Sell your books from a store that belongs to you — not a marketplace.
Ownshelf gives you a branded bookstore with secure checkout and reader email capture built in, so more of your sales — and the readers behind them — stay connected directly to you.
Ownshelf is a standalone storefront and checkout tool for authors selling their own books. It does not remove, replace, or guarantee protection against actions taken by any third-party marketplace. Results depend on your own titles, pricing, and marketing.
Selling only on a marketplace puts your business on someone else’s terms.
Marketplaces like Amazon KDP are useful for reach, but they were built to serve the platform first. A few things are worth knowing before your whole business lives inside one.
Account reviews and policy flags can pause or close a seller account, sometimes without much notice.
The people who buy your books are checking out on the platform’s page, so their contact details typically stay with the platform, not with you.
Marketplace royalty splits and ad costs come out of every copy sold, on top of your production and writing time.
Search rankings, pricing rules, and category visibility can change at any time, and those changes are outside your control.
A branded store gives you a second channel you actually control.
Ownshelf lets you sell the same titles from your own storefront, so your marketplace listings and your direct sales can work side by side.
Build My Store: $17 One Time One time payment, no subscriptionThree steps to a store that is yours.
Ownshelf is built to get a working storefront live quickly. Here is the general path most authors follow.
Build your store
Pick a name, upload your titles and covers, and publish a branded storefront at your own link.
Sell and capture emails
Readers check out through Stripe on your storefront, and their email is added to a list that belongs to you.
Offer bundles automatically
Group titles into bundles and set up post purchase offers that run on their own at checkout.
Set this up once, and it keeps running in the background.
Your storefront, checkout, and bundle offers stay live whether or not you are actively working on them that day.
Start Building My Store $17 one time, no subscriptionA publishing toolkit in one dashboard.
Ownshelf combines the pieces most authors would otherwise stitch together from several tools, in one place.
Branded storefront
Your name above the door and your covers front and center, on a link that is your own.
Stripe checkout with email capture
A fast, familiar checkout that adds every buyer’s email to a list you control.
Secure delivery
Expiring, watermark-ready download links for EPUB, PDF, and audio files.
Bundle upsells
Group titles into offers and add one click upsells at checkout to raise order value.
Own your email list
Export your subscriber list at any time. No platform standing between you and your readers.
Trackable traffic links
Build campaign links for promo sites and newsletters so you can see which one sends buyers.
Everything above comes with the base plan.
No add-on fees to unlock checkout, delivery, or email capture. Start with what is included and upgrade later only if you want to.
See Pricing and Get Started $17 one time, no subscriptionHow Ownshelf compares to selling only on a marketplace.
A general look at how a self hosted storefront differs from listing on a large marketplace or a general purpose checkout tool.
| What matters to you | Ownshelf | Amazon KDP | General checkout tools |
|---|---|---|---|
| You collect the buyer’s email at checkout | ~ | ||
| You keep most of each sale after payment processing fees | ~ | ~ | |
| You control access to your own storefront | ~ | ||
| Built with book series and bundles in mind | |||
| Your own branding and a custom domain | ~ | ||
| Reader and sales analytics you can export | ~ |
This comparison reflects Ownshelf’s general understanding of typical marketplace and third-party checkout features and is provided for informational purposes only. Features, fees, and policies vary by provider and can change at any time, so please confirm current details directly with each company before deciding. Amazon and Amazon KDP are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. Ownshelf is an independent product and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Amazon or any other company named above.
See the difference for yourself.
Set up your own storefront alongside your existing listings and compare the experience directly.
Get Started for $17 One time payment, no subscription