Selling ebooks direct
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.
Add the title with its cover, description and series if it has one. Tick ebook as one of its formats.
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.
Each ebook starts at the starting price you set in Store settings → Formats. Change it for any book, or put ebooks into a box set or bundle.
The ebook shows in your store as soon as the book is published and the file is in place.
Your plan, Stripe’s card fee on each sale and, for print, the printer’s price.
| What | Cost | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Lanternbee, Free plan | Nothing | No monthly bill and no fee on your sales, for up to 3 books. |
| Lanternbee, Author plan | US$29 a month, paid yearly | Or US$39 month to month. As many books as you write, and 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 | US$20 a month or US$200 a year | The BookFunnel plan that includes delivery for direct sales. |
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.
No. Kindle+, the new name for Kindle Unlimited, needs the ebook to be exclusive to Amazon. You can still sell its paperback, hardback and audiobook direct.
No. They can read the EPUB in their browser, download it to the reading app they already use, or send it to their Kindle.
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.
Yes. Choose Free as the ebook's price. Readers get it from your store after confirming their email, and can tick a box to get your news. There is no separate sign-up page, and getting the book never requires joining your list, so for a giveaway that is only for subscribers keep a tool like BookFunnel.
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.