Storefronts and publishing services
Bookrata vs Books.by
Books.by prints and ships for you. Bookrata brings readers to the page and measures what is in the book.
Both take 0% of a sale. Books.by is merchant of record, prints, ships and remits sales tax, and lists "no discovery" among its own cons. Bookrata puts your book in a rated catalogue, keeps you as merchant of record, and delivers ebooks with per-buyer watermarking.
Every Books.by figure here is taken from Books.by'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.
Books.by
Print-on-demand storefront at books.by/yourname. It prints, ships and is merchant of record, and collects and remits sales tax. $99/yr Core (against a $199 list), $299/yr Pro adds ebooks and analytics.
Doesn't doDiscovery — its own comparison page lists "You bring your own traffic — no discovery" — or custom domains.
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 |
| Books.by | 0% | $99/yr Core, $299/yr Pro Print cost comes off the sale | Books.by It "collects and remits applicable sales tax, GST, or VAT"; your own income tax stays yours |
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 Books.by, row by row
Every row from the Books.by column of the full comparison, next to Bookrata's. Where Books.by publishes nothing on a point, it says "not documented" rather than guessing.
| Capability | Bookrata | Books.by |
|---|---|---|
| Getting found | ||
| A reader audience grown from both sides | ✓Readers browse the rated catalogue bringing qualified buyers to your page | –Lists it among its own cons: "You bring your own traffic — no discovery" |
| 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 | ~Nothing is pushed because there is no catalogue to push from |
| Selling | ||
| Platform's cut of each sale | ✓0% on every plan | ✓0% — subscription only |
| You are the merchant of record | ✓Your Stripe, your customer, your money | –Books.by is, and it collects and remits sales tax, GST or VAT on purchases. Your own income tax remains yours |
| Storefront on your own domain | ✓From $65/yr Pro | –books.by/yourname only — "coming soon" |
| Signed print copies | ✓Author-fulfilled physical sales from Pro | ~It prints and ships — so nothing to sign |
| The buyer's email belongs to you | ✓Consented purchaser capture on every plan, free one included; lead export and giveaway leads from Pro | ✓Full names, emails and purchase history — its headline pitch |
| 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 | ~Facebook Pixel and Google integrations on Pro — external tracking, not native attribution |
| 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 | ~Live sales analytics, on the Pro tier only |
| Delivering | ||
| Per-buyer watermarking instead of DRM | ✓Every copy personalised to its buyer, on every plan | –Not documented |
| The reader keeps it, forever, in a real app | ✓Browser reader and installable web-app, always re-downloadable | –No reader app; ebook mechanics undocumented |
| Audiobooks | ✓Sell on Premier or a $15/yr add-on — and the Guild will fund making oneComing in November | –Not supported |
| 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 | –No shared catalogue to browse — "BookSpace isn't a marketplace, or a distributor. It's a purpose-built storefront" |
| 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 | ~Custom discount codes, listed under Pro. Scheduled or timed sale pricing is not documented on its pages |
| 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 | ~$99/yr Core, currently shown against a $199 list price, and $299/yr Pro. Ebooks are sold as a Pro feature, though its FAQ still calls ebook support roadmap |
✓ 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 Books.by is the right answer
A comparison that finds nothing good in the other product is an advert. Here is where Books.by 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.
How is Bookrata different from Books.by?
Books.by is a print-on-demand storefront and a good one: it prints, ships, and acts as merchant of record, so sales tax is its problem rather than yours. What it openly doesn't have is discovery — its own comparison page lists "You bring your own traffic — no discovery" among its cons — and custom domains and hardcover are both described as coming soon. Ebooks are sold as a Pro feature while its FAQ still describes ebook support as roadmap, and no ebook delivery protections are documented either way. Bookrata brings the readers and the ratings; Books.by brings a printer.
Weighing more than one?
The full comparison puts all eight platforms in one place, with every table and source note.