Yes, you can sell digital eBooks on the same Shopify store that runs BooksCloud for print books. The two product types coexist cleanly in Shopify. The technical setup requires a separate app for digital delivery, and there are some rights considerations worth understanding before you dive in. Here is how it works.
What BooksCloud Does and Does Not Handle
BooksCloud is a print book dropshipping app. It sources, fulfills, and ships physical books. It does not sell, license, or deliver digital eBook files in any form. If you want to offer eBooks, that is entirely separate from your BooksCloud setup and requires its own workflow.
How to Sell eBooks on Shopify: The Technical Setup
Shopify does not natively deliver digital files after purchase - you need a digital downloads app to handle the file delivery automatically. The most common option is Shopify's own Digital Downloads app, available free in the Shopify App Store.
Here is the basic process:
- Install Shopify Digital Downloads (or a third-party equivalent like Sky Pilot or SendOwl)
- Create a new product in your Shopify admin for each eBook title
- Attach the digital file (typically a PDF or ePub) to that product inside the Digital Downloads app
- When a customer purchases the eBook, the app automatically emails them a download link
The product looks like any other Shopify listing from the customer's perspective. At checkout they pay, then receive a download link. Nothing ships, no BooksCloud interaction occurs.
H3: Important Rights and Licensing Considerations
The legal side of selling eBooks is the piece most merchants overlook. You need to have the right to sell any eBook you list.
Public domain titles. Works where copyright has expired - many classic novels, historical texts, and pre-20th century literature - are in the public domain. You can legally sell formatted versions of these titles as digital downloads. Many sellers build eBook stores around public domain classics, formatted nicely into clean PDFs or ePubs.
Licensed titles. If you want to sell eBook versions of contemporary books, you need a direct licensing agreement with the publisher or author granting you distribution rights. Simply purchasing an eBook you own personally does not give you the right to resell it.
Author-direct arrangements. Some independent authors sell their eBooks directly and may be open to having third-party retailers list them. If you have an audience that aligns with a niche genre, reaching out to indie authors can be a legitimate path to building an eBook catalog.
How to Present Both Formats to Shoppers
The cleanest user experience groups physical and digital formats logically. You have a few options:
Separate collections. Create a "Print Books" collection (BooksCloud-powered) and an "eBooks" collection (digital downloads). Link both prominently in your navigation so customers can browse by format preference.
Product variants. For titles you stock in both formats, Shopify allows you to create variants (Print / eBook) on a single product listing. This keeps your catalog tidy and lets customers compare formats side by side.
Clear format labels. Whatever structure you choose, make sure every product is clearly labeled as Print or Digital. A customer expecting a physical book who receives only a download link will be confused and may dispute the charge.
The Opportunity
Combining print and digital gives your store a broader product range and serves different customer preferences. Readers who want instant delivery buy the eBook. Readers who love holding a physical copy order the print version. For niche stores - cookbooks, poetry collections, children's books - the format choice alone can influence purchase decisions.
BooksCloud handles the print side seamlessly. A properly configured digital downloads app handles the eBook side with zero ongoing effort. Together they give you a genuinely complete book store.