17 Best Platforms to Sell Ebooks in 2024

Where to sell ebooks and get the best return on your investment (we’re talking about your money, effort, and dedication to writing the manuscript)? You have to consider aspects such as cost, transparency, and royalties.

Let’s go through a few ebook publishing platforms to help you narrow down your search.

A. Best Ebook Distributors

The easiest way to sell ebooks online is through an aggregator or going directly with a retailer.

What is the difference between the two?

• Book retailers like Apple Books are your online storefronts, where readers can directly buy your ebook. Most of them have a self-publishing platform as well, so if you have a manuscript and a book cover ready, you can publish your book anytime.
• Book aggregators like PublishDrive are like having a sales rep for your ebook. They connect you with multiple retailers, subscription-based platforms, and digital libraries at once, expanding your reach to more readers.

So, let’s go over the best ebook platforms.

1. PublishDrive

PublishDrive is an aggregator with many ebook publishing services to support authors and publishers.

While you can’t sell your ebooks directly from PublishDrive, you can use the platform to publish your ebook and sell it internationally on popular platforms such as Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play Books, and many others, including hard-to-reach markets like China.

The platform has various distribution channels, tools, and features to help with your ebook publishing process from start to finish:

• Conversion

PublishDrive offers a no-fuss way to turn your manuscript into an ebook that meets self-publishing standards. Most stores and platforms accept ebooks in an EPUB or MOBI file format. PublishDrive’s converter (along with the rest of its tools and services) guarantees your ebook is ready to launch.

Formats: EPUB, MOBI

Price: Free

• Publishing & distribution

Being an aggregator, PublishDrive helps you publish and distribute your work to the best platforms to sell ebooks. With its wide reach, it’s super simple to get your books distributed internationally, not just to major retailers like Amazon but also to niche markets.

Here’s how to do it:

• Sign up for PublishDrive. Once you’re in, navigate to the book upload process.
• Upload book files and fill out your metadata. We’ve got a nifty AI book metadata generator to help you craft and optimize your best metadata.
• Click on all the channels you’d like to distribute to, from big retailers like Amazon to international book publishers in India and beyond.

• Marketing tools

Once you choose the ebook platforms to distribute to, you can start thinking about a few marketing tactics to help your books get noticed.

If you choose to distribute your titles with PublishDrive, know that you have a few book promotion options right there on the platform.

• Formats available: Ebook, audiobook, print-on-demand
• Royalty payout: PublishDrive works based on a flat monthly subscription fee, so you get to keep 100% of the net royalties you earn from vendors.
• Reach: 20+ channels, 400+ stores, and thousands of digital libraries worldwide.
• Print-on-demand converter
• Print cover template generator

2. Amazon 

It goes without saying that Amazon is one of the best places to sell ebooks since the online retailer captures the majority of the digital book market. 

Amazon has Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, where authors can self-publish their books and distribute them to Amazon’s Kindle stores.

Amazon also has KDP Select, but this one requires an exclusivity period. That means you can’t publish or sell your ebook somewhere else for the first 90 days your ebook is up on Amazon. 

This can help authors who publish for the first time and need more support, but it also limits their earning potential since they can’t get royalties from another platform.

• Royalty payout: 70% for books between $2.99 and $9.99, 35% if below $2.99
• Reach: Kindle stores in 13 countries, over 200 million monthly visitors on Amazon.com

3. Kobo

Kobo can get your self-published book on Walmart’s website, but it also reaches other prominent stores around the globe, which makes it one of the best places to sell ebooks.

Kobo has its own app available on Google Play and the App Store.

• Kobo Royalty payout: 70% for books above $2.99; 45% if below $2.99; 20% if the books are part of the public domain.
• Reach: Online bookstores in over 190 countries.

4. Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble is also among the top platforms for selling ebooks. They offer more than 1 million titles in their ebooks store, which can be enjoyed on their eReader, NOOK. Besides those, B&N is one of the biggest bookstores in the US, with warehouses across the country.

This ebook publisher also has Barnes & Noble Press, where you can self-publish your books.

Note: With B&N, you can also distribute audiobooks. For that, you’ll have to go through Findaway Voices or an aggregator such as PublishDrive, which has Findaway Voices on its distribution list.

• Royalty payout: 70%
• Reach: Physical bookstores all across the US; millions of readers on their website and NOOK devices.

5. Apple Books

If you’re wondering where to sell ebooks and reach many readers, know that you can do it on Apple Books. Since the app comes preinstalled on all Apple devices, there’s a big chance Apple users will search for their next read right on their iPad, iPhone, or Mac.

Self-publishing on Apple Books is also easy: you can create a book with Pages and then publish it directly to the Apple Book store. Or, you can go with PublishDrive.

Distributing on this ebook platform has many advantages:

• The Apple Books storefront favors book promotions, free books, and discounts. This helps authors launch their catalogs faster.
• Apple Books stands out as one of the few ebook retailers, alongside Google Play Books, that indexes book descriptions in its search. This feature helps with book visibility.
• Apple Books distributes ACX-exclusive audiobooks. This means that even if an author is exclusive to Amazon with their ebook and audiobook distribution, they can still be on Apple Books.

What else:

• Royalty payout: 70%
• Reach: More than 1.4 billion Apple users in over 50 countries; territory focus on the United States, Australia, Europe, and Japan

6. Google Play Books

One of the best platforms to sell ebooks is Google Play Books. The Google Play Books app is preinstalled on every Android device. And we’re talking about Google, the largest search engine ever. Listing your book in the Google Play Store can help you rank higher in Google search results.

Self-published authors can take the publishing matter into their own hands and publish their manuscripts using the Books Partner Center.

• Royalty payout: 70% for most books for partners who accepted their updated Terms of Service
• Reach: Over 3 billion Android devices are currently active

7. Ingram

Although Ingram specializes in print-on-demand, the platform also offers global distribution and resources to help indies self-publish their ebooks. They’ll distribute your ebook to sellers such as Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, and others.

Authors can self-publish their ebooks on their self-publishing platform, IngramSpark. All they need is an EPUB file for your book’s interior and a high-res JPG image for the book cover. Actually, this is what you need for most ebook platforms when uploading your files.

• Formats available: Ebooks, print books
• Royalty payout: 40%
• Reach: The United States, Canada, Europe, Australia & New Zealand

B. E-Reading Subscription Services

Besides the already mentioned platforms that are ideal for selling ebooks, there are more places where to sell ebooks online: platforms that offer ebook subscription services.

8. KoboPlus

Kobo Plus is Kobo's non-exclusive subscription service that allows subscribers access to books on an all-you-can-read basis.

• Royalty payout: 60%. Check the details here.
• Reach: Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Taiwan, Hong Kong.

Note: Kobo Plus is one of the stores with the most significant sales in 2023 compared to 2022, as shown by our book sales report:

9. Scribd (Everand)

Scribd is a subscription that provides access to millions of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, documents, professional content, and more across three products:

• Everand offers millions of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, newspapers, podcasts, and sheet music.
• Scribd hosts millions of community-uploaded documents, such as academic papers, legal documents, manuals, and more.
• SlideShare showcases millions of community-uploaded presentations and professional documents.

It was initially launched to publish academic papers and gained significant traction in 2009 after signing a deal to sell ebooks. If you want to sell ebooks online here, you have to go through one of their approved partners. You can’t publish an ebook directly on Scribd.

• Royalty payout: Scribd (Everand) has signed distribution agreements with their publishing partners, so you’ll have to check the distributor of your choice. With PublishDrive, the royalty payout is 55%
• Reach: Worldwide, focusing on the US and UK markets

10. Storytel

Storytel is another one among the best ebook platforms. It is a Stockholm-based ebook and audiobook subscription service where people can browse among over 1.5 million audiobooks and ebooks.

• Royalty payout: 50% with PublishDrive
• Reach: In over 25 markets, with a focus on ten core markets: the five Nordic countries, the Netherlands, Turkey, Poland, Bulgaria, and the USA.

11. Bookmate

Where to publish ebooks when you want to diversify your market reach? On Bookmate.

This one’s an ebook platform that works on a subscription basis, with more than a million subscribers around the world.

• Royalty payout: 50% with PublishDrive
• Reach: Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Crimea, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria.

12. Dreame

If you’re looking for a platform to sell ebooks and keep your audience super engaged and coming back for more, Dreame is the perfect place to distribute your titles.

Dreame is a reading app that addresses female readers in the English-speaking South Asian market. It features serialized online fiction for genres such as Romance, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy.

What’s different about this e-reading app is that readers pay with coins to unlock each episode. In this way, authors receive rewards for their work, encouraging them to write more.

• Royalty payout: Dreame has its writer’s benefits program, which you can check here. 25% with PublishDrive
• Reach: Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, the United States, UK, Canada, Australia, India

13. 24symbols

24symbols is a subscription service based in Madrid, Spain, designed for digital bookworms. It offers a collection of over 500,000 ebooks, allowing you to explore various genres like contemporary fiction, romance, thrillers, biographies, and more.

• Royalty payout: 55% with PublishDrive.
• Reach: the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Latin America

14. Perlego

Perlego is a global non-fiction-focused e-reading subscription service trusted by students worldwide.

Perlego partners with more than 3,000 publishers to offer users unlimited access to digital books.

• Royalty payout: 55% with PublishDrive
• Reach: Europe, the Middle East, and Africa

⚡Tip: Publishing your ebooks with PublishDrive helps you get occasional promotional opportunities with every e-reading subscription service from this list.

D. Ecommerce Platforms

Besides the self-publishing platforms, aggregators, and e-reading subscription services that an author would normally go for, you can also try a less popular method for self-published authors: selling ebooks on an ecommerce platform.

Most of them have built-in marketing tools that you can use to advertise your ebook.

Here are a few places to check out:

15. Podia

Podia, you can host digital products such as online courses or ebooks. The platform comes with many marketing features to help you advertise and sell your ebooks, such as email marketing campaigns, messaging, embeds, or affiliate programs.

Pricing:

• Free Plan: You can build a website and blog, and offer 1 download/coaching product for free. However, you'll pay a 10% fee on any sales.
• Starter Plan ($9/month): This plan allows a custom domain and reduces fees to 8%. You can still only offer 1 download/coaching product.
• Mover Plan ($39/month): Ideal for selling digital products. This plan eliminates draft limitations and allows unlimited downloads, courses, webinars, etc. Fees drop to 5%.
• Shaker Plan ($89/month): The most expensive plan focuses on scaling your business. It includes all features of Mover and removes transaction fees entirely. There's also a first-year discount.

16. Sellfy

Sellfy, authors can create and customize their own storefronts to sell ebooks. They can also set the payment options and use the marketing tools from each plan the platform has.

Pricing:

• Starter – $19/month
• Business – $49/month
• Premium – $99/month

17. Payhip

Payhip is another platform great for selling ebooks and other digital products, such as software, design assets, templates, videos, music, and more. The platform has built-in marketing tools for promoting your assets.

Pricing:

• Free – 5% transaction fee on sales
• Plus – $29/month + 2% transaction fee on sales
• Pro – $99/month

Final Thoughts

There are many factors to consider when self-publishing a book, and choosing the right platform(s) is a meaningful step that influences all the other aspects of your self-publishing journey. Make sure to do your research and discover which option is best for you when it comes to selling ebooks.

When you’re a self-published author, you need all the support you can get to distribute and advertise your books.

Remember, PublishDrive is here to get your books to the best ebook publishing platforms.