Where to sell an e-book: Etsy, Amazon Kindle, Gumroad or your own site?

Etsy

A marketplace where buyers already come looking for practical digital products: planners, guides, checklists. You benefit from Etsy search without needing an audience. Fees: $0.20 per listing, 6.5% transaction fee and payment processing. Any format: PDF, ZIP, images.

• Pros: existing traffic, simple setup, well suited to practical guides
• Cons: strong competition on popular topics, strict rules on promises and brands

Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)

The largest e-book store. Your book is converted to Kindle format and sold on Amazon. Royalties range from 35% to 70% of the price depending on conditions.

• Pros: huge reading audience, option for print books
• Cons: Kindle layout (poorly suited to printable checklists and worksheets), strong competition, AI-generated content must be declared

Gumroad, Payhip and similar platforms

Tools to sell your files from your own page. They take a commission on each sale but bring almost no visitors: you have to bring them yourself (social media, newsletter).

• Pros: total freedom, few rules, direct relationship with buyers
• Cons: without an audience, few or no sales

Your own website

A shop on your own site (with a payment tool) lets you set every rule, but it takes the most work: SEO, payments, file delivery, legal obligations.

Where to start

When you're starting with no audience, Etsy is often the simplest starting point for a practical PDF guide: buyers are already there, and a single well-made listing can be found as soon as it goes live. Nothing stops you from offering the same content elsewhere later.

And Movacash?

Movacash is built for Etsy: matched ideas, a listing with 13 tags, a thumbnail and the AI disclosure. The exported PDF is yours and can be used elsewhere too, following each platform's rules.

Frequently asked questions