What Is Draft2Digital? How the Ebook Aggregator Works

Draft2Digital (often shortened to D2D) is a free-to-join service that takes one upload of your book and distributes it to many ebook stores and library platforms for you. Instead of charging upfront, it keeps a share of each sale, which its published terms put at about 10% of the list price. Verify the current rate on their site.

It is one of the most common tools authors use when they want their books available beyond Amazon. Below is how the model works, where it sends your book, what Books2Read is, what it costs, and how to run it next to Amazon KDP without causing conflicts.

How Draft2Digital's aggregator model works

An aggregator sits between you and the stores. You create one account, upload your manuscript and cover once, and enter your metadata once. Draft2Digital then sends the book to every store you tick.

When a reader buys your book on, say, Kobo, the store pays Draft2Digital. Draft2Digital takes its cut and pays you the rest, along with your earnings from every other store, in a single payment.

Here is what that means in practice:

• One dashboard instead of several. You don't need separate accounts at each retailer. Price changes, new covers and updated files are made in one place and pushed out.
• One tax setup and one payment relationship. You give your tax and payment details to Draft2Digital rather than to every store.
• Consolidated reporting. Sales from all channels show up together.
• No upfront cost to publish. You pay only when you sell.

The trade-off is simple. You give up a slice of each sale and some direct control. Direct accounts at a store sometimes offer promotional tools, store-specific pricing options or faster updates that an aggregator can't fully pass through.

A quick example. Say you've written a cozy mystery and want it on Apple Books, Kobo and Barnes & Noble, and in libraries. Going direct means opening and maintaining three or more retailer accounts, plus finding a route into libraries, which individual authors usually can't reach on their own. Through Draft2Digital, you upload once and select those channels from a list.

Draft2Digital merged with Smashwords, another long-running aggregator, so authors who used Smashwords will find their distribution now runs through the Draft2Digital side of the business.

Stores and libraries Draft2Digital reaches

The exact channel list changes as partners are added or dropped, so check the current list in your Draft2Digital dashboard before you plan around a particular store. Broadly, the channels fall into three groups.

Major ebook retailers. These include Apple Books, Kobo and Barnes & Noble. Draft2Digital can also deliver to Amazon, though many authors prefer to publish on Amazon directly (more on that below).

International and subscription stores. Draft2Digital has distributed to stores such as Tolino, a major ebook platform in German-speaking countries, and to subscription services where readers pay a monthly fee to read from a catalogue. These are hard for an individual author to reach directly, which is a large part of an aggregator's value.

Library platforms. This is where Draft2Digital is especially useful. Its partners have included OverDrive (the service behind the Libby app), Bibliotheca, Hoopla, Baker & Taylor, BorrowBox and Palace Marketplace. Libraries buy licences to lend your ebook, and some platforms pay per borrow. Most self-published authors have no direct route into these systems, so an aggregator is often the only practical way in.

Libraries usually pay a different price from consumers. Draft2Digital lets you set library pricing, and it's worth reviewing rather than leaving it at the default, because library licensing terms differ by platform.

Print. Draft2Digital also offers print-on-demand paperbacks. If print is a big part of your plan, compare it with the dedicated print services listed in the table below before deciding.

Going direct or using Draft2Digital for each store

You don't have to choose one approach for everything. Many authors go direct to the stores where they sell the most and use Draft2Digital for everything else. The table shows the trade-offs at a glance.

Factor	Going direct to a store	Through Draft2Digital
Royalty	The store's full royalty (for example, Kobo Writing Life's published terms list 70% at $2.99 or more)	The store's royalty minus D2D's fee of about 10% of list price
Accounts to manage	One per store	One
Reach	Only stores that accept direct uploads	Includes subscription services and library platforms
Store promotions	Access to the store's own promo tools where offered	Depends on what D2D can pass through
ISBN	Varies by store; many ebooks don't need one	Optional; D2D can assign a free ISBN
Payments	Separate payment from each store	One combined payment

All royalty rates here come from each store's published terms and can change, so confirm them in each store's dashboard.

A common pattern looks like this:

• Amazon: direct through KDP
• Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes & Noble: direct if you sell a lot there and want their promo tools, otherwise through Draft2Digital
• Libraries, subscription services and smaller international stores: through Draft2Digital

If you're new to selling outside Amazon, our guide to going wide explains the broader strategy.

Books2Read links explained

Books2Read is a free tool from Draft2Digital that creates a universal book link: one web address that shows readers every store where your book is sold. A reader clicks it, sees buttons for Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo and so on, and picks their preferred store. They can also save a default so future Books2Read links send them straight to that store.

Why this matters:

• One link for everything. Put a single link in your newsletter, social posts, email signature and the back matter of your other books instead of a long list of store links.
• Readers aren't pushed to one store. If your audience is spread across platforms, nobody hits a link that's useless to them.
• It works for books not published through D2D. You can create a Books2Read link for any book, including ones you publish directly on KDP or other stores. You don't have to distribute through Draft2Digital to use it.

When you publish through Draft2Digital, a Books2Read link is generally created for you and fills in as each store goes live. For stores you publish to directly, you may need to add the link yourself in your Books2Read account.

A practical tip: once all your stores are live, click your own Books2Read link and test every button. A missing or wrong store link is easy to miss and easy to fix.

What Draft2Digital costs

There's no setup fee and no charge to upload. Draft2Digital makes money by keeping a share of each sale. Its published terms describe this as about 10% of the list price, taken from the royalty the store pays. Confirm the current figure on Draft2Digital's site before you set prices, because terms can change.

Because the fee is calculated on list price rather than on your royalty, the share it takes out of your earnings is bigger than 10%. Here's how to work it out for any book:

1. Find the store's royalty rate at your price from that store's published terms.
2. Multiply your list price by that rate to get the store's royalty.
3. Subtract roughly 10% of the list price for Draft2Digital.
4. What's left is your earnings per sale.

Run this calculation for your actual price rather than relying on a rule of thumb. At some prices the store's rate drops (Kobo's published terms, for example, list a lower rate below $2.99), which changes the result.

Other costs to think about:

• ISBN. Optional. Draft2Digital can assign a free one, or you can use your own. If you want your own imprint name on the record, buy your own. Our guide Do I need an ISBN? covers the choice.
• Formatting. Draft2Digital includes free tools that turn a Word document into an ebook, and you can also upload a finished EPUB.
• Cover. Draft2Digital recommends a JPEG of 1600 × 2400 pixels or larger, and 1600 × 2560 works too.

Using Draft2Digital alongside Amazon KDP

This is the most common setup: you publish on Amazon through KDP and use Draft2Digital for everything else. There are two rules to follow.

Rule 1: Don't send the same ebook to Amazon twice. If you publish directly on KDP, untick Amazon in Draft2Digital's store list. Two listings of the same ebook on Amazon confuse readers, split your reviews and can cause problems with the store.

Rule 2: KDP Select means Amazon-only for that ebook. If you enrol an ebook in KDP Select, Amazon requires the digital edition to be exclusive to Amazon for each enrolment period. That rules out distributing the same ebook through Draft2Digital to any other store or library. You can't be in KDP Select and wide with the same ebook at the same time.

Print isn't covered by KDP Select exclusivity, so a paperback can be sold elsewhere even while the ebook is enrolled.

A typical setup looks like this:

1. Publish the ebook and paperback on Amazon KDP directly.
2. Don't enrol the ebook in KDP Select.
3. Upload the same ebook to Draft2Digital and select all stores and libraries except Amazon.
4. Create a Books2Read link that includes your Amazon listing and every D2D store.

If you produce your book in Inkora, it exports an EPUB 3 file, a 1600 × 2560 Kindle cover JPG and a publishing kit with your description, keywords and BISAC categories. You can use the same files for KDP and for Draft2Digital. Inkora's Publishing Hub has a step-by-step Draft2Digital checklist. You still upload in your own Draft2Digital account, since Inkora doesn't upload to stores for you.

What you need before uploading to Draft2Digital

Have these ready and the setup takes far less time:

• Manuscript. A clean Word file or a finished EPUB. Remove anything specific to Amazon, such as "Available on Kindle" wording or Amazon-only links in your back matter. Some stores reject books that point readers to a competitor.
• Cover. JPEG, 1600 × 2400 or larger.
• Description. The same blurb you use elsewhere, without Amazon-specific formatting.
• Categories and keywords. Draft2Digital uses standard subject categories (BISAC), not Amazon's own browse categories.
• Price. Decide on a list price, and on library pricing if you're enabling libraries.
• ISBN decision. Free from D2D or your own.
• Tax and payment details. Needed before you can be paid.

Inkora's publishing kit includes BISAC categories and a description you can paste in, which saves a step at this stage.

Common problems and fixes

Your ebook is in KDP Select and on other stores. This breaks Amazon's exclusivity terms. Fix it straight away: either unpublish from the other stores through Draft2Digital, or turn off auto-renewal for KDP Select and wait until the enrolment period ends before going wide. Don't run both at once.

Duplicate listing on Amazon. This happens when you publish directly on KDP and forget to untick Amazon in Draft2Digital. Remove Amazon from your D2D channels, then contact both services if the duplicate doesn't drop off.

A store rejects the book. Common causes are links to other retailers inside the book, cover text that doesn't match the metadata, or content that breaks a particular store's rules. Read the rejection notice, fix the file or metadata, and resubmit. Draft2Digital usually says which store raised the issue.

Books2Read link is missing a store. New stores can take time to appear. If a store is live but missing from the link, add it manually in your Books2Read account.

Changes aren't showing up. Updates have to be passed on to each store, and each store processes them on its own schedule. Price changes and new files can show up on one store before another. Give it time before assuming something failed, then contact Draft2Digital support with the specific store and book.

Earnings are lower than expected. Check the store's royalty rate at your price, subtract the D2D fee, and remember that payments depend on stores reporting to Draft2Digital first. Compare your dashboard's sales report with the payment schedule in their terms.

You want to leave a store or switch to going direct. You can unpublish from a single store through Draft2Digital, wait for the listing to come down, then publish directly. Keep reviews in mind, since a new direct listing may not carry them over.

Draft2Digital is a practical way to get one book into many stores and libraries without managing a separate account for each. Most authors pair it with KDP: publish on Amazon directly, untick Amazon in D2D, stay out of KDP Select for that ebook, and use a Books2Read link to send readers wherever they like to buy. For the bigger picture, see how to self-publish a book.