How to publish on Google Play Books: Partner Center from upload to payout

Google Play Books is Google's ebook store, and its self-publishing door is the Partner Center: one account in the Google Books Partner Program, one upload, and your book sells on Google Play in the countries you enable. Every claim below comes from Google's own help pages, fetched and read for this guide; where a number is not on one of those pages, it does not appear here. The rest of a wide launch is covered store by store: how to publish on Amazon KDP, how to publish on Kobo Writing Life, how to publish on Barnes & Noble Press, how to publish on Apple Books, or many stores at once through how to use Draft2Digital.

What the Google Play Books Partner Center is

Google's own summary of the route: "Join the Google Books Partner Program to submit books", then "Manage your books and sales settings in the Google Play Books Partner Center." Cost is stated flatly: "There is no cost for you to sell books on Google Play." Exclusivity is not asked: "We don't ask for exclusive rights to sell digital editions. You can sell your books on Google Play and through other retailers." The store's reach, in their words: "Your books are sold on Google Play, a digital content experience available internationally on multiple platforms."

How to publish an ebook on Google Play Books

The upload itself is two formats wide: "We accept files in either .pdf or .epub format." The settings around it: "Choose the countries where you want to sell, choose whether to apply Digital Rights Management (DRM), and provide list prices." One requirement is easy to miss: "To sell an ebook on Google Play, a preview of the book must be available on Google Books." The preview is partial by design: "A limited percentage of your book will be available for preview on Google Books."

Where readers arrive from: "Readers can find your books by browsing the Google Play store, or by following a link from the book's preview on Google Books." After purchase they read in the browser or the Play Books app, and "Readers can also transfer the book to supported eReaders." Audiobooks are a gated format: "only select partners can sell audiobooks on Google Play."

Google's revenue share: 70% of list price in most countries

The headline rate: "Google Play Books offers a 70% revenue split on ebook sales in most Google Play Books supported countries", which the same page quantifies: "You'll earn 70% of the list price on ebooks sold to customers in 60+ Google Play Books supported countries." The basis matters as much as the number: "Google pays revenue split on the list price", not on a discounted or net figure. Accepting the current terms switches the rate on: "The 70% revenue split starts within 2 days from when you accept the terms."

The fallback is stated without decoration: "The default revenue split is 52% for partners who have not accepted our updated TOS and for ebook sales in certain countries." The page's own list of countries that keep the current split includes Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and the Philippines. Two clarifications close the arithmetic: "No. Google doesn't charge fees related to this 70% revenue split", and the split does not move with your price, because "Does the price of my book affect my revenue split? No."

One structural fact separates Google from the other stores in this series: "Google has the discretion to set prices." It can discount; when it does, "we'll share the revenue from any sales with you according to the list price that you provide", so your percentage survives their promotions.

Pricing in multiple countries

The allowed band is wide: "Prices must be between (currency converted): $.05 USD - $200 USD." One price can cover the planet: "The default value WORLD will apply this price to all possible countries or regions." Currency conversion is the default machinery: "Accounts created after July 2014 have currency conversion turned on by default", and with it on, "your international list prices automatically adjust by a maximum of 5% to a more visually appealing price like $4.99 or $7.00." Publishers who use currency conversion are opted into that rounding by default and can opt out, per book or per account, from the Payment Center. A manual price overrides the machinery: "If you manually set a country-specific price, that price remains the same."

Sales territories and getting paid

Territories tie countries to bank accounts: "Sales territories indicate the countries where your books can be sold, as well as which payment profile should be used to collect revenue from sales". The default is worldwide: "A single sales territory with WORLD specified as the region, which will include all countries." The rights discipline is the author's job: "You should exclude any countries where you don't have the rights to sell books." Splitting territories is how you separate fixed-price-law countries from the rest, or route two regions' revenue to two bank accounts.

Payments run monthly: "If your bank account is verified and you have a minimum balance, Google will initiate a payment on the 15th day of each month", covering the previous calendar month's sales, refunds and chargebacks, and "Google doesn't make payments on weekends or on bank holidays." The minimums depend on the rail: "Payments made through wire transfer require a balance of at least $100 USD", while "For payments made in US dollars, the minimum amount is $1.00 USD." To be paid at all you need "a local business address and local bank account in at least one of the countries supported for payment", and selling in the US or in US dollars requires tax information on file.

Promotions and discovery: the tools the Partner Center gives you

Four promotion types are described on the promotions page. Promotional pricing: "Temporarily lower a list price for your readers." Promo codes: "Offer select users a discounted book without lowering the book's list price." Bundle discounts: "Offer discounts when readers buy several books in a series." Series subscriptions: "Offer users a discounted price on new titles when they subscribe to your series", with a percentage discount on new releases as the example. The bundle and subscription tools make Google unusually friendly to series writers; the craft side of that is how to write a series. The page also notes country requirements for creating promotions, so check availability where your readers live.

Discovery runs through the preview. The Google Books preview of your book is a free storefront page, and promoting through it costs nothing: "Publishers and authors can promote their books through the Preview Program at no charge."

Who should publish on Google Play Books

The author it fits writes for readers Google already holds: "a digital content experience available internationally on multiple platforms", with the preview program feeding the store. The pricing model fits low-price and free-first strategies: 70% of list at any price in the supported band, with no threshold tiers to price around (the contrast is the royalty structure in how to publish on Amazon KDP and the thresholds in how to publish on Kobo Writing Life). The series tools fit series writers: bundles and subscriptions are built in. It does not fit a print plan; no print program appears on the pages fetched for this guide, and print belongs to IngramSpark and the other print guides. The route decision as a whole is publishing paths. Compressed: join the Partner Program, accept the current terms so the 70% split applies, upload EPUB, let the preview exist, set one USD price and let currency conversion carry it worldwide, fix manual prices only where a market needs it, and use the promotions tab for every sale.