Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover self-publishing. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| Novlr | PublishDrive | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $8 | From $13.99 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Not stated | Annual only |
| Free trial | None | None |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | None |
| Runs on | Web | Web |
| Covers | Self-Publishing, Writing & Scripts | 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 |
A writing app with a free plan that writes
Novlr is a distraction-free place to write a book, with goals, streaks and version history around the page rather than on top of it. The free plan is a working writing tool rather than a locked demo. Paying adds the proofreader and the longer history, and it is billed yearly.
Our note
Start on the free plan and only pay when version history or the proofreader becomes the thing you miss. At $8 a month the Starter tier is the cheapest serious writing subscription in the catalog.
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Ebook distribution with no cut of royalties
PublishDrive charges a subscription and then takes nothing from sales, which inverts the usual aggregator deal and pays off the moment a book sells steadily. One upload reaches over 50 retailers and a library network most authors never get near. Plans are capped by title count, so a back catalogue costs more than a single book does.
Our note
Draft2Digital takes 10 percent and costs nothing up front, so it wins on a book that barely sells and loses on one that does. Work out your annual royalties before choosing: the crossover for the Starter plan is somewhere around $1,700 a year in sales.
Only on this side
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.