How to Sell Puzzle Books on Gumroad and Payhip in 2026

If you want to sell puzzle books on Gumroad or Payhip, the setup is the easy part. You can have a printable word search book for sale in under an hour, with checkout, file delivery and tax handled for you.

The hard part is people. These are storefronts, not search engines, so a product nobody links to sells nothing. This guide covers the fee math, the setup steps on both platforms, pay-what-you-want, bundles and tax, then spends real time on the question that decides everything: where your buyers come from.

Should you sell puzzle books on Gumroad or Payhip?

Use Gumroad if you want zero monthly cost and the simplest setup, and Payhip if you expect enough sales that its lower percentage matters. Both deliver the PDF automatically after checkout. Here is how they compare, based on Gumroad's pricing page and PassiveKit's Payhip pricing breakdown (checked September 2026).

A third option is Shopify: Basic is $39 a month ($29 billed annually) and a free Digital Downloads app delivers files. It makes sense if you are building a full store, but for one or two puzzle books the monthly fee is hard to justify.

How much do you keep per sale on Gumroad and Payhip?

On a $10 printable puzzle book you keep roughly $7.91 on Gumroad and $8.91 on Payhip's free plan. The table shows the full picture at three common prices.

Estimates, our arithmetic. Direct sales subtract the platform fee plus 2.9% + $0.30 processing. Payhip processing is assumed at the same typical card rate. Discover is shown as the 30% fee alone; check Gumroad's pricing page for how processing applies there.

When is a paid Payhip plan worth it?

Payhip Plus saves 3% of every sale compared with the free plan, so it pays for its $29 once you sell about $967 a month. Payhip Pro saves another 2% over Plus for $70 more, which takes about $3,500 a month in sales.

For most puzzle sellers starting out, that means the free plan. Upgrade when your sales history, not your hopes, crosses the line.

For comparison, a 100-page 6" × 9" paperback at $9.99 pays about $3.69 per sale on Amazon KDP. You can run your own numbers in the free KDP royalty calculator. A printable sells for less per copy than you might expect to keep on KDP, but there is no printing cost to subtract.

How do you set up a puzzle book on Gumroad?

Gumroad setup is a single product form. The steps below follow Gumroad's creator flow as of September 2026; button names can shift, but the order stays the same.

1. Create a free account and connect a payout method.
2. Create a new product and choose a digital product.
3. Name it for the buyer, for example: Large Print Word Search Book, 50 Printable Puzzles, 8.5 x 11.
4. Write the description. List the page count, puzzle types, paper size, whether answer keys are included, and that it is a PDF download, not a shipped book.
5. Upload the PDF. If you offer US Letter and A4 editions, upload both files so buyers pick the one for their printer.
6. Add a cover image and thumbnail that show real interior pages, not only the cover art.
7. Set the price, or turn on pay-what-you-want with a minimum.
8. Publish and copy the product link. That link is your storefront, so it goes everywhere you have an audience.

How do you set up a puzzle book on Payhip?

Payhip works the same way, with a store page that groups all your products. Start on the free plan.

1. Sign up and connect Stripe or PayPal for payouts.
2. Add a new digital download product.
3. Upload the PDF files, add the title, description and preview images.
4. Set the price and, if you like, a coupon for your email list.
5. Customize your store page with a banner and a short line about what you make.
6. Publish, then share the product or store link.

Does pay-what-you-want work for puzzle books?

Pay-what-you-want brings downloads, not income. In a publicly shared test, Low Content Profits reported 964 Gumroad sales that earned $101 in total, about 10 cents a sale, with the traffic coming from YouTube.

That result is still useful. Hundreds of people downloading a product means hundreds of people who might join an email list or buy a paid volume later.

• Use it for a sample. A free or pay-what-you-want 10-page sampler with a $0 minimum is a strong lead magnet.
• Use a fixed price for the real book. Keep full books at a set price so the buyer knows what the book is worth.
• Or set a floor. Pay-what-you-want with a minimum (say $5) lets fans tip above the price while protecting your baseline.

How should you bundle printable puzzle books?

Bundle volumes you already have into a set priced below buying them separately. Bundles raise the average order without extra production work, and they fit how puzzle fans buy: once they like your style, they want more of it.

A simple product ladder looks like this. The prices are examples of the structure, not advice for your market.

Both Gumroad and Payhip let you sell several files as one product, so a bundle is just a new product containing the existing PDFs.

Who handles sales tax on Gumroad and Payhip?

The platforms handle most of it. Gumroad has collected and remitted sales tax and VAT on sales since January 2025, and Payhip handles EU and UK VAT on digital products.

That removes the most painful part of selling digital goods internationally. You are still responsible for reporting your own income, so keep the monthly payout statements and ask a tax professional about your situation.

Where will buyers come from? The honest answer

From you. Amazon and Etsy have shoppers searching inside them; Gumroad and Payhip mostly do not. Gumroad's Discover marketplace can surface products, but it costs 30% a sale and should not be your plan.

So before you upload, decide how people will find the link. These are the realistic starting points for puzzle books.

Pinterest

Printables and puzzles do well on Pinterest because pins behave like search results that keep working for months. Make a pin per puzzle theme showing a real page, link it to the product, and write a description with the words people search, such as large print word search printable.

An email list

A list is the one audience you own. Offer the free sampler in exchange for an email, then send a short note when a new volume or bundle launches. Payhip's coupon feature makes a subscriber-only discount easy.

A free sample that shows quality

A sampler lets a buyer print a page and try it before paying. Include your best puzzles and one answer key page, and put a link to the full book on the last page.

Channels you already have

The pay-what-you-want example above ran on YouTube traffic. If you already have a blog, a YouTube channel, a Facebook group for puzzle fans or a local following, that is your fastest start.

None of this guarantees sales. It is simply the work that makes sales possible on a platform that will not send buyers to you.

How do you make the printable edition in the Book Studio?

A printable edition is the same kind of book you would send to KDP, set up for a home printer instead of a print shop. The Book Studio builds both from one project.

1. Open the Book Studio and start from a template or a saved book.
2. Set the trim to 8.5" × 11" so each page fills a sheet of US Letter. For UK and EU buyers, make a second edition at A4 (8.27" × 11.69").
3. Choose the puzzle types and themes. The Studio has 18 puzzle types, and large-print options if your buyers are seniors.
4. Preview every page, including the answer key, before you export.
5. Download the PDF and open it once in a PDF reader at 100% to check it prints edge to edge without clipping.

The first 10 pages and the cover are free to download, which is ideal for testing a layout or making your free sampler. Downloading the full interior needs the Publisher plan ($14.99/mo or $149/yr).

Selling the result is covered by our commercial use licence, with no royalties owed. If you add fonts or clip art, they need their own commercial licence. Single puzzles from the free word search maker and sudoku maker work too if you want to make a short themed pack.

Where do Gumroad and Payhip fit in your plan?

They work best alongside the platforms that bring their own shoppers. Many puzzle publishers use Amazon for discovery and a direct store for fans who want printables.

• See every option side by side in how to sell puzzle books everywhere.
• Selling to teachers? Read selling puzzle books on Teachers Pay Teachers.
• Want paperbacks in bookstores? Read selling puzzle books on IngramSpark alongside KDP.
• For realistic Amazon numbers, see how much KDP puzzle books make.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you sell puzzle books on Gumroad?

Yes. Gumroad sells digital downloads, so a printable puzzle book in PDF form is a good fit. Upload the PDF, set a price, and share the product link. Gumroad charges 10% + $0.50 per direct sale plus card processing, and handles sales tax.

How much does Gumroad take from a $10 sale?

On a direct $10 sale Gumroad keeps $1.50 (10% plus $0.50), and card processing of about 2.9% + $0.30 takes roughly another $0.59, so you keep about $7.91. Sales made through Gumroad's Discover marketplace carry a 30% fee instead.

Is Payhip cheaper than Gumroad?

Usually, yes, for single sales. Payhip's free plan takes 5% plus processing, so a $10 sale keeps about $8.91 compared with about $7.91 on Gumroad. Payhip's paid plans cut the fee to 2% or 0% but cost $29 or $99 a month.

Do I have to collect sales tax on printable puzzle books?

Gumroad has handled sales tax and VAT on its sales since January 2025, and Payhip handles EU and UK VAT. You still need to report your own income, so keep your payout statements and check with a tax professional.

Does pay-what-you-want work for puzzle books?

It brings downloads more than income. One published Gumroad test got 964 sales for $101 in total. Pay-what-you-want works well for a free sampler that builds an email list, while full books do better at a fixed price.

How do people find my puzzle books on Gumroad?

Mostly through links you share. Gumroad and Payhip are storefronts rather than search engines, so traffic usually comes from Pinterest pins, an email list, a free sample, or a channel you already run such as YouTube or a blog.

What paper size should a printable puzzle book be?

Use 8.5 x 11 inches (US Letter) for North American buyers and A4 (8.27 x 11.69 inches) for UK and European buyers. Offering both files in the same product lets each buyer print without scaling.