For independent authors
Lanternbee is an online store for independent authors, where readers buy ebooks, audiobooks and print editions straight from the author. They pay you directly, and the download link is in their inbox as soon as they do. Start free with up to 3 books and no fee on sales, or pay US$29 a month, paid yearly, for as many books as you write.
Not open yet. We’re letting authors in from the waitlist, a few at a time.
Your store, at your address
In their inbox when they pay
Kept in their library
Whatever you write
01Selling on Shopify
Shopify doesn’t know what a book is. Five titles in ebook, audiobook and paperback become fifteen products, and you keep them in step by hand.
Delivery, box sets and printing each need an app. So do your newsletter and your reviews. Every one sends a bill, including in the quiet months between releases.
About US$94 a month, before the first sale.
Lanternbee Author does these jobs for US$39 a month, or US$29 paid yearly.
Sending print orders to BookVault or Lulu is being built now.
Check the sources02The store
Add a title once and switch on its ebook, audiobook, paperback and hardback. Series sit in reading order, so readers see “Book 3 of 5” before they buy.
Put a trilogy in a box set, or a cookbook with its workbook. Readers who already own one book pay less for the rest.
Every order ends in the reader’s inbox. Ebooks open in the browser or go on to their Kindle, and their library keeps every file for later.
Set up print editions for BookVault or Lulu and upload the files once, or post signed copies from your own shelf. Sending orders to the printer is being built now.
Every buyer’s email comes to you, tagged with what they bought. Write to them from Lanternbee, or send them on to MailerLite or Klaviyo.
Open at yourname.lanternbee.shop and move to shop.yourname.com when you like. Pick your colours and fonts. Privacy, terms and refund pages arrive drafted, ready for you to check.
Format guides: ebooks, audiobooks, paperbacks, {hardbacks}.
03Moving from Shopify
The importer turns products into books and editions. You check the preview before a reader sees anything.
Sign in to Shopify from Lanternbee and approve read-only access. Shopify adds the Lanternbee app to your store for this. Nothing else in Shopify changes.
See your products grouped into books and formats, and into series if you write them. Fix anything we guessed wrong.
Books, readers and their purchases, orders and discount codes come across together.
Take as long as you like. Shopify keeps taking orders while you check.
Point your shop address at Lanternbee, and old product links land on the right book pages. Links without www need path forwarding turned on at your domain provider. Then cancel the apps you no longer need.
Books and editions, series, readers and what they bought, order history, discount codes and your old product links.
Very little. They sign in with the email they always used and find the books they bought before in their library. Old links keep working once your old shop address points to your Lanternbee store. Addresses without www need path forwarding turned on at your domain provider. How to keep old links working.
04Small print
Connect your own Stripe account and you are the seller. Stripe Tax adds VAT or sales tax at checkout, and Stripe pays the money into your bank.
Stripe and LanternbeeYour books stay on Amazon, Apple Books and Kobo. Some readers will simply rather buy from you, and now they can.
What selling direct meansConnect Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini to your store, then ask in your own words: “Add my new cookbook as a paperback and an ebook.”
Use Lanternbee with an AI assistantYour published books are listed on Lanternbee Books, our new reader site, by genre, with a Buy from the author button that leads to your store. It’s on every plan, and you can switch it off.
About Lanternbee BooksLater, we plan to handle EU VAT on ebooks for you.
05Pricing
Free costs nothing and takes no fee on your sales, for up to 3 books. Author is US$29 a month paid yearly, for as many books as you write.
Launch offer Join the waitlist before 2027 and your first 6 months on the Author plan are free, counted from the day your store goes live. After that, you get 50% off any plan for your first year.
Shown in your currency: euros in the euro area, pounds in the UK, US dollars everywhere else.
Try it with up to 3 books.
US$0 a month
No subscription. Nothing to cancel.
For as many books as you write.
US$29US$39 a month
Billed yearly, US$348 a year. You save US$120.Billed monthly. Cancel any time.Launch price for your first year: US$14.50 a month, billed yearly.Launch price for your first year: US$19.50 a month.
For more than one pen name.
US$89US$119 a month
Billed yearly, US$1,068 a year. You save US$360.Billed monthly. Cancel any time.Launch price for your first year: US$44.50 a month, billed yearly.Launch price for your first year: US$59.50 a month.
Lanternbee next to Shopify, line by line, or against other places to sell direct.
06FAQ
No. Keep your books on Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo and anywhere else. Your store sits next to them, for readers who would rather buy from you. One thing to check: an ebook in Kindle+ (until October 2026 called Kindle Unlimited) has to be exclusive to Amazon, so you cannot sell that ebook direct. Its paperback and audiobook are not affected.
Any book you have the rights to: novels, memoirs, how-to guides, cookbooks, workbooks, children’s books, poetry, comics. Sell each one as an ebook, an audiobook, a paperback or a hardback, or all four.
Not on its own. Your published books are listed on Lanternbee Books, our new reader site, but it is new and we can’t promise it will bring you readers yet. Most readers will find you through your newsletter, your back matter, your ads and word of mouth. Once they arrive, Lanternbee makes buying easy and puts every buyer on your reader list.
Right after they pay, readers get an email with their download links. An ebook opens in their browser, goes to their Kindle, or onto a Kobo or any reading app, and audiobooks play on any phone or computer. If the email goes missing, they sign in to their library and get the links again.
Two ways. With your AI assistant (Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini), there is nothing to install in Shopify: it reads your store through Shopify’s own connection and recreates your books, formats, prices, series and discount codes, and you check each step in the chat. It can’t bring readers, past orders or old links. With the Lanternbee importer, you approve read-only access in Shopify (Shopify adds the Lanternbee app to your store, and you can remove it afterwards), and it brings everything at once, readers, purchases, orders, discount codes and old links included, with a preview first. Have readers and past orders you want to keep? Use the importer. Just want your books over? Use your assistant. Either way, Shopify keeps selling until you point your shop address at Lanternbee. Old links keep working once your old shop address points to your Lanternbee store. Addresses without www need path forwarding turned on at your domain provider.
You connect your own Stripe account. You are the seller, readers pay you, and Stripe pays out to your bank on its usual schedule. Lanternbee takes no fee from your sales on any plan.
They stay yours. Download your reader list and your orders as a spreadsheet whenever you like.
Not yet. We’re letting authors in from the waitlist a few at a time. Join, and we’ll email you when your store is ready to set up.
Not open yet
We’re opening Lanternbee to authors a few at a time. Leave your email and we’ll write when your store is ready to set up.
Free to join. No card.
Thank you. We’ll email you when your store is ready to set up.