What you need before you start
Draft2Digital is an aggregator, so the account work is lighter than a retailer's, but the fee structure is something to decide on before you upload.
A Draft2Digital account
Register at draft2digital.com. As of 2026 there is a $20 USD activation fee for new accounts, charged once and non-refundable.
A view on the annual fee
Accounts that earn less than one hundred dollars a year are charged a $12 USD annual maintenance fee. If you plan to publish one short book and leave it, factor that in.
Tax and payment details
Add your payment method and tax details in the account settings. D2D pays by PayPal or cheque, with payment processing fees of up to 2.5% on PayPal and $2.50 to $4.00 on cheques.
An ISBN decision
D2D will assign an ISBN to any book published through their system free of charge, or you can supply your own. The choice cannot be changed once an ISBN is set on the book, so decide first. A D2D-provided ISBN cannot be used on another platform.
A store list
Decide which retailers you want D2D to distribute to, and which you would rather handle yourself. Many authors publish directly on Amazon, Kobo and Apple and use D2D only for the stores they do not want individual accounts with.
Which AIWriteBook files go where
D2D is unusual in accepting a word processor file and building the ebook for you, which is useful if your EPUB needs their front matter and back matter features.
EPUB
Upload this if you want your own formatting preserved exactly. D2D accepts an existing EPUB for distribution.
DOCX
The alternative upload. D2D accepts Word documents as well as RTF, ODT and TXT, and converts them into the ebook, adding its own title page, table of contents and end matter.
eBook cover JPG
The cover, uploaded separately. D2D can also generate a print cover from this front cover image when you set up D2D Print.
Print PDF
Used in D2D Print when you choose to upload your own print interior rather than having D2D lay out the print edition from the ebook file.
Wrap cover PDF
Used in D2D Print if you want your own wraparound cover instead of the auto-generated one. It must align with D2D's blank template for your trim size and page count.
Exact file, fee and metadata specs
These are the numbers that decide whether Draft2Digital is the right route for a given book.
| Accepted uploads | Word documents (.doc, .docx), plus RTF, ODT and TXT, and existing EPUB files for distribution. |
|---|---|
| Activation fee | $20 USD for new accounts, charged once and non-refundable. |
| Annual fee | $12 USD per year for accounts that earn less than one hundred dollars a year. |
| Commission | Approximately 10% of the retail price per sale, taken by D2D. The retailer takes its own cut separately from that. |
| ISBN | D2D assigns an ISBN free of charge to any book published through their system, or you can supply your own. A D2D-assigned ISBN cannot be used elsewhere, and the decision is locked once set. |
| Distribution partners | More than a dozen, including Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, the Smashwords Store, Bookshop.org, and library systems such as OverDrive and Hoopla. Amazon distribution through D2D is invite-only. |
| Time to sale, ebooks | Some stores list a book within a few hours, others take a few days. |
| Time to sale, print | Print books typically take somewhere in the neighbourhood of two weeks. |
| D2D Print network | Print titles are distributed through the Lightning Source network, which reaches Amazon, Barnes & Noble, bricks-and-mortar bookshops and libraries served by Ingram. |
| Payment | Monthly, on or around the 15th, with minimum thresholds ranging from $10 to $100 depending on the payment method. |
The upload walkthrough, screen by screen
D2D's flow is a single guided sequence for the ebook, with D2D Print as a separate pass from the same book record.
- 1
Create the account and pay activation
Register at draft2digital.com and complete the $20 activation. Then add your payment method and tax details in the account settings before you publish anything.
Click: Sign Up, then Account > Payment & Tax.
- 2
Start a new book and upload the manuscript
Choose to add a new book and upload your file: an EPUB to keep your own formatting, or a DOCX, RTF, ODT or TXT for D2D to convert.
Click: Publish > Add New Book > upload manuscript file.
- 3
Check the auto-detected structure
If you uploaded a word processor file, D2D detects your chapter headings and builds a table of contents. Review the detected chapters and correct any that were missed before moving on.
Review: detected chapters and table of contents.
- 4
Configure front matter and end matter
D2D can add a title page, a copyright page, an 'also by this author' list and a teaser for your next book. These are genuinely useful and are one of the main reasons authors upload a DOCX rather than a finished EPUB.
Fields: Title page, Copyright page, Also By, End matter teaser.
- 5
Enter the book metadata
Fill title, subtitle, series and number, author and contributors, the description, categories, keywords, language and publication date.
Fields: Title, Subtitle, Series, Contributors, Description, Categories, Keywords, Language.
- 6
Set the ISBN
Take the free D2D-assigned ISBN or enter your own. This decision cannot be changed once the ISBN is set on the book, so be deliberate about it.
Choose: Assign a free D2D ISBN, or Use my own ISBN.
- 7
Upload the cover
Upload the cover image. Preview the generated ebook and read through the front matter, a chapter break and the end matter before you approve it.
Click: Upload cover, then Preview.
- 8
Choose stores and set prices
Select which of D2D's partners should receive the book, then set your retail price. D2D shows the projected earnings per store as you set the price.
Fields: Sales channels, Retail price per currency.
- 9
Publish the ebook
Confirm and publish. Some stores list the book within hours; others take a few days, and the book's status per store is shown on the dashboard.
Click: Publish.
- 10
Set up D2D Print
From the same book, open the print setup. Choose to use the ebook file or to upload your own print interior, choose an auto-generated cover from your front cover image or upload a wraparound PDF matching D2D's template, set the print price, then view the proof from the Print Details page before approving.
Click: Print > Use eBook File or Upload my own print interior > set price > review proof.
Fees, commission and payment
Draft2Digital's economics are the trade-off at the heart of using an aggregator: you pay a slice of every sale to avoid maintaining a dozen accounts.
| Commission | Roughly 10% of your book's retail price per sale. On a $4.99 ebook that is about $0.50, taken before or after the retailer's own cut depending on the store. |
|---|---|
| Activation fee | $20 USD once, for a new account, non-refundable. |
| Annual maintenance | $12 USD per year on accounts earning less than one hundred dollars a year. Accounts above that threshold are not charged it. |
| Payment schedule | Payments go out once a month, on or around the 15th. |
| Payment thresholds | Minimums range from $10 to $100 depending on the payment method you choose. |
| Payment processing | PayPal carries a processing fee of up to 2.5%, and cheques cost $2.50 to $4.00. |
| Compared to going direct | Publishing directly to Kobo, Apple and Google costs nothing but three accounts. D2D's 10% buys you one dashboard, one set of metadata, plus access to library systems and smaller stores you could not easily reach alone. |
Proofing and common problems
D2D does not have a strict review queue, so the failures show up as a conversion that looks wrong or a store that never lists the book.
Chapters not detected in a DOCX
If your headings are manually styled rather than using real heading styles, D2D will not find them and the table of contents comes out empty. Fix the styles in the source file and re-upload, or upload an EPUB instead.
Auto-generated print cover looks wrong
The auto-generated cover extends your front cover image across the spine and back. If your cover art does not tile well, upload a proper wraparound PDF built on D2D's blank template for your trim size and page count.
ISBN locked to the wrong choice
The ISBN decision cannot be changed once it is set. If you took a free D2D ISBN and later want your own on the record, that is a new edition rather than an edit.
Amazon not in the store list
Amazon distribution through D2D is invite-only. Most authors publish to Amazon directly through KDP and use D2D for everything else.
Store status stuck
Each retailer processes on its own schedule, and the per-store status on the dashboard is the real source of truth. Hours for some stores, days for others, and around two weeks for print is normal rather than broken.
Double-listed book
Publishing the same book both directly and through D2D to the same store creates two listings competing with each other. Pick one route per store.
Annual fee surprise
A dormant account earning under a hundred dollars a year is charged $12. If you publish one book and stop, this is the cost you did not plan for.
After the book is distributed
The aggregator's real value shows up after publication, in the tools that come with the account.
Create a Universal Book Link
Books2Read, D2D's sister site, turns one link into a page that sends each reader to the store they already use. It is the link to put in your newsletter, your social profiles and your book's back matter.
Use the end matter to sell the next book
D2D's end matter can carry an 'also by' list and a teaser. Update it when you publish the next title and every existing book starts selling it.
Update in place
Corrections are uploaded to the same book record and pushed back out to the stores. Never create a second record for a fixed file.
Watch the per-store reports
D2D consolidates sales from every partner into one report. Look for the stores that are actually earning, because that is the information that tells you where to go direct.
Reconsider going direct as you grow
At low volume, 10% is a fair price for one dashboard. At high volume in a specific store, publishing to that store directly keeps the 10% and usually unlocks that store's own promotional tools.
Questions people actually ask
Is Draft2Digital still free in 2026?+
No. There is a $20 USD one-time activation fee for new accounts, and a $12 USD annual fee for accounts that earn less than one hundred dollars a year. The commission on sales is separate, at roughly 10%.
What does Draft2Digital take from each sale?+
Approximately 10% of the retail price. The retailer takes its own cut separately, so the 10% is D2D's fee for handling distribution, not the whole difference between list price and payout.
Do I get a free ISBN?+
Yes. D2D assigns an ISBN free of charge to any book published through their system, or you can supply your own. A D2D-assigned ISBN cannot be used on another platform, and the choice is locked once set.
Can I publish to Amazon through Draft2Digital?+
Amazon distribution through D2D is invite-only. Most authors publish to Amazon directly through KDP and use D2D for the other stores and library systems.
What is D2D Print?+
Draft2Digital's print-on-demand service. It can build the print interior from your ebook file or take your own print PDF, generate a cover from your front cover image or take a wraparound PDF, and distributes through the Lightning Source network to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, bookshops and libraries.
When do I get paid?+
Once a month, on or around the 15th, with minimum thresholds from $10 to $100 depending on payment method.
The bottom line
Draft2Digital buys you one upload instead of six, plus library distribution and a print edition, for roughly 10% of each sale and a small account fee. For an author with several books and no appetite for six dashboards, that is a reasonable trade.
For a single book, go in with the fees understood, and consider publishing directly on the stores you care most about while using D2D for the rest. Either way, the EPUB, cover, print PDF and wraparound cover from AIWriteBook's Export and Format steps cover everything D2D asks for.
Complete guides for every other store
Seven platforms, seven walkthroughs. Each one covers the files, the form fields, the royalties and the rejections for that store.
Write the book, then distribute it everywhere at once
AIWriteBook drafts your book chapter by chapter, designs the cover, and exports the EPUB, DOCX, print PDF and wraparound cover Draft2Digital and D2D Print accept.
No credit card required. First chapter on the house.