Books.by vs. BooksOasis: Two Yearly-Fee Ways to Keep More of Every Sale

Books.by and BooksOasis have more in common than most platforms in this series. Both charge a yearly fee instead of a big commission, both promise authors the lion's share of every sale, and both print books on demand. The difference is in what you get for the fee. Books.by gives you your own bookstore page, where readers you send can buy, and you keep their details. BooksOasis puts your books in a shared bookstore with its own browsing readers, and pays you the whole price of every ebook.

This guide compares the two in detail: plans and formats, what you actually keep on an ebook and a paperback, customer data, discovery, reading experience and extras. Books.by's figures are checked at its own pricing page.

Both start with files. LiberScript exports a print-ready PDF at your trim size and a clean EPUB, which you can upload to Books.by, BooksOasis or both.

At a glance: Books.by vs. BooksOasis

How Books.by works

Books.by gives each author a bookstore at books.by/their-name. You pay a yearly plan: Core at $99 a year for paperbacks only, or Pro at $299 a year for ebooks and paperbacks. Books.by describes its model as 100% royalties: you keep all the profit after printing, shipping and card processing. Printing is passed through at cost, the customer pays shipping, and card processing of 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction comes out of each sale.

Books.by's own example for a $19.99 paperback shows a printing cost of $4.46, card processing of $0.88 and $14.65 to the author. It pays out daily through Stripe, includes free ISBNs and a cover builder, and on Pro adds pre-order campaigns, discount codes, sales analytics, multi-currency selling and a Facebook pixel. It also advertises a 100-day money-back guarantee on both plans.

How BooksOasis works

BooksOasis is a shared online bookstore where independent authors and small presses list their books. You choose a plan by number of books: $29.99 a year for up to 10, $179 for 100 or $599 for 500. Each listing can have an ebook, a paperback and a hardcover, each with its own price. Every ebook sale pays you 100% of the price, with no card processing deducted. Print pays the price minus the printing cost and a handling fee of 30% of that printing cost, and the reader pays shipping.

Readers find books on genre shelves, in search, on series pages, and in sections for new releases, upcoming pre-orders and books on sale, then read ebooks in the Oasis Reader app on their phone, tablet or computer.

Ebooks: what you keep

Per-sale figures before each plan's yearly fee. Books.by Core doesn't include ebooks.

Both keep the great majority of the price. The difference per ebook is the card fee, which weighs most on low-priced books. The larger differences are the plan price for ebooks ($299 a year on Books.by Pro against $29.99 for up to 10 books on BooksOasis Starter) and where readers come from.

Print: what you keep

On Books.by, you earn the price minus the printing cost (at cost) and card processing. On BooksOasis, you earn the price minus the printing cost and a 30% handling fee on that printing cost. With the same printing cost, Books.by's model leaves slightly more per paperback, because its deduction beyond printing is the card fee, while BooksOasis adds a fee tied to printing. Printing costs vary by platform, so compare each platform's quote for your book.

Illustration only, using Books.by's example printing cost. Actual printing costs differ between platforms.

BooksOasis also sells hardcovers on the same listing; Books.by's pricing page lists paperbacks.

Discovery: your page or a store with readers

A Books.by store is yours. Readers arrive because you sent them, from your newsletter, website, social media, ads or events. Books.by gives you tools to support that, such as the Facebook pixel and discount codes on Pro, but it isn't a place where readers browse for books from many authors.

BooksOasis is. Your book appears alongside other independent authors' books, where readers are actively looking for something to read. You'll still promote your own books, but the store can bring you readers you'd never have reached alone.

Customer data

Books.by lets you keep your customers' names, emails and order history, which is valuable for building a mailing list and selling future books directly. BooksOasis readers buy from BooksOasis, so you don't receive their details. To bring store readers onto your list, invite them in your back matter with a newsletter link and a small bonus.

Reading experience

Books.by sells ebooks as files readers download for their own devices. BooksOasis ebooks are read in the Oasis Reader app, which works in any modern browser, installs like an app, opens books offline once they're on the device and syncs the reader's place, highlights and notes across devices, with light, sepia and dark themes, adjustable text and page-flip or continuous-scroll reading. Books aren't handed out as files.

ISBNs and extras

Books.by includes free ISBNs. On BooksOasis, an ISBN is optional; the store identifies each edition itself. If you sell the same edition in several places, owning an ISBN lets you use it everywhere, and a free platform ISBN may list the platform as publisher. BooksOasis's extras are built around a store: series pages with reading order, pre-orders with a Coming Soon shelf, a New release label for a book's first 30 days, promotional prices with start and end dates that can place a book in On Sale banners, author and imprint pages with unlimited pen names, and verified-purchase reviews.

Payouts

Books.by pays out daily through Stripe to your bank account. BooksOasis records every sale in an earnings ledger and pays by bank transfer or PayPal; domestic US bank transfers typically carry no fee, and international payouts go by wire once your balance passes a minimum, so a wire's fixed fee doesn't eat a small payment.

Setting up each

On Books.by, you choose a plan, create your bookstore page, upload your interior and cover (or use its cover builder), set prices, and connect Stripe for payouts. From then on, your job is to send readers to your page. Books.by's Pro tools, such as discount codes and the Facebook pixel, help you run and measure your own campaigns.

On BooksOasis, you choose a plan by number of books, create a listing with a description, three to five genres and at least three search keywords, and add editions. For print, you upload an interior PDF first; the dashboard then quotes the printing cost and minimum price, shows the exact cover size and spine width, and offers a downloadable cover template. An automatic print-readiness check runs before the book goes to review. After review, it appears in the store for browsing readers.

Three authors, three choices

A memoirist who speaks at events and sells mostly paperbacks to audiences sets up Books.by Core, links it from a QR code at each talk, and collects buyers' details for future books.

A novelist with a new series and a small newsletter lists all three books on BooksOasis, where browsing readers can find book one, follow the series page and pre-order book four, while the newsletter links to the same store.

A non-fiction author with a large audience runs a Books.by Pro store for direct sales, including the ebook, and also lists the book on BooksOasis in hardcover, paperback and ebook to reach readers beyond that audience.

Keeping two stores in step

Running both is simple if you keep one master record per book: final interior, each platform's cover, description, keywords and prices. When you revise the interior, remember that a changed page count means a new spine width and new covers on both platforms. When you change a price, change it in both places the same day, so a reader never finds two different prices for the same edition.

Using both

Because one is your own page and the other a shared store, they complement each other well:

1. Format once in LiberScript, exporting a print PDF and an EPUB.
2. Use Books.by as the store you link from your website and newsletter, where you keep customer details.
3. List on BooksOasis for discovery, with hardcovers alongside paperbacks and ebooks.
4. Keep prices consistent, and build each printer's cover from its own template.

Choosing by catalogue size

For a single paperback, Books.by Core at $99 a year gives you your own store with print on demand. For ebooks, Books.by requires Pro at $299 a year, whereas BooksOasis's $29.99 Starter plan covers ebook, paperback and hardcover for up to 10 books. As a catalogue grows, BooksOasis's $179 plan for 100 books and $599 plan for 500 keep the cost per book low; check Books.by's current terms for large catalogues.

When Books.by fits better

• You have an audience and want your own store with your customers' details.
• You want the most per paperback, with printing passed through at cost.
• You'd like daily payouts and free ISBNs.
• You run your own ad campaigns and want pixel tracking on your store.
• You want a 100-day money-back guarantee while you try it.

When BooksOasis fits better

• You want readers who don't know you yet to find your books.
• You sell ebooks and want 100% of each price with no card fee, on a low-cost plan.
• You want hardcovers, series pages, pre-orders and dated promotions.
• You have several books and want a low cost per book.

Frequently asked questions

What does Books.by cost? Core is $99 a year for paperbacks; Pro is $299 a year for ebooks and paperbacks. Card processing of 2.9% plus $0.30 comes out of each sale.

What does BooksOasis cost? $29.99 a year for up to 10 books, $179 for 100 and $599 for 500, covering ebook, paperback and hardcover editions.

Which pays more on a paperback? With equal printing costs, Books.by usually leaves slightly more, since only printing and a card fee come out. BooksOasis deducts printing and a 30% handling fee on it. Compare each platform's printing quote.

Which pays more on an ebook? BooksOasis pays 100% of the price; Books.by Pro deducts card processing.

Can I use both for the same book? Yes. Neither requires exclusivity, so the same book can be sold on your Books.by page and on BooksOasis at the same time.

Will LiberScript files work on both? Yes. Export the print PDF at your trim size and build each cover from the platform's template.

More reading: Books.by alternatives and Books.by vs. Payhip on the BooksOasis publisher site, and our selling books direct guide.

The bottom line

Books.by and BooksOasis both let you keep most of every sale for a yearly fee. Books.by gives you your own store and your customers' details, ideal for an author with an audience to send there. BooksOasis gives you a shared store with browsing readers, the full price of every ebook and hardcovers beside your paperbacks, on a low-cost plan. Many authors will want both, formatted once in LiberScript.