Selling ebooks is a fundamentally different business than reselling used physical books -- you're either publishing your own writing or licensing digital rights, not sourcing and flipping inventory. If you've got a manuscript, a course transcript, or any digital content you want to sell, here's where to actually list it and what each platform pays.
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)
Amazon's KDP is the largest ebook marketplace by reach, giving you access to the biggest pool of buyers by far. Royalties run on two main plans: a 70% royalty option (with some pricing and file-size conditions) or a 35% royalty option with fewer restrictions. Amazon also offers KDP Select, which grants exclusivity to Amazon in exchange for extra promotional tools like Kindle Unlimited page-read royalties.
Best for: Authors who want maximum reach and are comfortable with Amazon's ecosystem and pricing rules.
Selling Ebooks on Your Own Website
Platforms like Gumroad, Payhip, and Shopify let you sell ebooks directly from your own site, keeping a larger share of each sale (platform fees are typically a flat percentage plus payment processing, well below what marketplace commissions often take) and full control over pricing, bundling, and customer relationships. The tradeoff is you're responsible for all your own traffic and marketing -- there's no built-in buyer pool the way Amazon provides.
Best for: Authors with an existing audience (email list, social following) who want to keep more revenue per sale and control the customer relationship.
Apple Books and Google Play Books
Both platforms let you publish directly to their respective ebook stores, generally with better royalty splits than some retail models but smaller audiences than Amazon. Useful as an additional distribution channel alongside Amazon rather than a primary platform on their own.
Ebook Aggregators (Draft2Digital, Smashwords)
Aggregators distribute your ebook to multiple retailers (Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and others) from a single upload, taking a small cut of each sale in exchange for handling the multi-platform distribution work. This is the practical middle ground if you don't want to manually manage listings on five different platforms.
Best for: Authors who want broad distribution beyond Amazon without managing each retailer separately.
Selling Ebooks on Etsy
Etsy has a real market for digital downloads including short ebooks, workbooks, and planners, particularly in niches like self-improvement, crafts, and educational content. It's a smaller, more niche-specific audience than Amazon, but with lower competition for the right category.
Comparing the Platforms
| Platform | Typical Cut You Keep | Audience Size | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon KDP | 35% or 70% (plan-dependent) | Largest | Maximum reach, standard fiction/nonfiction |
| Your own site (Gumroad, Shopify) | Highest per-sale (small flat/percentage fee) | Only what you bring | Authors with an existing audience |
| Aggregators (Draft2Digital) | Mid-range, small distribution cut | Multi-retailer reach | Broad distribution without manual multi-listing |
| Etsy | Etsy listing/transaction fees apply | Niche, lower competition | Workbooks, planners, niche digital products |
What Actually Sells as an Ebook
Non-fiction with a clear, specific promise (how-to guides, niche reference material, workbooks) tends to convert well because buyers know exactly what they're getting. Fiction can work but generally requires more marketing effort to stand out, since readers have enormous free and low-cost options already available.
Pricing Your Ebook
Amazon's 70% royalty tier has specific price-range requirements (typically a defined price band) -- pricing outside that range drops you to the 35% tier even if you didn't intend to. On your own site, you have full pricing freedom, which is one of the real advantages of selling direct once you have any existing audience to sell to.
Bottom Line
Amazon KDP remains the default starting point for reach, but selling through your own site or an aggregator can mean keeping significantly more revenue per sale once you have any existing audience. Most authors who sell seriously end up using more than one channel rather than relying on a single platform.
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Related: How to Sell Books on Amazon: Step-by-Step Guide | How to Flip Books for Profit | Best Book Scanning Apps for Resellers