Store costs
What a direct book store costs on Squarespace
Squarespace builds good-looking websites and can sell downloads and printed books. On its Basic plan it takes 2% of each store sale; from Core up it takes nothing, so busier stores pay for Core.
Three stores, three bills
The bill changes with how many books you have, which formats you sell and how much you sell. For each store we picked the cheapest Squarespace plan for those sales.
| Store | Squarespace plan | Squarespace, a year | Lanternbee, a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting out | Squarespace Basic | US$420 | US$0 on Free |
| A growing backlist | Squarespace Core | US$468 | US$468 on Author |
| A busy store | Squarespace Core | US$468 | US$468 on Author |
Both sides always count the same jobs. For a store starting out we compare Lanternbee Free, so we count only the store and sending ebooks to buyers. For the other two we compare Lanternbee Author, so we also count bundles and reader reviews, and printing for the busy store. When a platform can't do one of these jobs itself, we add one app that does. When it can, we add nothing. When we found no way at all, we say so. Lanternbee takes no fee on sales. These are what each platform charges. Card payment fees (for example Stripe's) are not included, because you pay them wherever you sell.
Starting out
3 titles, selling ebooks. About US$500 in sales a month from 50 orders.
| What you pay for | Price | Each month |
|---|---|---|
| Squarespace BasicThe store itself | US$25 a month | US$25 |
| Squarespace feeOn US$500 in sales | 2% of sales | US$10 |
| Total each month | US$35 | |
| Total for a year | US$420 |
| The same store on Lanternbee | Each month | A year |
|---|---|---|
| Lanternbee FreeNo monthly cost and no fee on your sales. Covers every job above | US$0 | US$0 |
| Lanternbee AuthorUS$39 a month. Adds bundles, reader reviews and release-day emails | US$39 | US$468 |
We compare Lanternbee Free here. Free has no bundles or reader reviews, so we don't count them on either side.
These are what each platform charges. Card payment fees (for example Stripe's) are not included, because you pay them wherever you sell.
A growing backlist
8 titles, selling ebooks and audiobooks. About US$2,000 in sales a month from 160 orders.
| What you pay for | Price | Each month |
|---|---|---|
| Squarespace CoreThe store itself | US$39 a month | US$39 |
| Total each month | US$39 | |
| Total for a year | US$468 |
| The same store on Lanternbee | Each month | A year |
|---|---|---|
| Lanternbee FreeFree covers up to 3 books | Not available | Not available |
| Lanternbee AuthorUS$39 a month, no fee on your sales. Covers every job above | US$39 | US$468 |
We compare Lanternbee Author here. Author has bundles and reader reviews, so we count them on both sides.
These are what each platform charges. Card payment fees (for example Stripe's) are not included, because you pay them wherever you sell.
A busy store
20 titles, selling ebooks, audiobooks and print books. About US$10,000 in sales a month from 500 orders.
| What you pay for | Price | Each month |
|---|---|---|
| Squarespace CoreThe store itself | US$39 a month | US$39 |
| Total each month | US$39 | |
| Total for a year | US$468 |
| The same store on Lanternbee | Each month | A year |
|---|---|---|
| Lanternbee FreeFree covers up to 3 books | Not available | Not available |
| Lanternbee AuthorUS$39 a month, no fee on your sales. Covers every job above | US$39 | US$468 |
We compare Lanternbee Author here. Author has bundles and reader reviews, so we count them on both sides.
Printed books on Lanternbee: you set them up for BookVault or Lulu, but sending each order to the printer isn't built yet. Until it is, you place each print order with the printer yourself.
These are what each platform charges. Card payment fees (for example Stripe's) are not included, because you pay them wherever you sell.
Try your own numbers
- Squarespace
- Lanternbee Free
- Lanternbee Author
Same prices and apps as the tables above. With up to 3 books we compare Lanternbee Free, so bundles and reader reviews are not counted for Squarespace. With more, we compare Author and count them. These are what each platform charges. Card payment fees (for example Stripe's) are not included, because you pay them wherever you sell.
What we counted
- US prices on monthly billing.
- Any fee Squarespace itself takes on each sale.
- Reader reviews are built into Squarespace, ebook downloads included, so we add nothing for them.
- We found no way to sell ebooks as a bundle on Squarespace, and none of its print extensions prints books. Neither is counted, so the busy store would ship paperbacks itself.
- Squarespace counts a download, such as an ebook file, as a store sale: 2% on Basic and nothing on Core. Its higher 7% and 5% fees on Basic and Core are for courses, member areas and video pages, not for downloads.
- Each download can be at most 300 MB. A long audiobook in high quality can be larger than that, so you may need to split it or send it another way.
- Paying a year ahead brings Basic down to US$19 and Core to US$29 a month.
What we left out
- Printing and shipping costs, which you pay the printer whichever store you use.
- Your domain name, a paid theme and any design work.
- An email tool for your newsletter. Lanternbee doesn't send newsletters, so you keep one wherever you sell.
- Sales tax and VAT themselves. Tax tools may cost extra, including Stripe Tax on your own Stripe account where you are registered to collect tax.
- Card payment fees, such as Stripe's, on every sale. You pay them wherever you sell, so they don't change which store costs less.
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