Selling ebooks from your own website is simpler than it sounds: the reader pays, gets the download link instantly and you don’t lift a finger — no emails with attachments, nothing handled by hand. At Mister Mikel we build online stores for publishers, bookshops and cultural projects from Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, and ebook sales with automatic delivery are included from the most basic plan, because for a publisher digital isn’t an extra: it’s catalog.
How does selling an ebook in your store work?
The full circuit, with no human intervention:
- The reader buys the ebook like any other product in your store.
- On confirming payment, they automatically receive the download link (on screen and by email).
- The file downloads and that’s it. You find out from the sale notification, not because you have to do anything.
Compared with the handmade method — the reader pays by bank transfer, you send the PDF as an attachment when you see it, and sometimes the email is too heavy and bounces — the difference isn’t convenience, it’s scale: you sell while you sleep and on Sunday afternoon.
Can I sell the print and digital editions of the same title?
Yes, and it’s the natural way: the same book page, with the format as a variant and each with its own price. The reader chooses paperback or EPUB from the same page, without duplicating the catalog. And there’s a combination that works especially well in preorder: reserving the print edition and getting the ebook right away — the reader starts reading today what they’ll receive on paper next month. We talk about how to set up that preorder in book preorders.
Which format: EPUB or PDF?
Short rule: EPUB for reading, PDF for looking.
- EPUB is the standard ebook format: the text adapts to any screen and font size. For fiction, poetry and essays, EPUB.
- PDF preserves the exact layout. For heavily designed books — art, photography, exhibition catalogs — where the page IS the design, PDF.
And offering both? You can, in the same purchase, at no extra cost to you. For many publishers it’s the elegant solution: let the reader choose.
What VAT applies to an ebook? And the fixed price?
Two facts worth having clear before setting prices (these are Spain’s rules; each market has its own):
- VAT on ebooks in Spain is 4%, the same super-reduced rate as print books, since 2020. Before that they were taxed as a digital service at 21%; not anymore.
- The fixed price also covers ebooks. Ley 10/2007 includes the ebook in its definition of a book, so you set the price as the publisher and it applies in every channel, with the maximum discount of 5%.
Practical translation: the price of your ebook on your website is the same as on any platform. The difference — once again — is who keeps the margin and the reader’s contact. On your website, you do. We talk about that math at length in how to sell books online without depending on Amazon.
And piracy? Let’s talk about DRM
The question every publisher asks, and it deserves an honest answer: no system makes a file uncopyable. The two approaches:
- Hard DRM (a technical lock): restricts which devices the file opens on. It protects a bit more, but it punishes the honest reader — who is 99% of those buying from you directly — with friction to read what they’ve paid for.
- Watermarking (social DRM): the file carries the buyer’s details embedded. It can be read anywhere without friction, and anyone who shares it widely does so with their name inside.
Our view: for an independent publisher selling to its own community, watermarking is usually the sensible balance. Whoever buys from you on your website is your most loyal reader; treating them as a suspect is bad business. That said, it’s each publisher’s decision and both options exist.
Our view, in one sentence
The ebook is the perfect product for your own store: no printer, no shipping, no stock, instant delivery and a clean margin. If your digital catalog is currently scattered across other people’s platforms or — worse — being sold by email and bank transfer, it’s the first piece I’d put in order. Plans and prices are on our page about online stores for publishers and cultural projects: ebooks with automatic delivery are included from the Basic plan, €2,970 + VAT.
FAQ
Automatically: the reader pays and receives the download link instantly, on screen and by email. There’s no need to send files by hand or step in on each sale.
4%, the same super-reduced rate as print books, since 2020. Before that, ebooks were taxed at 21% as a digital service; today both formats carry the same VAT.
Yes. In Spain, Ley 10/2007 includes the ebook in its definition of a book, so the publisher sets the price and it applies in every channel, with a maximum discount of 5%.
EPUB for fiction, poetry and essays, because the text adapts to any screen. PDF for heavily designed books where the page is part of the design. You can also offer both formats in the same purchase.
No system makes a file uncopyable. The options are hard DRM, which restricts devices but adds friction for the reader, and watermarking with the buyer’s details, which doesn’t bother those who have paid. For publishers selling to their own community, watermarking is usually the most sensible balance.
In short
Selling ebooks from your own website means automatic delivery, 4% VAT and a fixed price with a maximum discount of 5% (in Spain) and — the important part — the margin and the reader in your own house. EPUB for reading, PDF for looking, watermarks before locks, and print and digital living together on the same book page. It’s the lowest-friction product in a publisher’s whole catalog; selling it from someone else’s platform is giving away the easy part.
