17 Best Platforms to Sell Ebooks in 2024

best platforms for selling ebooks

After writing your ebook, you want to reap the benefits of months of hard work. But with so many options out there, which platforms are best for selling ebooks? Besides, you also have to consider other aspects such as cost, transparency, and royalties.

Let’s walk through a list of the best ebook platforms.

A. Ebook Retailers and Distributors

When it comes to ebook sales, retailers and distributors are the safest choices for self-published authors. Match those with a few marketing tools and the appropriate listing price, and you can distribute and advertise your ebook efficiently even if you choose the self-publishing gig.

Here’s a list of some of the best ebook platforms.

1. Ingram

ingram global distribtion

Although Ingram specializes in print-on-demand with top-quality services, 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 to be used for display on retailer websites. Actually, this is what you need for most ebook platforms when uploading your files.

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

Each plan has its own perks and features, which you can see here.

2. Amazon 

amazon

It goes without saying that Amazon is one of the most popular ebook platforms out there since the online retailer captures the majority of the digital book market. They have 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 someplace 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.

  • Formats available: Ebook, audiobook, print
  • 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

rakuten kobo

Kobo offers ebooks and audiobooks, being one of the best platforms to sell ebooks online. Kobo can get your self-published book on Walmart’s website, but it also reaches other prominent stores around the globe.

Besides being a great platform for selling ebooks, authors can also self-publish their manuscripts with Kobo Writing Life and get their books on KoboPlus, one of the most internationally recognized e-reading companies.

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

  • Formats available: Ebook, print
  • 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, with a focus on Canada and India; over 275 million monthly visitors on Walmart.com

4. Barnes & Noble

barnes and noble

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

This popular platform, where you can sell ebooks, also has Barnes & Noble Press, where you can self-publish your books.

  • Formats available: Ebook, print
  • Royalty payout: 70% for ebooks, 55% for print books
  • Reach: The United States; Millions of readers on BN.com and NOOK devices

5. Apple iBooks

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, then publish it directly to the Apple Book store

  • Formats available: Ebook, audiobook (for audio, you must go through one of Apple’s approved partners like PublishDrive)
  • 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

⚡Tip: PublishDrive can recommend your book to Apple’s editorial team for a promotional feature (with a 90% approval rate). Learn more about PublishDrive’s book promotion services.

6. Google Play Books

google play books

One of the best places to sell ebooks online 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 Books Partner Center

For more information, check out our in-depth article on how to publish on Google Play Books.

  • Formats available: Ebook, audiobook
  • Royalty payout: 70% for most books for partners who accepted their updated Terms of Service
  • Reach: Over 2.5 billion Android users in more than 50 countries

7. PublishDrive

publishdrive

PublishDrive is an aggregator with many ebook publishing services to support authors in every stage of their self-publishing journey.

Authors can publish, distribute their books worldwide, and tap into all the marketing tools available on the platform that helps their books stand out. It also has a royalty management system and one of the best ebook conversion services, which is also free of charge.

While you can’t sell your ebooks directly from PublishDrive, you can 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. 

publish internationally with publishdrive

If you want to reach all those markets at the same time, all you need to do is set up an account, upload your ebook files, fill out all the necessary details, and select the distribution stores.

  • 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

You’ll also benefit from features such as:

  • Print-on-demand converter
  • Print cover template generator
  • Ebook converter

B. E-Reading Subscription Services

Besides the already mentioned platforms that are ideal for selling ebooks, there are more places where you can get your ebook on, where people can enjoy reading them on a subscription basis. These are definitely to be considered if you want to sell ebooks online.

8. KoboPlus

kobo plus

Kobo's e-reading subscription service supports 187 languages and reaches readers in Canada, Netherlands, and Belgium. With a monthly subscription, people can read and listen to as many eBooks and audiobooks as they want.

  • Formats available: Ebook, audiobook
  • Royalty payout: 60%
  • Reach: Focuses on territories such as Canada, Netherlands, and Belgium

💡How to sell ebooks there? Through KoboWritingLife, which is an ebook creation service or through an aggregator such as PublishDrive.

9. Scribd

scribd

Scribd is an ebook and audiobook subscription service with a website that has more than 100,000,000 visitors every month. The readers have unlimited access to books and audiobooks in all their favorite genres.

If you want to sell ebooks on one of the best ebook platforms there is, you have to go through a self-publishing platform or an aggregator. You can’t publish an ebook directly on Scribd.

  • Formats available: Ebook, audiobook
  • Royalty payout: Scribd 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

💡How to sell ebooks there? Through a publishing platform or an aggregator such as PublishDrive.

10. Storytel

storytel

Storytel is another ebook platform where you can distribute your ebook and increase sales. It is a Stockholm-based e-book and audiobook subscription service where people can browse among over 1 million audiobooks and e-books.

  • Formats available: Ebook, audiobook
  • Royalty payout: 50%
  • Reach: Worldwide, focusing on territories such as Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, India, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Arab Emirates

💡How to sell ebooks there? By uploading your ebook to Storytel or through an aggregator such as PublishDrive.

11. Bookmate

bookmate

Bookmate is another ebook platform that works on a subscription basis, with more than a million subscribers around the world. 

  • Formats available: Ebook, audiobook
  • Royalty payout: 50% with PublishDrive
  • Reach: Russia, Indonesia, Singapore, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Latin America, the United Kingdom, and the United States

💡How to sell ebooks there? Through their trusted partners, including PublishDrive.

12. Dreame

dreame

Dreame is a reading app that addresses female readers under the age of 40 in the English-speaking South Asian market. It features serialized online fiction for genres such as Romance, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy.

What it’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. 

  • Formats available: Ebook
  • 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

💡How to sell ebooks there? Through their platform, from the Become a Writer section, or through their partners, including PublishDrive.

13. 24symbols

24 symbols

24symbols is an e-reading subscription-based service with more than 500,000 e-books available for all digital devices. 

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

💡How to sell ebooks there? Through their partners, including PublishDrive.

14. Perlego

200

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 for a subscription fee. 

What’s helpful about this platform is that it helps publishers monetize content even if students read one or ten chapters.

  • Formats available: Ebook, audiobook
  • Royalty payout: publishers get a percentage based on how much of the book is read; 55% with PublishDrive.
  • Reach: Europe, the Middle East, and Africa

💡How to sell ebooks there? Through their partners, including PublishDrive.

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

C. 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

With 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 –  for one product, with an 8% transaction fee on sales
  • Mover – $33/month
  • Shaker –  $75/month

16. Sellfy  

With 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, video, music, and more. The platform has built-in marketing tools for promoting your assets.

Pricing:

  • Free – 5% transaction fee on sales
  • Plus – $29/month
  • 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 help you get your stories published worldwide.

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