What everyone else takes
Four ways to sell a book that is already written, and what each of them costs at $500, $2,000 and $5,000 a month in sales. The rate beside each is what the platform actually keeps from a $9.99 book, fixed fees included, which is not always the number they advertise.
Three of the four collect your readers’ money and pass some of it back; the fourth does not handle the sale at all, which is why it needs a shop bolted to it. Inkwharf never receives the money either: the charge is created on your own Stripe account, which is why no plan here takes a percentage and why there is no payout to wait for. Every page below also names the volume at which the other one is genuinely cheaper, because a comparison that never loses a round is an advert.
Inkwharf vs Leanpub
20% cutLeanpub is a writing toolchain with a bookstore attached. Inkwharf is a bookstore you own, with no toolchain. If you write in Markdown and want the book built for you, stay on Leanpub. If you already have an EPUB and an audience, there is no reason to hand over a fifth of every sale — and, if you want the toolchain unthrottled, a membership on top of it.
Inkwharf vs BookFunnel
flat feeBookFunnel is delivery without a checkout, so selling direct with it means pairing it with a store and paying two bills. Inkwharf is both halves in one subscription. BookFunnel still wins outright on ARCs and group promos, which are not selling at all.
Inkwharf vs Payhip
5% cutPayhip sells anything digital and charges a percentage until you pay enough to stop it — 5% free, 2% at $29 a month, 0% at $99. Inkwharf sells ebooks only, takes nothing at any tier, and knows what an EPUB is. Below roughly $380 a month in sales their free plan is genuinely the cheaper deal, and we say so.
Inkwharf vs Gumroad
15% cutGumroad is the fastest way to put a file behind a payment link and the most expensive way to leave it there. The headline is 10%, but it is 10% + 50¢ — 15% of a $9.99 book — and 30% if the buyer arrived through their marketplace. The crossover against $19 a month arrives at about $127 in monthly sales.
Do the sum on your own numbers
The tables on these pages use three round volumes. Put your own in and it will tell you what a percentage costs you a year, and at what point a flat fee overtakes it.
Open the take-rate calculator