THE BUSINESS CASE
Past about 340 sales a month, owning your store costs less than renting one
That’s the crossover against a 10% platform at a $4.99 edition. Below it they’re cheaper and we’ll say so. Above it you keep the margin — and the customer either way.
You publish your own work
You want the reader, not just the sale
You’re on Shopify, or willing to be
EVERYTHING YOU'LL PAY FOR
The whole stack, including the awkward part
Masterfile — Retailer Ops
The plan that carries Digital Collectors Editions. It’s built around distributor ordering and shipment receiving you will never touch — that’s the honest trade, and it’s the single biggest number on this page.
$249 / month
Masterfile — usage
Per digital edition sold. Nothing sells, nothing charged.
$0.15
Your Shopify plan
Basic billed annually, $39 month-to-month. Paid to Shopify, not to us.
from $29 / month
Shopify Payments
Per online sale, paid to Shopify. Every platform on this page charges card processing somewhere — most of them just bury it.
2.9% + 30¢
Theme
Any Online Store 2.0 theme. You don’t need to buy one.
$0
Custom development
Drag-and-drop blocks in the Shopify theme editor. No developer, no build.
$0
Shopify prices are US list, captured 2 August 2026, and are Shopify’s to change. There is no creator-specific Masterfile plan today: Digital Collectors Editions require Retailer Ops. If that reads as expensive for a studio that will never place a distributor order, you’re reading it correctly.
Where a flat fee starts beating a percentage
Percentage platforms are cheaper until they aren't. Put your own volume in and find the line.
Cost is only half the question.
Talk it through with these numbersTHE LANDSCAPE
What everyone else charges, and what they keep
Rates as published by each platform on 2 August 2026. Where a platform’s terms say something different from its marketing, we’ve quoted the terms.
Their cut
Who owns the buyer
Rich reading experience
Masterfile
$249/mo + $0.15 per edition, plus your Shopify plan and 2.9% + 30¢
You do. It’s your Shopify store — buyer email, order history and list are yours to export.
Yes — that’s the product.
Gumroad
10% + $0.50 direct, and card processing on top (2.9% + 30¢). 30% via their marketplace.
You get emails and a CSV export — but importing a list isn’t supported, and Gumroad is merchant of record.
Yes — in-browser reflowable reader for PDF/EPUB up to 32MB.
Payhip
$0/5%, $29/2%, or $99/mo with no transaction fee. Processing always separate.
You do — you connect your own Stripe or PayPal and are paid directly.
No. Digital products are file downloads; their help page points buyers at Calibre.
GlobalComix
30–35% of subscription and PDF revenue. $19.99/mo for the Professional tier. Payout fees on top.
They do. Their terms: “We are under no obligation to share any customer data with you.”
Yes — panel-by-panel guided view. Static images only; no audio or motion.
Amazon KDP
35%, or 70% minus a $0.15/MB delivery fee — which on a large comic file can exceed the sale price.
Amazon does. You get sales reports, not customers.
Kindle reading, tuned for text rather than designed pages.
Patreon
10% for creators who started after 4 Aug 2025, plus processing. Legacy tiers 5–11%.
Partial — you can message patrons, but the relationship lives on Patreon.
No. Posts and attachments, not a reader.
Substack
10% plus Stripe fees.
You do — their terms name subscriber lists as yours, and you can export.
No in-post reader. CBZ/CBR files hand off to a third-party iOS app.
Kickstarter
5% platform fee plus 3–5% processing, on successfully funded projects.
Emails after success only, expiring after two years, for fulfilment use “and nothing else”.
No. Files, codes or URLs.
BackerKit
5% platform fee. Pledge-manager fees from 2% if you funded elsewhere.
You do — they name the creator as data controller and endorse exporting to your mail tool.
No. 250MB downloads; larger files are explicitly your problem to host.
Zoop
22% full service, or “as low as 7%” bare bones, plus processing.
They do. Same clause as GlobalComix, word for word.
No reader. Physical-first with digital fulfilment as a line item.
Every one of these is a reasonable choice for some publisher. The column that decides it is rarely the first one — it’s who keeps the reader when the sale is done, and whether what they receive is a designed edition or a file in a folder.
THE REAL ARGUMENT
The buyer, not just the sale
Every platform takes a cut. Only some of them take the customer as well — and that difference is written into their terms, not their pricing page.
Their terms, their words
GlobalComix and Zoop carry the same clause, word for word: “We will own any and all personal data processed via the Service… We are under no obligation to share any customer data with you.”
Quoted from their published terms of service.
Borrowed, with a deadline
Kickstarter gives you backer emails only after a successful campaign, expiring two years after delivery, and asks you to agree you’ll use them “to fulfill the rewards… and nothing else”.
That’s a fulfilment tool, not a mailing list.
Yours, on your own store
A sale on your Shopify is an ordinary Shopify customer record. Email, order history, tags, segments — exportable, and portable to any tool you already use.
Same place your physical orders already live.
THE OBVIOUS QUESTIONS
The things that actually decide this
Price is rarely what stops a publisher. These are.
Will readers buy from me instead of a marketplace?
Some won’t — a marketplace is where browsing happens. The ones who buy direct are the people who already follow you, and they’re worth more than a browse: you get their email, their order history, and the ability to sell them the next thing without paying to reach them again.
I already sell on Gumroad. Do I have to stop?
No. Plenty of publishers run both — a marketplace for discovery, their own store for the people who already know them. The calculator above is about where your direct sales are better served here, not about moving everything at once.
Do I need a big catalogue for this to work?
You need volume more than breadth. One series selling steadily clears the crossover sooner than a dozen titles selling occasionally, because the cost is flat rather than per-title.
What do readers actually get?
A designed digital edition that opens in the browser — not a zip file, and not a PDF they have to find an app for. That difference is the whole reason a flat fee is worth paying.
What if it doesn’t work out?
No contract. Cancel from your Shopify admin and the products and customer records stay in your store, because they were always yours.
Before you commit
Straight answers before you commit
The questions that decide this either way. Better answered now than on your third invoice.
There’s a volume where this starts to pay
At a $4.99 edition the crossover against a 10% platform lands near 340 sales a month. Below that a percentage costs you less, and the calculator above will tell you plainly which side of the line you’re on.
Digital editions are part of Retailer Ops
There’s no creator-only tier today, so digital editions come in on the $249 plan alongside distributor tooling a studio won’t use. If that’s the sticking point, say so — it’s the feedback we most want.
You own the customer; discovery is yours
A marketplace puts your book in front of people already browsing, and keeps the reader. Your own store keeps the reader and leaves the finding to you. That’s the trade, and it only makes sense if you already have an audience or intend to build one.
You pay from day one
No trial and no free tier. We’d rather quote you a real price than start a countdown clock.
This runs on Shopify
It’s a Shopify app, not a separate platform. If you don’t want a Shopify store behind your publishing, this isn’t the right fit.
Bring your volume. We’ll tell you if you’re too early.
A 30-minute call where we run your real numbers. If you’re under the crossover we’ll tell you to stay where you are — and what to come back at.
What happens after you book
01
A 30-minute call
We run your real edition volume and price against the crossover on this page.
02
A straight answer
If you’re under the line we’ll say so, and tell you what to come back at.
03
Install and set up
If it fits, you install from the Shopify App Store and we help shape the first edition.
04
Your first release
We’re with you for the first one, where it either lands with readers or it doesn’t.