Selling ebooks direct
Sell your ebooks direct. Readers get them in seconds.
An ebook sold from your own store pays you the price the reader paid, minus card fees. You add the book once, upload the EPUB, and Lanternbee does the rest. Readers get an email with their link, read on any device, and can send the book to their Kindle. Novels, cookbooks, workbooks and poetry all work the same way.
How it works in Lanternbee
Add the book
Add the title with its cover, description and series if it has one. Tick ebook as one of its formats.
Upload the file
Upload an EPUB, a PDF or both. Readers get every file you add, so a workbook can come as a reflowable EPUB and a print-ready PDF.
Set the price
Each edition starts at the default ebook price for your store. Change it for any book, or put ebooks into a box set or bundle.
Publish
The ebook shows in your store as soon as the book is published and the file is in place.
Files and details
- EPUB
- Up to 200 MB per file. Every EPUB download carries a line with the buyer’s email instead of DRM.
- Up to 200 MB per file. Good for workbooks, cookbooks and comics with fixed layouts. PDFs are not watermarked.
- Cover
- JPEG, PNG or WebP, up to 20 MB. The same cover is used for every format of the book.
What readers get
- Checkout with an email
- No account and no password. Readers pay, and an email with a link to their library is on its way.
- Their library
- Readers sign in with a link sent to their email. Every book they bought from you is there, ready to download.
- Send to Kindle
- One button sends the EPUB to their Kindle. Kobo readers download the EPUB and copy it across.
- Lost the email?
- Readers can ask for the link again from their library, and come back for the file whenever they like.
What it costs to sell a ebook
Your Lanternbee plan, Stripe’s card fee on each sale, and anything a printer or other service charges. Nothing else.
| What | Cost | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Lanternbee, Free plan | 5% per sale | Taken only when you sell. No monthly bill. |
| Lanternbee, Author plan | $35€29£25 a month, paid yearly | Or $45€39£35 month to month. No fee on your sales. |
| Card payment, US account | 2.9% + 30¢ | Stripe’s standard rate for a US card. Cards issued outside the US add 1.5%, and paying in another currency adds 1%. |
| Card payment, UK account | 1.5% + 20p | Standard UK cards. EEA cards are 2.5% + 20p, other international cards 3.15% + 20p, plus 2% when the currency is converted. |
| Card payment, EU account (Ireland) | 1.5% + €0.25 | Standard EEA cards. UK cards are 2.5% + €0.25, other international cards 3.15% + €0.25, plus 2% when the currency is converted. |
| Stripe Tax | 0.5% per sale | Only on sales where you are registered to collect tax. This is the pay-as-you-go rate for Stripe’s own checkout. |
| Delivery, watermarking and Send to Kindle | Included | No per-download or per-send charge. |
| For comparison, BookFunnel Mid List | $20 a month or $200 a year | The BookFunnel plan that includes delivery for direct sales. |
Limits to know about
- EPUB and PDF only. Upload your Kindle-ready EPUB rather than a MOBI or KPF file.
- Send to Kindle takes EPUB files of 25 MB or less.
- There is no DRM. The watermark line shows who bought the copy; it does not stop sharing.
- An ebook in Kindle+ (formerly Kindle Unlimited) must be exclusive to Amazon, so you cannot sell that ebook direct.
- Lanternbee will not find readers for you. It is where the readers you already reach can buy.
VAT and sales tax
Ebooks are digital, so VAT or sales tax follows the reader’s country. Stripe Tax works out the right amount at checkout and adds it. You are the seller, so you file and pay it. In the EU that usually means the One Stop Shop return.
Questions about selling ebooks
Can I sell an ebook that is in Kindle+ or Kindle Unlimited?
No. Kindle+, the new name for Kindle Unlimited, needs the ebook to be exclusive to Amazon. You can still sell its paperback, hardcover and audiobook direct.
Do readers need an app?
No. They download the EPUB to the reading app they already use, or send it to their Kindle.
Why no DRM?
DRM makes it harder for honest readers to open the book they paid for. Instead, each EPUB copy carries the buyer’s email, which discourages casual sharing.
Can I give an ebook away as a reader magnet?
You can set any edition’s price. Reader magnets with sign-up forms are better served by a tool like BookFunnel for now.
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Sell your ebooks direct
Join the waiting list and we’ll email you when your store is ready to set up.
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