Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover self-publishing and digital products & storefronts. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| Amazon KDP | Draft2Digital | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | From $20 |
| Pricing model | Free | One-time purchase |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Billing | Usage-based | One-time purchase |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | 30% of what you earn | 10% of what you earn |
| Runs on | Not stated | Not stated |
| Covers | Self-Publishing, Digital Products & Storefronts | Self-Publishing, Digital Products & Storefronts |
| Works with | Nothing in particular | Nothing in particular |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
Self-publish to Kindle and keep 70 percent
Kindle Direct Publishing is the shortest route from a finished manuscript to a book somebody can buy, and the audience on the other side of it is the reason most self-published authors start here. Publishing costs nothing. The royalty band is the thing to read before setting a price, because it changes what you earn by half.
Our note
The price band is the decision, not the cover. Pricing at $14.99 instead of $12.99 cuts the royalty rate in half, and a lot of first books are priced into the wrong side of it by accident.
One upload, every ebook store
Draft2Digital takes one manuscript and lists it at Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Amazon and a long tail of libraries, which is the alternative to keeping an account at each. Its formatting and print-on-demand are included rather than sold. The commission is on top of whatever the store already takes.
Our note
Going wide through Draft2Digital and staying in KDP Select are mutually exclusive, and that is the actual decision. Select pays page reads from Kindle Unlimited; wide distribution pays from stores Amazon does not own. Do not start both.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.