way to pay and a way to get the file onto their phone, laptop or Kindle. Ideally, that happens without you emailing the file to each buyer. If you haven't finished the book yet, our list of the best digital products to sell covers what tends to sell and why.
This guide compares Amazon and other ebook stores, marketplaces and your own checkout. You'll find out which files to offer, how readers get them onto their devices, how to price your ebook and what you keep from a $9.99 sale on each route.
Quick answer: To sell ebooks online, you can publish through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) or list on a marketplace such as Gumroad or Payhip. You can also sell through your own checkout page with a tool like Checkout Page. Retailers can help readers discover your book, but they keep a share of each sale. With your own checkout, you keep the buyer's email address and pay card processing fees instead. Amazon's KDP Select program requires you to sell the ebook exclusively through Amazon. Publishing on KDP without enrolling in KDP Select doesn't restrict direct sales.
Where to sell ebooks online
You can sell an ebook through a retailer, a distributor that sends it to several retailers, a marketplace or your own checkout. The best route depends on the kind of book you've written and whether you already have readers or need help reaching new ones. For a novel, the major stores are often the best place to start. For a guide or workbook, you may be able to sell directly to an audience you already reach.
Some stores can help new readers find your book, although none guarantees it. The options also differ in who handles the sale and who deals with the tax:
- Amazon KDP: a retailer. You upload the book, Amazon sells it in the Kindle Store and pays you a royalty of 35% or 70%, with 70% only for buyers in the countries Amazon lists. On the 70% option, Amazon deducts a small delivery cost before working out your royalty. Readers browse the store, though they still have to find your book there.
- Other stores through Draft2Digital: a distributor. One upload goes to Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and others, and Draft2Digital keeps about 10% of the retail price. It charges new accounts a one-time $20 activation fee, plus $12 a year on accounts that sell under $100 a year, and it doesn't ask for exclusivity.
- Gumroad and Payhip: marketplaces. You get a product page and automatic delivery, and you pay a percentage of each sale. Gumroad's Discover marketplace can bring in some buyers. Otherwise, you bring readers to your page yourself.
Alternatively, you can sell from your own checkout page and share it in your newsletter, on your website or through the link in your social media bio. You control the price, bundles and buying experience, and the buyer's email address stays with you. With Checkout Page, files are delivered automatically after payment, and the money goes directly into your own Stripe account.
Can you sell on Amazon and your own site at the same time?
Yes, unless you enroll the ebook in KDP Select. Publishing on KDP on its own doesn't limit where else you can sell the book, so you can list it in the Kindle Store and sell it from your own checkout at the same time.
KDP Select is a separate 90-day program. Amazon's terms say that enrolling means making the digital format "available exclusively through KDP", and they name "your website, blogs, etc." as places the ebook can't be sold while it's enrolled. In return, the book goes into Kindle+, Amazon's reading subscription, and can use Amazon's free and countdown promotions. Print editions aren't affected.
If you want readers to be able to buy your ebook directly from you, you can publish on KDP without enrolling in KDP Select. You can enroll later if you change your mind. If you check the box by mistake, Amazon gives you three days after enrolling to cancel.
Who handles sales tax and VAT?
Tax responsibilities are another factor when choosing where to sell. In the EU and UK, VAT on digital goods such as ebooks is generally due at the rate of the country where the buyer lives, rather than your own. In the US, whether sales tax applies to an ebook depends on the state. Depending on where you sell, the platform may handle tax for you, or you may need to take care of it yourself.
- Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo and the other retailers: the retailer sells the book to the reader, so the tax on that sale is generally theirs to deal with, and your royalty is paid to you as income. This also applies when Draft2Digital places the book with them.
- Gumroad: acts as the merchant of record for sales made through its platform.
- Payhip: collects EU and UK VAT on digital products, and collects and pays US sales tax as a marketplace facilitator. In Canada it handles GST/HST and PST, but you still deal with Quebec's QST yourself.
If you sell through your own checkout, you generally remain responsible for your tax obligations as the seller. Checkout Page can calculate and add tax at checkout through Stripe Tax, but you're still responsible for registering, filing returns and paying the tax due where required. Our guide to what a merchant of record is explains how this differs from using a platform that takes on those responsibilities.
Here's how the five routes compare on one $9.99 sale.
Route | You keep on $9.99 | Who brings readers | Tax on the sale | Also sell direct? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Amazon KDP, 70% option | About $6.95 | Kindle Store browsers | Amazon, as the seller | Yes, unless in KDP Select |
Apple Books, Kobo and others through Draft2Digital | About $5.99 | Each store's browsers | The store, as the seller | Yes |
Gumroad, direct sale | $7.90 | You, plus Gumroad Discover | Gumroad, merchant of record | Yes |
Payhip, free plan | $8.90 | You | Collects EU and UK VAT, US sales tax | Yes |
Checkout Page | $9.40 | You | Yours; Stripe Tax can add it | Yes |
Figures are one US card sale at list price, before any monthly plan, refunds or tax. Checked 26 October 2026 on each platform's pages, Gumroad and Payhip on 15 October. Amazon's figure uses its stated average delivery cost of $0.06; Draft2Digital's 60% applies to Apple Books, Kobo and Barnes & Noble; Gumroad, Payhip and Checkout Page include Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢.
Writing a novel or a book for readers you haven't met yet? The Kindle Store and the other retailers are where those readers shop, so publishing on KDP, with or without Draft2Digital for the other stores, is usually where to start.
Do you already reach readers through a newsletter, a podcast or social media, and have a guide, a workbook or a course companion to sell them? Your own checkout lets you sell directly to those readers and keep their email addresses for the next thing you make.
You can also run both: the stores for readers who browse, and your own checkout for the people who found you. Our comparison of the best platforms to sell digital products has the longer list.
Start selling ebooks for freeHow to sell ebooks online from your own checkout
The steps below use Checkout Page, but the process is much the same with other checkout tools: prepare the files, create a checkout page, set the price, upload the files, run a test payment and share the checkout.
Step 1: prepare the EPUB and PDF
Export the finished book in two formats, so each reader can choose the one that suits their device:
- EPUB: the format most e-readers and reading apps use. The text reflows to fit the screen, which suits anything that's mostly prose.
- PDF: keeps your page layout exactly as designed, which suits workbooks, cookbooks and anything with diagrams or fill-in pages.
Most writing and design tools can export both. Open each file on a phone and a laptop before you sell it, and send the EPUB to a Kindle if you have one, so you see what the reader will see.
In the edition you sell yourself, add a page at the front with your name, the book's title and where to buy it. If a copy is shared, readers can still see who wrote it and where to get their own. Leave the buying link out of any edition you publish on Kindle, because Amazon doesn't allow links to other ebook stores.
Step 2: create a checkout page
In your Checkout Page dashboard, create a new checkout page for the ebook, or start from the ebook checkout template. Give it the book's title and a short description that says who it's for, what it covers, roughly how long it is and that it comes as an EPUB and a PDF.
On your own checkout, readers can't flip through the book before buying, so it helps to show them a little of it. Add the cover and one or two sample pages as images, so they can see the design and decide whether the book is right for them.
Step 3: set the price
Set a one-time price for the ebook. If you have related files, such as a workbook that goes with the book or a set of templates, you can offer the book on its own and a bundle as two options on the same page. The buyer then chooses without leaving the page. The section on how much to charge, further down, covers how to pick the amounts and whether to try pay what you want.
Step 4: upload the files and write the confirmation message
Go to Product → File downloads and upload the files, the EPUB and the PDF as separate downloads rather than a ZIP, so a reader on a phone can see which is which. The help center recommends keeping each file under 1GB, which is far more than an ebook needs.
Then write the confirmation message and the confirmation email so they tell readers what to do with each file:
- Open the PDF on a laptop or tablet, or print it.
- Send the EPUB to a Kindle with Send to Kindle, or open it in Apple Books, Kobo or any reading app.
- Come back to the customer portal to download the files again later.
Clear instructions here save you answering the same questions after launch.
Step 5: run a test payment
Switch the page to test mode and buy the ebook with a test card. Go through it as a reader would: complete the payment, read the confirmation screen and the email, download both files, open each one and check that the portal shows them too.
A missing font or a broken chapter break is much easier to fix now than after someone has paid. Once everything looks right, switch test mode off so the page takes real payments.
Step 6: share the checkout
Publish the page and share the link wherever your readers already are. For example:
- The newsletter issue where you first mentioned the book
- Your website, with the checkout embedded or opened from a button
- A link in your social media bio or podcast notes
- An email to the people who bought your last product
A photo of the printed workbook or a short video scrolling through a chapter gives people a better idea of what they're buying. You don't need a big launch; start with the people most likely to want it.
How much to charge for an ebook
In the Kindle Store on Amazon.com, Amazon's 70% royalty applies to ebooks priced between $2.99 and $12.99, so that's the range readers see most often there for a novel or a general nonfiction book. If you also sell in the stores, keeping your own checkout price in line with them avoids confusing readers who see both.
A guide that solves a specific problem, such as a pricing handbook for wedding photographers, is a different purchase. Readers tend to weigh it against the time or money it saves them rather than against a paperback, so it can sit above the Kindle range. Looking at five or six comparable guides on Gumroad and Payhip can help you gauge what sellers charge for a similar audience.
A bundle lets you add related files, such as a workbook, templates or an audio version, at a price below buying each separately. Readers get more for their money, you earn more per order, and the fixed part of the card fee is charged once per order.
Pay what you want lets readers choose what to pay above a minimum. It can be worth trying at launch to see what people are willing to pay, though the amounts people choose can vary a lot, and you can switch to a fixed price later.
How readers get their ebook
After paying, readers can download their files from the confirmation screen and the confirmation email. With Checkout Page, the files also stay available in the customer portal, so a reader who changes phones or loses the email can download them again without asking you.
Kindle owners can send an EPUB to their device with Amazon's Send to Kindle, by email, through the Kindle app or on the Send to Kindle web page. Amazon's help lists EPUB and PDF among the accepted file types, with a 200MB limit on the web version. The Apple Books app and Kobo e-readers can open an EPUB directly. The instructions in your confirmation message cover most readers, and the PDF is there for anyone who'd rather read on a laptop.
If most of your readers use e-readers and you'd rather not walk them through sending the file to their device, BookFunnel is a delivery service built for authors. It hosts the files, emails each buyer a download page with Send to Kindle and Send to Kobo buttons, and handles readers' device questions. Its plans run from $30 to $300 a year, and from the $200 Mid-List plan up it connects to other stores and checkouts through Zapier, using a new payment as the trigger.
Can buyers share your ebook?
Yes. Once someone has the files they can forward them, and neither a PDF password nor an EPUB with copy protection reliably stops that while both make the book harder to use for the person who paid. Buying an ebook doesn't give the reader its copyright, and a short line at the front saying so makes your terms clear.
Keeping your name and a link to the checkout on the front page of the edition you sell yourself, and updating the book over time, are the two measures that cost you nothing. Our guide to how to sell PDFs online covers these in more detail, along with license keys for anything that comes with the book, such as a community or a call.
Updating your ebook after it's sold
You can replace the files after launch. If you fix typos or add a chapter, upload the updated EPUB and PDF. New buyers then get the latest version. In Checkout Page, the customer portal shows the latest files to previous buyers as well, but they aren't told about the update, so if you want them to know, email them yourself.
A short version history at the front of the book, listing what changed and when, tells returning readers what's new.
What it costs to sell ebooks online
When comparing places to sell an ebook, look at three things: the share of each sale the platform keeps, any monthly plan, and payment processing. The stores take their share as the difference between the list price and your royalty, and marketplaces and checkout tools charge a fee or a plan, with card processing on top.
- Amazon KDP: pays you 35% or 70%. On the 70% option the royalty is worked out after a delivery charge that Amazon says averages $0.06 a sale, and it applies to buyers in the countries Amazon lists.
- Draft2Digital: keeps about 10% of the retail price, and you receive about 60% from Apple Books, Kobo and Barnes & Noble after the store's own share.
- Gumroad: 10% plus 50 cents on direct sales, with Stripe's processing on top, and a flat 30% on sales that come through Gumroad Discover. Our breakdown of Gumroad fees has the detail.
- Payhip and Checkout Page: both pass on your payment provider's processing. On a US Stripe account that's 2.9% plus 30 cents per card payment, though Stripe's fees vary by country and card type. Payhip adds 5% on its free plan.
The table in the first section shows what you keep from a $9.99 sale through each route. On the free plan, your own checkout leaves you with about $2.45 more per copy than Amazon's 70% option. Retailers, on the other hand, give readers who don't know you yet a place to find your book.
The plan cost depends on the checkout tool. Checkout Page is free up to $3K in monthly sales. Paid plans are a monthly price based on your sales volume. Stripe's processing fees apply.
On the free plan, your pages pause once you pass $3K in a 30-day period and reopen when the period resets or you upgrade.
On one sale the difference between your own checkout and Gumroad is $1.50. At 50 sales a month, that's $75. The Stripe fee calculator estimates the processing fees for your own price and volume.
Sell more than ebooks
Once the checkout exists, the same account can sell whatever comes next for the same readers. For example:
- A workbook or a set of printables that go with the book
- A membership that gives subscribers every new book or chapter you write
- A workshop or a paid call for readers who want help applying it
- An audio version, delivered as files on the same page
If you'd like to try it, you can start selling ebooks on the free plan and upgrade once your sales pass $3K a month.
How to sell ebooks online FAQ
How profitable is selling ebooks?
An ebook costs almost nothing to deliver, so you keep a large share of each sale: about $6.95 of a $9.99 sale on Amazon's 70% option, and about $9.40 from your own checkout. How much that adds up to depends on how many readers you reach, so selling to an audience you already have can help you make sales sooner.
What is the best site to sell ebooks?
Amazon's Kindle Store gives your book a chance to reach readers browsing there, and Draft2Digital gets it into Apple Books, Kobo and Barnes & Noble from one upload, so those suit readers you haven't met. If you already have readers, your own checkout keeps more of each sale and the buyer's email address. The comparison table above has the fees.
Can I sell my ebook on Amazon and my own website?
Yes, as long as you don't enroll it in KDP Select. Publishing on KDP alone doesn't restrict where else you sell. KDP Select is a 90-day program that puts the book into Kindle+, and it requires the digital edition to be sold only through Amazon, your own website included. To sell it elsewhere, leave it out of KDP Select.
Do I need an ISBN to sell an ebook?
No, not for an ebook sold on Amazon or from your own checkout. Amazon's KDP help says ebooks don't need an ISBN to be published there, and Amazon assigns its own ASIN instead. Rules vary by retailer and distributor, so if you distribute through Draft2Digital, check its ISBN options when you set the book up.
Can I sell an ebook without Amazon?
Yes. You can sell an ebook from your own checkout page, a marketplace such as Gumroad or Payhip, or through the other stores with Draft2Digital, without listing it on Amazon at all. Readers with a Kindle can still send your EPUB to it with Amazon's Send to Kindle. You'll still need to find your own readers.
