Storefronts and publishing services
Bookrata vs BookBaby
BookBaby is a services company. You pay it to do the work. Bookrata is a store you sell from.
BookBaby will edit, design, convert, print, narrate and distribute, paid upfront, and it takes nothing on retail distribution. Its own Bookshop keeps 15% of ebook, 25% of audiobook and 50% of print sales. Bookrata does not produce your book; it rates it, sells it at 0%, and delivers it.
Every BookBaby figure here is taken from BookBaby's own published pages, checked on , and pulled from the same source as the full comparison. Plans change, so verify before relying on any figure.
Two different products, side by side
The same summary cards that appear on the full comparison. Each one ends with what that product does not do, including Bookrata.
Bookrata
Every book measured across six content categories on a five-tier scale. Readers set comfort caps and browse what clears them. You're the merchant of record, keep 100%, and delivery, watermarking and a reading app come with every plan.
Doesn't doNewsletter swaps. Print-on-demand printing. ARC campaign tooling.
BookBaby
Full-service publishing, paid upfront: editing, covers, conversion, printing, audiobook production, distribution. It publishes no package price list — its own guide is that a fully produced book "typically lands between $2,000 and $7,000".
Doesn't doCheap. It takes 0% on retail distribution, but its own Bookshop keeps 15% of ebooks and 50% of print.
What each one takes
The platform's cut, what you pay before you sell anything, and who is the merchant of record, which decides who owns the customer and who carries the tax.
| Platform | Cut of each sale | What you pay | Merchant of record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bookrata | 0% | Free, or $65/yr Pro, $150/yr Premier Audiobook add-on $15/yr | You Your Stripe, your customer |
| BookBaby | 15% / 25% / 50% Ebook / audiobook / print, on its own Bookshop. 0% on retail distribution | No published package prices A quote tool. Its own guide: $2,000–$7,000 for a fully produced book. Ebook from ~$249–$299; audiobook $500 + $0.14–0.16 a word, or $2,000 + $0.06 AI-assisted | BookBaby |
Card processing is separate everywhere and goes to Stripe or the equivalent, typically around 2.9% plus 30¢. Where you are the merchant of record you keep the customer relationship and carry the tax obligation; where the platform is, it's the reverse. Neither is strictly better — but it's worth knowing which one you've signed up for.
Bookrata and BookBaby, row by row
Every row from the BookBaby column of the full comparison, next to Bookrata's. Where BookBaby publishes nothing on a point, it says "not documented" rather than guessing.
| Capability | Bookrata | BookBaby |
|---|---|---|
| Getting found | ||
| A reader audience grown from both sides | ✓Readers browse the rated catalogue bringing qualified buyers to your page | ~Describes weekly content shared "to a growing list of over 150,000 active book buyers"; a New Release email to that list is part of its paid Promotion Bundle |
| Discovery by measured content | ✓Six categories, five tiers, one yardstick for every book | –Not offered |
| Nothing gets pushed at readers | ✓No recommendation engine, no bestseller list, no "customers also bought", no sponsored shelf. A reader finds your book by filtering for what she wants, not by being told what's popular | –Homepage placement and email features sold as a paid promotion bundle |
| Selling | ||
| Platform's cut of each sale | ✓0% on every plan | –15% ebook, 25% audio, 50% print on its Bookshop |
| You are the merchant of record | ✓Your Stripe, your customer, your money | –BookBaby is |
| Storefront on your own domain | ✓From $65/yr Pro | –No author-website product |
| Signed print copies | ✓Author-fulfilled physical sales from Pro | –Bookshop is BookBaby-fulfilled print-on-demand; no signed-copy or author-fulfilled option is published |
| The buyer's email belongs to you | ✓Consented purchaser capture on every plan, free one included; lead export and giveaway leads from Pro | –No statement that authors receive buyer names or email addresses is published on its Bookshop pages |
| Campaign links you can attribute to sales | ✓Tagged links per campaign, tracked from click through visit, buy-click and purchase — so you learn which newsletter or post actually sold copies | –Not offered |
| How deep the analytics go | ✓15 panels on Premier — including a four-step conversion funnel, which Bookrata tags and filters surfaced your book, abandoned carts with real revenue, impressions against clicks per title, and reading completion | –Sales reports only |
| Delivering | ||
| Per-buyer watermarking instead of DRM | ✓Every copy personalised to its buyer, on every plan | –DRM-free, but no watermarking |
| The reader keeps it, forever, in a real app | ✓Browser reader and installable web-app, always re-downloadable | ~Choose ePub, mobi or PDF at download; no app |
| Audiobooks | ✓Sell on Premier or a $15/yr add-on — and the Guild will fund making oneComing in November | ~Produces them, at $500 + $0.14–0.16 a word — roughly $12,000 for an 80,000-word book — or $2,000 + $0.06 a word AI-assisted |
| Shipped in October 2026 | ||
| Readers can browse what's on sale | ✓An On Sale filter in the library. Set a sale price and readers browsing the catalogue can find it, with no placement fee and no application. Pro and Premier | –Bookshop lists Genres, New Releases and Best Sellers; no sale or deals browse is documented |
| Buy a book as a gift | ✓Free The recipient gets it by email and claims it into their own library | –Not offered |
| Your own discount codes and timed sales | ✓Pro+ Author-created codes plus scheduled sale prices per listing, so a launch week starts and ends without you at the keyboard. Pro and Premier | ~Coupons on its own Bookshop |
| Sell a whole series as one bundle Live | ✓Pro+ Price the series you already organise; the buyer gets every book in it | –Not offered |
| Readers can write to you, and you can write back Live | ✓Free Reader Notes: a verified owner sends a note, you heart it and reply once. A next-book discount code on the reply follows in a later phase | –Not offered |
| Cost before you sell anything | ✓$0 to start; $150/yr for everything | –No published package prices — a quote tool instead. Its own stated guide: a fully produced book "typically lands between $2,000 and $7,000"; ebook conversion and distribution "start at approximately $249-$299" |
✓ Does this ~ Partly, or with a condition – Doesn't
Rows marked Coming in November describe the Bookrata Guild, which launches in November 2026. They are not counted as shipped.
Where BookBaby is the right answer
A comparison that finds nothing good in the other product is an advert. Here is where BookBaby genuinely does better, and you can keep using it alongside Bookrata. Nothing you upload here becomes exclusive.
Books.by · BookBaby
Someone else prints and ships it
Books.by prints, ships and carries the sales-tax liability; BookBaby will do the whole production job if you have the budget. Bookrata's physical sales are author-fulfilled — good for signed copies, no help at all if you don't want to own a box of books.
Weighing more than one?
The full comparison puts all eight platforms in one place, with every table and source note.