Intro to Digital Sales - Selling Publications on Issuu

We believe hard-working, independent publishers deserve to be paid by the readers who love their content. Publishers also deserve better than a sales system that simply emails a PDF to paying customers. Through Digital Sales, publishers with a Premium or Optimum account can sell digital access to their content on Issuu, whether as a subscription or single issues. All you need to do is set up a Stripe account and share your for-sale content to provide your audience with a great reading experience on any device.  

General Information

• This feature requires a Premium or Optimum plan
• Readers can enjoy their purchased magazines on any device, using issuu.com or the Android or iOS mobile apps
• Super easy to set up in just 15 minutes
• Sell subscription or single issues
• Create enticing preview editions to share on social media
• Get paid quickly, directly and fairly through Stripe
• Only verified purchasers will be able to read your full magazine
• To sell and be able to receive the payment you need a Stripe account. Click here to see a list of Stripe supported countries

Case Studies - have an intimate look at the journey of three of our publishers.

Case Study - Sweet Paul

Case Study - Exit Media

Case Study - Luca Magazine

How to Put a Publication for Sale

1. First, make sure you have a Premium or Optimum publisher plan. You can sign up here.

2. You can either upload brand new publication for sale (A), or do so with already existing one (B):

A. Upload the publication, and add the basic information such as title and description. Select if you want to detect links and allow downloads.

Scroll down to "Sell" and click the PREPARE FOR SALE button. Set the price, create the preview, and when you're done click SAVE & RETURN TO DRAFT button.

Once you are ready with the draft, click on PUBLISH NOW.

B. To set up the sales for already published publications, go to your Publication List, locate the publication, and click on "SELL."

Then you will be able to set your price, create the preview and share the links for promotion.

NOTE: When putting your first publication on sale you will need to connect with Stripe to accept payments. When you connect your Stripe account, you need to claim it and activate it as soon as possible.

3. Once you have your publications set up for sale, it’s time to go share and promote your for-sale content to your fans using the links, embedding it on your site and sharing on social media. You can find the links under SELL SETTINGS.

• If you want to stop selling a publication, this can be done in "Publication List" under "SELL SETTINGS" of each for-sale publication. 

• If you want to give free access to a particular publication to some readers (print subscribers, advertisers, people featured in the magazine etc.), follow this article explaining how to create free access codes.

• Do you want to offer your readers a subscription so they can subscribe to current and upcoming issues? This article explains how to set up subscription.

Get Inspired

• See the great publications available in the Issuu Store.
• See our promotion checklist and promotion toolkit for successfully launching your publication for sale on Issuu.