How to sell ebooks
Sell a book without a publisher or a storefront.
Authors, self-publishers and long-form writers.
What you can sell
- Ebooks
- Novellas
- Serialised fiction
- Collected essays
- Deleted chapters
- Sample chapters
How you would use Unlockable
- 1
Upload the ebook and sell it from a link in your bio.
- 2
Serialise and expire each part to build a run of purchases.
- 3
Give the first chapter away and charge for the rest.
Why it works for ebooks
Publishing asks an author to make a bad choice. Go through a retailer and lose a percentage, accept their pricing rules and hand over the reader relationship. Go direct and you are responsible for the storefront, the payment processing and the file delivery, which is more infrastructure than most writers want to build.
A link is the middle path that has not historically existed. The book is a file, the price is yours, and the buyer is yours — there is no retailer taking a cut and no exclusivity clause attached to being listed. Chapters can be sold individually for serialised fiction, and a deleted chapter is the cheapest addition an author can make, sold to the readers who finished the book and wanted more.
What it will not do is distribute you. There is no discovery here, no recommendation engine, and no store browsing. This works for authors who already have readers, whether from a previous book, a newsletter or a following.
~4%
Example products and pricing
Illustrations, not a rate card — you set your own prices, in USD, GBP or EUR.
£8
Full ebook
£3
Deleted chapter
£3
Serialised story, weekly part
What these sell for: £3–£8 is the range for a direct sale. Without a retailer taking a cut, a £6 book can pay you more than an £8 one sold elsewhere.
On a sale our 10% fee covers card processing, and the buyer pays a 10% privacy & security fee on top — so a £8 price pays you £7.20. See the full split.
How you share it
One link, posted wherever this audience already is. You send it yourself — we do not connect to these accounts or post on your behalf.
Start with the ones that matter for ebooks
- X
- Newsletter
Everywhere else
- TikTok
- X
- Telegram
- Discord
- Bluesky
- YouTube
Ebooks questions
Do I need a publisher or a retailer?
No. Upload the file and sell it from a link. There is no retailer taking a cut and no exclusivity clause attached.
Can I sell chapters individually?
Yes, though most readers prefer the whole book. Serialisation works better for fiction released in parts, where each instalment is its own link.
What about a deleted chapter?
It is a natural low-priced extra for readers who finished the book, and it costs you nothing new to produce.
Where can I sell my ebooks?
You can sell directly through a paid link if you already have readers, or list on a marketplace such as Etsy, Gumroad or Amazon KDP if you need discovery. Direct keeps the customer and the price; a marketplace brings buyers but takes a fee and sets its own rules. The best place is where your reader already is. Start with one channel, then add a second once the first sells.
How do I sell ebooks online?
Upload the EPUB or PDF, write the listing around the outcome the reader wants, set a price, and share the link where your readers already are. If you have no audience, use a marketplace for discovery first. A direct link works best when people already know you; it is a checkout, not a shop window.
Start with one piece of content
Upload it, set a price, share the link. No monthly fee, no membership, nothing to pay until something sells.