A direct-to-reader bookstore, built on our own platform rather than a hosted cart
This is a custom digital bookstore that pays authors 75-80% on direct sales, which only works if the storefront, the fulfilment and the royalty accounting are all parts of the same system. It runs on the custom Symfony platform rather than a third-party store product, so the catalogue, checkout, customer accounts, author payouts and delivery share one data model instead of being stitched together through webhooks.
Two further pieces shape the build. Merchandising is editorial rather than algorithmic curated collections managed by people, with no sponsored placement and no recommender in the loop, which is a deliberate architectural choice as much as a positioning one. And alongside direct sales, each title carries managed affiliate links out to Amazon, Apple Books, Google Books, Kobo, Booktopia, Libro.fm and Fishpond, so the store can serve readers who want to buy elsewhere without losing attribution. Payments run through card and PayPal, and author-reader contact sharing is gated by a consent flag the reader controls from their own dashboard.
