Why should I sell books directly on Shopify or Payhip?

Because the infrastructure for direct sales has never been easier or cheaper to set up.

Shopify ($39/month) is the gold standard for direct sales if you want a full-featured online store. It handles payments, digital delivery, tax calculation, and integrates with your email provider. If you plan to sell physical products alongside your books (merch, courses, bundles), Shopify is the right choice. The ecosystem of apps and integrations is massive — you can connect it to BookFunnel for ebook delivery, Printful for print-on-demand merch, and your email platform for automated follow-ups. Payhip (free plan available, 5% transaction fee; $29/month Pro plan with 0% fees) is the simpler, cheaper option. It is specifically designed for digital products — ebooks, audiobooks, courses. If all you want is a clean page where someone can buy your ebook and get it delivered instantly, Payhip does that with almost zero setup. No monthly fee on the starter plan. You embed the buy button on your existing website and you are done. Which one should you choose?

If you are just starting out and sell only ebooks and maybe a course, use Payhip. The free plan is genuinely free — they take 5% of each sale, which is still far better than Amazon's 30-65% cut. Once you are moving enough volume that the 5% exceeds $29/month (about $580/month in sales), upgrade to the Pro plan and pay nothing per transaction.

If you are building a multi-product business — books, courses, physical merch, signed editions, subscription boxes — use Shopify. The $39/month pays for itself fast when you are keeping 95%+ of every sale instead of 35-70% through retailers.

For ebook delivery specifically, pair either platform with BookFunnel ($20/year starter plan). BookFunnel handles the file delivery and helps readers get your ebook onto their device — Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, whatever. It solves the "how do I actually read this file" problem that kills direct ebook sales.

One more thing: direct sales are not an either/or with Amazon. You can sell the same book on your website and on Amazon simultaneously. There is no exclusivity requirement for print or for ebooks that are not in KDP Select. The only restriction is KDP Select, which locks your ebook to Amazon for 90-day periods. Your print editions, audiobooks, and any ebooks not in KU can be sold anywhere, including your own site.

The direct sales tax reality: One thing that scares authors away from direct sales is sales tax. When you sell through Amazon, they handle all tax collection and remittance. When you sell through your own store, you are technically responsible for collecting and remitting sales tax in states where you have "nexus" (a tax presence). The good news: both Shopify and Payhip handle sales tax calculation and collection automatically. They add the correct tax at checkout based on the buyer's location. You still need to remit the collected taxes to the relevant states, but the calculation and collection is handled for you. For most indie authors selling digital products, this is far less scary than it sounds. A quick note on international sales: If you sell ebooks directly, you can reach readers worldwide without worrying about platform availability. Amazon does not sell Kindle books in every country. Apple Books has gaps. But your Payhip or Shopify store? Anyone with a credit card and an internet connection can buy from you. For non-fiction authors with a global audience, direct sales fills the gaps that platform distribution misses.

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