PublishDrive vs Draft2Digital: Subscription or Commission?

It depends on how much you sell, because the two charge in opposite ways. Draft2Digital keeps about 10% of retail, taken after the retailer’s own cut, and charges a $20 one-off activation, then $12 a year unless you earn $100+. PublishDrive's model is a monthly subscription instead of a sales cut, from about $13.99/month, plus a limited free plan, which means 0% commission on paid plans — you keep 100% of the store royalties and set your own prices. A share of each sale costs little while sales are small and more as they grow. A flat fee is the reverse. Draft2Digital is usually cheaper for a book that sells a little. PublishDrive becomes cheaper once Draft2Digital's share of a month's sales would be more than PublishDrive's fee for your plan.

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The longer version

Working out which is cheaper

You do not need a spreadsheet, just one comparison per month:

• Draft2Digital's cost is its share of what your books sold through it that month, which grows with every sale.
• PublishDrive's cost is the fee for your plan, the same whether you sell nothing or a great deal.

Whichever is lower for a typical month is the cheaper option. Two details change the comparison:

• PublishDrive's plans are priced by number of titles. A large backlist of slow-selling books needs a bigger plan, which can cost more than Draft2Digital's share of what those books earn.
• Draft2Digital's fees are small but fixed. The maintenance fee is waived for the first year and for accounts above the earnings threshold, so it only matters for a book that barely sells.

Where each one reaches

The stores matter as much as the price.

• Draft2Digital distributes to Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and library and subscription services. Amazon is by invitation only, so for most authors a Kindle listing means publishing direct through KDP.
• PublishDrive lists Amazon, Apple Books, Google Play, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, library partners, and other retail stores worldwide, including print-on-demand partners in China and India.

There are two clear differences. Google Play is on PublishDrive's list and not among the storefronts in our Draft2Digital record, so with Draft2Digital it means a separate direct account. Amazon is the other: through PublishDrive it is available without an invitation, for ebook and print-on-demand, while Draft2Digital's Amazon channel is by invitation only. If you want one aggregator to cover Kindle as well, that settles it.

PublishDrive's free plan distributes one ebook to a limited set of stores, which is enough to try it but not to replace a paid plan.

Formats

Draft2Digital handles ebooks and print. PublishDrive handles ebooks, print-on-demand and audiobooks from one account. Draft2Digital's own audiobook option is its digital narration programme, which sells through Apple only; for human narration it points authors to Voices by INaudio instead. See Can I make an audiobook with AI narration?

ISBNs and identifiers

Draft2Digital assigns a free ISBN to every book published through it. PublishDrive assigns a free PublishDrive identifier if you have no ISBN, and accepts your own. That identifier is PublishDrive's own, not an ISBN. If you want the same ISBN everywhere, buy your own, which both accept.

AI training

PublishDrive addresses it directly: the terms state your content is not used for AI training or shared with third parties to train their models. Draft2Digital's terms do not mention AI training, but its licence includes a clause about improving its systems that is broad enough to leave the question open. See Do publishing platforms train AI on my book?

Payments

PublishDrive pays a single monthly payout about a month after the earnings report, with a $5 minimum. Draft2Digital pays monthly, with a minimum that depends on the payment method. Both can only pay once the stores have paid them. See When do self-published authors get paid?

Leaving

Both are non-exclusive. Draft2Digital lets you switch any storefront off at any time. PublishDrive lets you withdraw a work at any time; removal from the stores takes several weeks.

The usual answer

• One or two books, modest sales: Draft2Digital. Beyond its small account fees you pay only when you sell, and the share is small in absolute terms.
• A catalogue that sells steadily, or a need for Google Play or audiobooks through one aggregator: price PublishDrive's plan for your title count against Draft2Digital's share of a normal month.
• Either way, consider going direct to the one or two stores that sell best for your genre. See Should I publish direct or use an aggregator?

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Common exceptions

• Never use both for the same store. Switch a storefront off in one before enabling it in the other, or the store may end up with duplicate listings.
• PublishDrive does not guarantee store rates. You keep the whole store royalty, but the store's own cut still comes out first, and store rates are set by the stores.
• PublishDrive's plan prices are approximate and set on its pricing page. Check the current tiers for your title count before deciding.
• IngramSpark ebooks complicate this. IngramSpark's ebook agreement contains a clause that, read strictly, bars distributing the same ebook through anyone else. Using IngramSpark for print only is unaffected.

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Related questions

• Should I publish direct or use an aggregator?
• When do self-published authors get paid?
• Do publishing platforms train AI on my book?
• KDP vs IngramSpark: what is the difference?

Sources

• PublishDrive — Digital Distribution Agreement & Terms and Conditions, pricing, royalties, payments and ISBN help pages.
• Draft2Digital — FAQ, pricing page and Terms of Service.
• IngramSpark — Agreement (section 5.2).

Terms are quoted from the platforms' own documents as recorded in the AuthorAZ Publishing Database. Platform facts verified 25 September 2026.

Related AuthorAZ resources

• Platforms & the Merchant Mindset