A creator asking where to sell ebooks is really asking a narrower question: on a book priced at ten or fifteen dollars, which checkout leaves the most in my hands per copy. That is a different question from the one a course seller asks, because a cheap product is punished by the flat cents in a fee far more than by the share. Gumroad charges no monthly plan and takes 10% plus $0.50 per direct sale, and on a book that flat fifty cents is a bigger bite than it looks. A platform on a monthly plan passes on card processing instead, where the processor's standard fee, 2.9% + $0.30, carries its own flat part. So the routes to sell ebooks come down to three: a per copy cut with no fixed bill, a monthly plan with processing only, or bundling the book into a paid subscription you already run. The section below prices all three on the same book, and the course funnel guide on this site is the free walkthrough for the page that sells it.
Selling ebooks: why a cheap book is decided by the flat cents
On a thirty dollar product the share dominates and the flat part is noise. On a nine dollar book the flat part is most of the fee. That single fact reorders the whole comparison: a route that looks generous on a course can be the expensive one on a short guide, and the reverse holds too. Before you weigh anything else, take the price you intend to charge, work out the fee twice, once as a share and once as flat cents, and see which half is larger. Whichever half is larger is the half you should be shopping for. Raising the price of the book, or bundling two of them, changes the answer as much as changing platform does.
The arithmetic on a $12 book, 300 copies
Set the book at $12. On the per copy route the checkout keeps $1.20 plus $0.50, so $1.70 goes and $10.30 stays. Three hundred copies is $3,600 collected, $510 to the platform and $3,090 to you. On the monthly plan route you carry processing only: the processor's standard fee, 2.9% + $0.30, is $0.35 plus $0.30 on that book, so $0.65 goes and $11.35 stays. The same three hundred copies is $195 in processing and $3,405 to you. The difference is $1.05 a copy, or $315 across the month. A monthly plan priced under $315 wins at that volume and loses at a tenth of it, so the honest input to this calculation is the number of copies you actually expect, not the number you hope for.
Where to sell ebooks when you already charge a list
If your paywall is already a paid newsletter, the book is not a fresh platform decision, it is a question of whether to sell it separately or fold it into the subscription. Substack takes a 10% share of paid subscription revenue: writers keep 90% minus card fees, and that share applies to the subscription, not to a one off sale you run elsewhere. Folding the book in raises the value of a subscription you are already collecting on. Selling it separately reaches people who will pay once and never subscribe. Most publishers end up doing both, with the separate sale priced above the monthly subscription so the subscription still looks like the better deal.
How to sell digital downloads online: delivery, refunds and the file
Whatever route you pick, the reader has to end up with a file that opens. Check that the checkout serves the download itself rather than emailing an attachment, that the link can be re issued when someone loses it, that you can upload a corrected edition without breaking old links, and that a refund can be issued in a few clicks. Check too whether the platform lets you export the buyer list, because those buyers are the readiest audience for the next book. Gumroad, Podia, Payhip and Buy Me a Coffee all handle delivery for a one off file; the course platforms do it as a side effect of hosting lessons.
Questions people ask about sell ebooks
What is the best place to sell ebooks you wrote?
Your own checkout, if you have any audience at all, because you keep the buyer list. A marketplace only earns its cut when it brings the reader.
Should I set a price or let readers pay what they want?
Pay what you want raises the number of readers and lowers the average per copy. Set a floor, since the flat part of the fee has to be covered on every order.
Does the same route suit a bundle of several books?
Not necessarily. A bundle raises the order value, which shrinks the flat part of the fee as a share of it, so the per copy route looks better on bundles than on singles.
Can I list the same book on several of the best ebook selling websites?
Usually yes, unless a contract says otherwise. Keep one price across all of them, or the cheapest listing sets the price you actually get.