A Letter from Ash Davies, Founder of Books.by

The bookselling model is broken.

Self-publishing once promised independence to authors, but it has failed to deliver. Bookstores like Amazon can take up to a 55% commission on every sale and share no information about your readers. Publishers take large commissions, take forever to pay, and don't help you sell more books. As a result, the modern author earns less than 8% for their work — if they're lucky. We created Books.by to change this.

Before Books.by, our team spent decades building technology for self-publishing companies. We've seen firsthand how and why the publishing industry disadvantages authors — partly because we built the systems. There are simply too many parties involved. Publishers, distributors, printers, and bookstores all take a share of your earnings, claiming they're indispensable. In reality, with on-demand printing technology, social media, and online marketing, authors today are more independent than ever.

Our mission with Books.by has been to create the first self-publishing platform that truly empowers authors. With Books.by, you become the bookstore. You can upload or create your books, publish them to your own personal storefront, and sell directly to your readers. You receive a personalized domain (books.by/you), instant sales notifications, daily payouts, a transparent view of your customers, and keep all of your royalties after printing and shipping costs.

Our publishing software is trusted by more than 10,000 authors, including NYT bestsellers. Authors using Books.by earn 5× more per copy than the average author (and we think they're happier too).

Joining Books.by and creating your personal bookstore costs just $99, with unlimited access. We're here to change the publishing industry and make it more favorable for authors. We hope you'll join us.

Ash Davies, CEO