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Amazon is a marketplace. Books.by is your own bookstore. They're not competitors — they're complementary. Here's an honest look at both.
Books.by assumes recommended $5 customer shipping. KDP rates from official Amazon documentation.
Amazon is really good at some things. We say this despite building a competitor.
Massive built-in audience. Hundreds of millions of shoppers already on Amazon, actively searching for books. You can't replicate that anywhere else.
Algorithmic discovery. Amazon's recommendation engine ("customers also bought…") can surface your book to readers who've never heard of you. That's genuinely powerful.
Zero upfront cost. KDP is completely free to use. No subscription, no setup fees. You upload, publish, and start selling.
Trusted checkout. Readers already have Amazon accounts with saved payment methods. One-click buying is real, and it converts.
For pure organic discovery, Amazon is unmatched. If a stranger is going to stumble on your book, it's probably happening on Amazon.
What the "just publish on Amazon" advice leaves out:
The average self-published book on Amazon sells 1–3 copies. Not per month. Total. Ever. The vast majority of books on Amazon are invisible. According to the Written Word Media Indie Author Survey, the median indie author earns under $1,000/year from Amazon alone.
Amazon's algorithms heavily favor books that are already selling well. It's a flywheel — popular books get more visibility, which drives more sales, which drives more visibility. New books without momentum get buried.
So where do most self-published authors' actual sales come from? Their own audience. Their email list, their social media, their website, their podcast, their speaking gigs. Personal traffic they've built themselves.
When you send your hard-earned personal traffic to Amazon, you're giving Amazon 30–65% of every sale, waiting 60 days to get paid, and you never find out who bought your book. You did the marketing work. Amazon got the customer relationship. Authors who sell direct through Books.by keep an average of $3.86 more per paperback sale compared to Amazon.
From Ash Davies, Founder: "We're not anti-Amazon. More than 70% of Books.by authors also sell on Amazon. We're pro-author. The question isn't whether to use Amazon — it's whether to send your traffic there when you could keep 100% by sending it to your own store." — Ash Davies, Books.by
Books.by isn't a marketplace. It's your own bookstore — think Shopify, but purpose-built for authors.
100% of royalties. You set the price. You keep everything above the print cost. No revenue sharing, no commission, no percentage taken.
Daily payouts. Sell a book today, get paid tomorrow. Not in 60 days. Not in 90 days. Tomorrow.
Your customer data. Every buyer's name, email, and shipping address. Build your mailing list. Email readers about your next book. Create a direct relationship that no platform can take away.
Your brand. Your storefront, your URL, your design. Readers see you — not a marketplace with a million competing titles.
Real-time everything. Instant sales notifications. Live analytics. You know exactly what's happening, as it happens.
| Feature | Books.by | Amazon KDP |
|---|---|---|
| Platform Type | Your own direct-to-reader storefront | Marketplace (Amazon owns the customer) |
| Cost | $99/yr flat | Free |
| Royalties | 100% | 35–70% |
| Payout Speed | Daily | 60 days |
| Customer Data | ✓ Full name, email, address | ✗ Anonymous — you never know who bought |
| Custom Storefront | ✓ Your brand, your URL | ✗ Amazon product listing |
| Print-on-Demand | ✓ Built in | ✓ Built in |
| Free ISBNs | ✓ No restrictions | ✗ No (ASIN only, not ISBN) |
| Cover Builder | ✓ | ✓ |
| Real-Time Sales Alerts | ✓ | ✗ |
| Email Your Buyers | ✓ | ✗ |
| Organic Discovery | ✗ You bring the traffic | ✓ Amazon search & recommendations |
| Transaction Fees | None | None (built into royalty split) |
| Money-Back Guarantee | ✓ 100 days | N/A (free) |
Here's what you'd actually earn on a $19.99 paperback (200 pages, B&W, 6"×9") on each platform:
67% more per book
On 100 sales: $1,522 vs $574 — an extra $948 in your pocket.
Amazon KDP is free. Books.by costs $99 per year. That's a real difference, and it's worth addressing directly.
The math is simple: At $9.60 royalty per book on Books.by vs $5.74 on Amazon, you earn an extra $3.86 per sale on Books.by. That means Books.by pays for itself after roughly 26 sales — less than one sale per fortnight.
If you sell more than 26 books per year from your personal traffic (social media, email, website), Books.by makes you more money. Every sale after that is pure upside. The average Books.by author recoups their subscription in 47 days.
And you get daily payouts, customer data, a branded storefront, free unrestricted ISBNs, a cover builder, and a 100-day money-back guarantee. If it doesn't work out, you get your $99 back. Platforms that offer a "free" service fund themselves by taking a commission on every sale you make, forever. We charge a flat, transparent annual fee so we never need to take a cut of your revenue.
This isn't an either/or decision. The smartest authors use both platforms strategically:
Amazon → for organic discovery. Let Amazon's search engine and recommendation algorithm find you new readers. This is traffic you didn't create — let Amazon have its cut.
Books.by → for all your personal traffic. Your email list, social media, website, podcast, speaking events, book signings, business cards. Any traffic you generate yourself should go to your Books.by store, where you keep 100% and own the customer relationship.
Think of it this way: Amazon is your discovery channel. Books.by is your profit channel. Together, you maximize both reach and revenue.
The link in your Instagram bio? Books.by. The QR code on your business card? Books.by. The URL in your email signature? Books.by. The "buy my book" link you share after a podcast appearance? Books.by.
Let Amazon do what Amazon does best (organic discovery), and keep everything else for yourself. See Books.by pricing or compare with IngramSpark.
Plug in your book details and see exactly what you'd earn on Books.by vs Amazon KDP.
Estimated Royalty Per Book
Monthly Earnings
Yearly Earnings
Start your Books.by store today. 100% royalties, daily payouts, 100-day money-back guarantee.
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