Publishing wide, store by store

Publishing wide means selling your book beyond Amazon: in Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play, Barnes & Noble and the rest, yourself or through a distributor. This is what each one pays and what to know before you upload, from their own pages.

KDP Select, or wide

KDP Select is free and lasts 90 days at a time, renewing itself until you turn that off. While an ebook is in it, the ebook can be sold only through KDP (and lent by public libraries), while its print editions can be sold anywhere. In return the ebook is in Kindle+ (Kindle Unlimited, as some of Amazon's pages still call it), which pays a share of the KDP Select Global Fund by the pages readers read, can run Kindle Countdown Deals (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk) or be free for up to five days, and earns 70% in Japan, India, Brazil and Mexico, where it otherwise earns 35%.

So the choice is the ebook's alone: wide, or in Kindle+. A book in KDP Select can still go to every other store in print.

What each store pays

Store	Sells	What you earn
Amazon KDP	Ebooks, paperbacks and hardcovers	Ebooks: 35% or 70% of the list price. On Amazon.com 70% needs a price from $2.99 to $12.99, less $0.15 a megabyte for delivery; each marketplace has its own band, and in Japan, India, Brazil and Mexico 70% also needs KDP Select. Print: 60% of the list price less printing, or 50% below $9.99 on Amazon.com.
Apple Books	Ebooks	70% of the list price, whatever the price, paid within 45 days of the month's end.
Kobo Writing Life	Ebooks	70% of the list price from US$2.99, CA$2.99, £1.99, €1.99 or ¥299 up; 45% below. Kobo Plus pays 60% of the value of the minutes read.
Google Play Books	Ebooks	70% of the list price in more than 60 countries once you accept Google's updated terms (52% before); some Asian markets keep their current split.
Barnes & Noble Press	Ebooks, paperbacks and hardcovers	Ebooks: 70% of the list price. Print: 55% of the list price, less the printing cost. Paid in US dollars.
Draft2Digital	Ebooks and paperbacks, to many stores	About 60% of the list price at Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Tolino (D2D keeps about 10%); at Amazon 60% from $2.99 to $9.99, else 30%. Print pays about 45% of the list price, less printing.
PublishDrive	Ebooks, to many stores	The stores' full royalty: PublishDrive charges a monthly plan instead of a cut (one ebook free; plans from $16.99 a month, or $13.99 billed yearly). Paid two to three months after each sale.
IngramSpark	Ebooks, paperbacks and hardcovers, to many stores	Ebooks: 85% of what the store pays IngramSpark. Print: the list price, less your wholesale discount, the print cost and a 1.875% market access fee. Paid about 90 days after the month of sale.
Empik Selfpublishing	Ebooks in Polish or English	50% of your suggested net price for each ebook sold. Empik Go, its subscription, pays from a pool of 50% of its net subscription income, shared by reading time. Paid when you ask, within 20 days after a quarter ends, at most twice a year and from 300 zł.
Legimi	Ebooks in Polish or English	70% of the price you set for each ebook sold. Legimi doesn't publish what its subscription pays per read.

Yourself, or through a distributor

Uploading to each store yourself keeps its full share. A distributor sends one upload to many stores and libraries, for a share of the royalty or a monthly fee, as the table says. Don't send a book through a distributor to a store where you also upload it yourself: Draft2Digital points out that two listings split its sales ranking.

Store by store

Amazon KDP

On the 70% plan the ebook must cost at least 20% less than its print edition there.
From Amazon.com, Expanded Distribution offers paperbacks to bookstores and libraries, at 40% of the list price less printing.
The KDP guides give every marketplace's currency, royalty band and printing cost.

Apple Books

You sign up with an Apple Account (as an individual), accept the Paid Books agreement, and give tax and bank details; Apple checks the tax details in a few days.
Apple's Book Review team checks each book before it goes on sale. Without rights and pricing set, it doesn't go on sale.
Pre-orders can open up to 365 days ahead; send the final file at least 10 business days before release.
Apple doesn't fully support books in Arabic, Hebrew, Farsi, Urdu and a few other languages, and its Ukraine and Russia storefronts sell public domain books only.

From its pages, checked on 12 October 2026: Publish a book from the web, Metadata, Formatting and content guidelines, Manage book rights and pricing, Measure your success.

Kobo Writing Life

Sign up at Kobo Writing Life (from 18); you need a bank account for payments, which come by bank transfer only. Authors living in Japan use Rakuten Kobo Writing Life instead.
Kobo takes books in almost any language, though its promotions are in English only.
Kobo turns down books made by AI and other low-effort automated books, and new public domain works.

From its pages, checked on 12 October 2026: Setting up a new eBook, What will my earnings be?, ISBNs and Kobo Writing Life, How does Kobo Plus pay?, What languages does KWL offer?, What content is not allowed?.

Google Play Books

Sign up with a Google Account from a country where Google takes sellers (Poland does, for ebooks; Ukraine and Russia don't), then add your bank and tax details in Payments Center.
Your price is a recommended price: Google may sell for less, though it pays your share of your list price.
The free preview must be at least 20% of the book.
Google sells books in every language, though not to readers in Russia.

From its pages, checked on 12 October 2026: How to sell a book on Google Play: a checklist, Book metadata and information, Change book settings in bulk, Book prices, Revenue split FAQs, The Settings tab, European Accessibility Act (EAA) FAQ for publishers.

Barnes & Noble Press

Authors in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium can sign up. Selling needs the vendor registration: a tax form and a bank account.
Print books under $14.99 are taken down, and one account holds up to 100 books on sale.
Ebook pre-orders open up to 12 months ahead (files 72 hours before release); print pre-orders up to 6 months ahead (files 10 business days before).
Barnes & Noble no longer takes public domain works.

From its pages, checked on 12 October 2026: April 2026 policy updates, Use of generative AI in your project, ISBN FAQs, Trim sizes and paper stock, Royalty and payment terms, International availability.

Draft2Digital

New accounts pay a one-time $20 activation fee, then $12 a year in any year earnings stay under $100.
Don't send a book through D2D to a store where you also upload it yourself: two listings split its sales ranking.
D2D reaches Amazon only by invitation, and not for books in KDP Select. KDP's Expanded Distribution conflicts with D2D Print.
D2D doesn't take public domain works or content generated entirely by AI.

From its pages, checked on 12 October 2026: FAQ, Knowledge base, Royalty rates, Activation and maintenance fees, Content guidelines, Amazon as a D2D partner.

PublishDrive

PublishDrive reaches more than 50 stores, among them Amazon, Apple, Google Play, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Storytel and, in Poland, Empik and Empik Go.
New free accounts reach Apple, Barnes & Noble and Kobo only.
It can't send a book that's already on sale in a store, can't reach Kindle+ (formerly Kindle Unlimited), and doesn't take public domain works.

From its pages, checked on 12 October 2026: How to upload a book, Distribution pricing plans, Which stores need an ISBN, Distributing to Empik, Publishing guidelines.

IngramSpark

Signing up and uploading are free, and since February 2026 there are no fees for revisions.
IngramSpark reaches tens of thousands of shops and libraries, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Waterstones among them, but no Polish stores.
A paperback in KDP's Expanded Distribution can't use the same ISBN at IngramSpark.
If you sold the ebook on Amazon or Apple yourself, take it down there before IngramSpark sends it.

From its pages, checked on 12 October 2026: Pricing, Changes in print cost and the market access fee, File creation guide, Print book setup guide, Why should I discount my book?, Making your book returnable, AI disclosure and attribution.

Empik Selfpublishing

Empik's terms ask for tax residence in Poland. You can sign up as a private person, a sole trader or a company; without a business, Empik deducts the tax advances for you. Payouts need your PESEL, tax office and bank account (and NIP for a business).
Books go to empik.com, Empik Go and Virtualo. The licence isn't exclusive, but you can't leave Empik Go out.

From its pages, checked on 12 October 2026: Terms, Empik Selfpublishing, Distribution to Virtualo, Giving your book an ISBN.

Legimi

Writers without a business can open a Self-publisher account and sign Legimi's contract online.
Legimi's form sits behind its sign-in, so the fields above follow its terms rather than its form: check them as you go.

From its pages, checked on 12 October 2026: Sign up, Selling ebooks, Terms of service, November 2025.

In PenStranding

PenStranding makes each store's kit from your edition: every field in the store's own order, with its limits and what it asks. The upload tracker keeps where each format stands in each store, and the language guides say which stores take books in your language.

Make every store's kit from one edition.

Join the waitlist

Sources

Checked on 25 October 2026 (KDP's royalty figures on 17 October 2026) against KDP Select, KDP Select enrollment, KDP Select benefits, KDP ebook pricing, KDP paperback royalty, Apple Books for Authors: measure your success, Kobo Writing Life: what will my earnings be?, Kobo Writing Life: how does Kobo Plus pay?, Google Play Books: revenue split FAQs, Barnes & Noble Press: royalty and payment terms, Draft2Digital: royalty rates, Draft2Digital: FAQ, PublishDrive: pricing plans, PublishDrive: when can I expect my earnings?, IngramSpark: pricing, IngramSpark: compensation payments and schedule, IngramSpark: changes in print cost and the market access fee, Empik Selfpublishing: terms, Legimi: selling ebooks. Stores, agencies and laws change their rules: their own pages have the final word.