How to Sell Your Book Directly Without an Aggregator
Aggregators like Draft2Digital or Smashwords distribute your book to multiple retailers automatically, but they take a cut and put a layer between you and your reader. Selling directly means more control and a bigger share of each sale — at the cost of having to drive your own traffic. Here are the two main ways to do it.
Option 1: Digital Storefront Platforms
These platforms let you create an account, upload your book, and start selling — they handle the checkout and file delivery, but not your marketing. You’re responsible for driving readers to your page yourself.
Gumroad No monthly fee — Gumroad charges roughly 10% plus a small flat fee per direct sale (higher, around 30%, if a buyer finds you through Gumroad’s own Discover marketplace instead of your own link).
Payhip Has a free-forever plan with a lower per-sale fee (around 5%), which can drop further on a paid monthly plan — generally the cheaper option of the two if you’re driving your own traffic rather than relying on marketplace discovery.
Both handle VAT/tax compliance to varying degrees and pay out via PayPal or bank transfer — check each platform’s current fee page before committing, since these rates do change periodically.
Option 2: Your Own Website
Selling from a website you fully control means no platform fee at all beyond payment processing (typically just the card processor’s cut, around 3%). You’ll need:
- A shopping cart or checkout system (WooCommerce, if you’re on WordPress, is a common choice)
- A way to deliver the file securely after purchase
- Your own traffic — email list, social following, or paid ads, since there’s no marketplace to discover you
See our guide to building an author website if you want to go this route.
If you go this route, see our guide to why every author needs a book sales website for what a dedicated author site should actually include.
The Real Trade-Off
Selling directly means keeping significantly more of each sale — but only if you can actually reach readers on your own. If most of your traffic currently comes from Amazon’s own search and recommendations, going fully direct means replacing that discovery mechanism yourself, which takes real, ongoing marketing effort. Many authors use direct sales as a secondary channel alongside retailers, rather than a replacement for them.
Need Your File Ready for Direct Sale?
Whichever platform you choose, your file still needs to be properly formatted and your cover ready to sell.