How Self‑Published Authors Can Sell More Books in 2025 (and Keep More Profit)

One of the biggest trends in recent years for authors has been to take the route of self-publishing. Self-publishing means that you are the publisher of your own book and you don’t have to go through big publishers to be considered an author. However, you still typically have to go through some sort of service like Amazon KDP to get your books printed and distributed. Selling through Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, etc… may give you reach, but that alone doesn’t meant that you necessarily have the strong customer relationship that you need. Direct-to-reader sales are also great ways that you can own the data, profit margins, and the experience. Many writers and self-published authors these days are choosing a more hybrid structure for selling their books: Using a major retailer for visibility and growth and selling in a direct store for higher-margin sales, bundles, and superfans. For today’s post, I’ll be helping you learn how self-published authors can sell more books and earn more money in 2025. 

Selling books also requires a lot of marketing as well, and that’s part of why I created this free marketing checklist. It’s designed to help you as an author go from pre-launch to post-launch with practical tips! I studied lots of marketing in university as a part of my undergrad in finance, and I find that marketing is a seriously important concept for any writer to know about: 

Be sure to also check out my Sprint to a Novel in 30 Days workbook to help you go from story idea to fully written novel in nothing more than 30 days with a novel crash course and a writing tracker!

Part 1: Your Distribution Foundation (KDP, IngramSpark, and When to Use Each)

For the most part, Kindle Direct Publishing or Amazon KDP, is pretty much the most essential for visibility to readers. Amazon is especially powerful for the Kindle eBook model, with eBooks being a primary way readers interact on Amazon. Here’s some more information about how Amazon KDP works for you as an author:

• eBooks: Standard 70% royalty in eligible territories when priced between $2.99–$9.99 (minus delivery), otherwise 35%. This is Amazon’s best discovery engine and you need to take advantage of it. Consider using KDP Select for some time as well to boost visibility but then remove it so you can distribute your eBook to other retailers. 
• Print: In 2025, many lower list‑price bands now pay 50% royalty (minus print cost) on paperbacks/hardcovers sold on Amazon; higher list‑price bands still pay 60%. Always run the KDP royalty/print‑cost calculator before you lock pricing. It still remains one of the best royalty models in the market. 
• Expanded Distribution (ED): 40% royalty (minus print cost) for ED sales. ED can place your book beyond Amazon, but margins are thin and bookstore adoption is limited. You won’t lose anything by placing your book through this unless you’re planning on using Ingram Spark. 
• Free ISBN: If you’re in a country where it costs money for ISBNs, then you can get a free ISBN through Amazon. However, be aware that technically Amazon “owns” your book and it’s not really published by you. 

IngramSpark (IS) is the industry’s backbone for wide print. Bookstores, libraries, education vendors, and international outlets. It has operations globally that allow it to interact with bookstores in many countries. A lot of self-published authors love Ingram Spark because of how many options it gives, including dust-jackets for hardcovers. 

• Why use it: Greater control over trim sizes, paper/ink, and wholesale terms; wide distribution beyond Amazon. Title setup fees are now gone; you still manage wholesale discounts and returns.
• Wholesale discount & returns: Offer ~40–55% wholesale (55% is common for bookstore‑friendly terms) and choose a returns policy (careful as returns can be costly). IS makes sense when you want to be orderable everywhere, pitch indies, or supply libraries. 
• Offers ISBNs: If you don’t own an ISBN or you didn’t get one for your book, you can buy one on Ingram Spark. This costs money whereas Amazon gives you them for free should you choose that model. 

Best‑practice hybrid:

1. Publish Kindle + KDP Print for Amazon retail speed/Prime shipping.
2. Load the same print book to IngramSpark for bookstores/libraries and international reach. (Use your own ISBN so the same edition can live on both platforms.)
3. Sell ebooks/audiobooks + special print direct on your own store for maximum margin.

Exclusivity note: If you want to sell ebooks direct, don’t enroll them in KDP Select/KU (Select requires digital exclusivity). Print and audio are unaffected.

Part 2: Direct‑to‑Reader and Choosing Your Ecommerce Platform (Pros, Cons, and Best Fit)

Alright, now that we’ve talked about the big players in terms of retailers that distribute print books, let’s talk about your direct-to-reader model and how you can choose your best ecommerce platform. 

In 2025, the author-friendly store landscape pretty much falls into two buckets: 

• Seller‑of‑Record (SoR) platforms where you are the merchant (you handle taxes, though many tools help): Shopify, WooCommerce, Payhip.
• Merchant‑of‑Record (MoR) platforms that act as the legal seller and handle global sales tax/VAT for you: Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy.

I’ve personally used a lot of these retailers for many things. My website (you’re on it right now) uses Woocommerce for selling. I also have an Etsy and a Gumroad for selling digital products as well. Check them out below: 

• Etsy
• Gumroad

I have experience with many other platforms as well like Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, etc… I’ve been working in ecommerce for a good number of years now, and I can tell you which platforms I found to be the best for your needs. 

Shopify (SoR)

Shopify is the most capable all‑around storefront for authors who want to scale. You get excellent themes, apps, abandoned‑cart flows, and reporting. It has some integrations with print-on-demand apps for books. Beyond that though, Shopify is probably the least difficult to learn and the best one if you aren’t very technical and don’t want to mess around with programming. However, keep in mind that you may need to program some of the more advanced operations and styles.

Pros of Shopify

• Mature ecosystem (it’s been around for a really long time)
• Lulu Direct and BookVault apps for automated print fulfillment
• Great analytics tools
• Easy bundles and subscriptions 
• Plug and play style for themes and shop builder
• Can also include a blog to update readers

Cons of Shopify

• High monthly fees
• You’re responsible for dealing with taxes
• Requires more setup 
• Some themes may cost extra
• Some features and apps may cost extra

Shopify is ultimately great for building a branded shop that has room to grow. If you’re planning on taking your author business and expanding it, Shopify is a good place to start. 

WooCommerce (SoR)

WooCommerce isn’t a standalone website but is instead a plugin for WordPress that turns your base website into a full ecommerce system. I personally have a lot of experience with WooCommerce and can say that it’s got a lot of positives if you’re more savvy with tech and enjoy customizability over Shopify’s plug and play system. 

Pros of WooCommerce

• Maximum control
• Easy to setup if you’re already a WordPress user
• Lots of plugins make it very customizable
• Can add a lot of cool features
• Works well with Elementor for design

Cons of WooCommerce

• You are responsible for hosting and building the website fully
• You need to worry about security yourself
• Integrations for print and delivery take more configuration
• Harder to use if you’re not tech savvy

WooCommerce is a good system if you prefer doing things, adding lots of customization, and you want more ability to shift things around with your store’s theme. However, WooCommerce can be a bit difficult if you’re not used to the WordPress system. You also need to find a hosting provider, like Namecheap. 

Payhip (SoR)

Payhip is similar to Shopify in that it was designed to help you quickly launch a storefront for digital and physical products. It’s got built-in EU VAT for digital goods as well, which can be helpful if you collect taxes in your storefront. 

Pros of Payhip

• Fast setup
• Built in VAT for digital goods
• Lets you create coupons, affiliate codes, and subscriptions
• Low overhead costs

Cons of Payhip

• Fewer design options compared to Spotify
• Harder to use with larger catalogues
• Not designed to handle lots of complex bundles

Payhip is a great option if you’re still new and don’t want to mess around with the complicated systems that are involved in Shopify. If you want minimal monthly costs, it’s probably also a good idea for you. 

A lightweight, quick‑to‑launch storefront for digital and physical products with built‑in EU VAT for 

Gumroad (MoR)

Gumroad recently updated itself to become a Merchant of Record, meaning that it collects and remits global taxes so you don’t have to worry a thing about them. You just instead focus on your products and it makes the process much easier. It’s great for people selling mainly digital goods and courses. However, design is pretty limited with Gumroad compared to some of the other competitors. 

Pros of Gumroad

• Compliance and taxes are handled for you
• Hosting is taken care of and you don’t need your own domain to run 
• Great if you have a following on social media 
• Allows for you to create affiliate links for your own products

Cons of Gumroad

• Highest fees (10%) compared to other competition 
• Very limited customization for storefronts
• No native print workflows
• Mostly for digital goods

Gumroad is ultimately a great option if you’re just getting started with selling and you sell mostly digital goods. It’s simple, but it does take higher fees than others. 

Lemon Squeezy (MoR)

Lemon Squeezy is another Merchant of Record that has hosted stores, subscriptions, and good developer tooling. It’s really popular with authors and content creators in the writing space. Many pair it with BookFunnel for ebook delivery as well. 

Pros of Lemon Squeezy

• Compliance is taken care of you
• Includes options to sell subscriptions and memberships
• Simple to setup
• BookFunnel integration makes it great for indie authors

Cons of Lemon Squeezy

• Smaller author app ecosystem than Shopify
• Printing requires pairing with a POD service
• Not as robust as some of the other options for some people

Lemon Squeezy is great if you’re an author who wants someone to deal with your MoR tax handling. It’s also great because it has hosted pages and your monthly costs are less than Shopify. 

MailerLite

MailerLite is a bit of a different contender on this list because its primary function is to serve as a newsletter tool. However, it’s also got tons of really neat features like the ability to build websites, sell digital products, and collect emails to build lists. The nice thing is that MailerLite now lets you integrate things like Stripe so you can directly sell using their platform. 

Pros of MailerLite

• Easy to start and learn using
• One-click sales with instant deliverability for digital goods
• Can build an email list easily
• Relatively inexpensive when getting started

Cons of MailerLite

• Not a full storefront builder
• Can’t directly use to sell print on demand products
• Requires some setup with custom domains for websites (optional)

MailerLite is a good solution if you’re focused on building up a newsletter or you want an easy-to-use, pretty inexpensive ecommerce solution and don’t want to bother with something complex like Shopify or WooCommerce. 

Part 3: Delivering Digital Books (Without Tech Support Nightmares)

There are many issues that a lot of writers face when it comes to delivering digital books and products. For the most part, you might find that there’s lots of tech support issues and things like that. However, using something like BookFunnel or MailerLite and things like that make it really easy to sell digital products. BookFunnel is great for ebook and audiobook delivery and connects readers to their platform of choice. As of 2025, it integrates with major websites like Shopify and Gumroad. 

If you’re delivering digital goods like ebooks, you also need to think about how you can protect yourself from people reselling your book and redistributing it without authorization. Using expiring links and watermarks might help. 

To minimize tech support issues and errors, you can offer ePub and Kindle-compatible files and maybe include a short instruction sheet in the product page to help point out how readers can access their books. FAQ sections help a lot with this as well. 

Part 4: Fulfilling Print Books When You Sell Direct

When you’re selling print books directly without something like Amazon KDP, it’s important to really look into who’s doing your printing and what their reviews are like. If you want a printer that can take care of things on their end, this is a print on demand service. You can also try and get some printed copies and ship them yourself. I’ll discuss both options below. 

A) Automated print‑on‑demand (no boxes in your garage)

• Lulu Direct (Shopify app): Connect products to Lulu projects and they’ll print, ship, and pass tracking back to your customer automatically.
• BookVault (Shopify app): Strong for UK/EU shipping; creates products from your BookVault catalog and fulfills orders automatically.

Why this works: It’s hands‑off, scales with you, and you can offer multiple formats without taking on inventory risk. Quality and shipping times vary by region/print hub so always test a proof.

B) Short‑run/bulk printing + self‑fulfillment (highest control, highest effort)

Order cartons from BookBaby, Mixam, a local offset printer, or IngramSpark author orders, then pack and ship yourself (or through a 3PL).

Why this works: You control finishes (foil, sprayed edges), sign/number limited editions, include inserts, and often get better unit economics at 250+ copies. It’s ideal for launches, Patreon boxes, or special drops. This might not be a good idea if you don’t already have lots of interest in your book prior to launching. 

Part 5: ISBNs, Metadata, and Avoiding Painful Listing Conflicts

• Own your ISBNs if you plan to publish the same edition on multiple platforms. Free KDP ISBNs are KDP‑only; free platform ISBNs are generally non‑transferable.
• One ISBN per format. Paperback, hardcover, ebook, and audiobook each need their own identifier (ebooks often use an ISBN only if you want one for distribution/metadata consistency).
• Keep metadata consistent. Use identical title/subtitle/author/series data across KDP, IngramSpark, and your store to prevent duplicate listings.

Conclusion

When it comes to selling directly to your audience as an author, it’s important to remember that you have to be cautious. If you aren’t going through Amazon KDP or something that handles issues with printing, tech, taxes, etc… then you might need to do your research first to avoid any hassles later. If you’re planning on scaling your business by a good margin, then it might be a good idea to go beyond standard storefronts and maybe look into Shopify or WooCommerce. However, for beginners, it’s best to go with something that’s easy and doesn’t require you to click far too many buttons and edit lines of code. 

If you sign up for my newsletter today, I’ll send you a free copy of my ultimate marketing checklist designed for authors. You’ll also get access to writing insights, world building tips, product launch updates, freebies, exclusive discount codes and so much more!

You can check out my books over at Amazon right now as well! Book 1 is available on Kindle Unlimited too!

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