Amazon KDP gets most of the attention, but it isn’t the only place to sell an ebook. Draft2Digital, Google Play Books, Kobo and PublishDrive all let independent publishers reach readers too. If your ebook started life as PLR, though, the rules at these stores matter more than their royalty rates. Some reject PLR outright, and others turn down content that is freely available or duplicated elsewhere.
This comparison is based on each platform’s published content policies as of October 2026. We haven’t submitted books to test them; we are reporting what the policies say. Policies change, so read the current version before you upload anything.
One reason these rules exist is simple: the same PLR ebook is usually sold to many buyers. If dozens of people upload near-identical versions, readers see duplicate books, and stores see a quality problem. Knowing that helps explain why even platforms that never say “PLR” still end up excluding most of it.
The short version
- Draft2Digital: explicitly does not accept PLR or public domain works.
- PublishDrive: explicitly does not accept PLR books; requires exclusive publishing rights.
- Google Play Books: no PLR rule by name, but bans content easily found online for free and no longer accepts most public domain books.
- Kobo: no PLR rule by name, but may reject content widely available elsewhere, public domain content and content created wholly or partly by AI text generators.
- Amazon KDP: no PLR rule by name, but rejects copyrighted content that is freely available on the web and content that tends to disappoint customers.
Draft2Digital
Draft2Digital distributes ebooks to many retailers from one dashboard, which makes it appealing for going “wide.” Its content guidelines (last updated October 27, 2025) are the most direct of any platform here. Under mass-produced content, it says it does not accept content including Private Label Rights. It also says it does not accept public domain works or content that offers little or no value over information readers can get for free.
On AI, Draft2Digital says it supports AI-assisted content but not content generated entirely by AI, and it expects extensive human editing. It also lists poor editing, poor formatting and unprofessional images as reasons for rejection.
Who it suits
Authors with original books. If your ebook is based on PLR, even heavily edited, the policy as written rules it out, so Draft2Digital is not the place to distribute it.
PublishDrive
PublishDrive is another distributor. Its help center answers the question directly: it accepts only books you own the exclusive publishing rights to, and it says PLR publications often contain repackaged content from free online sources, which goes against its guidelines. It says it reviews books for originality and will stop publishing and restrict uploads if it finds content that is freely available, published under other names or found on PLR sites.
Who it suits
Publishers with exclusive rights to their work. Standard PLR licenses are non-exclusive by nature, since the same content is sold to many buyers, so they don’t meet this requirement.
Google Play Books
Google’s publisher content policies don’t mention PLR, but several rules hit PLR ebooks hard:
- Content that is easily found online at no charge is not allowed.
- Books containing public domain material are no longer accepted, except from select partners, because of widespread duplication.
- Google may reject duplicate copies of the same book, since multiple versions confuse users.
- Content that provides a poor user experience, or lacks the depth and curation needed for a meaningful reading experience, is prohibited.
Google also says that if it can’t confirm you are authorized to upload content in your account, it may disapprove the account, and that repeated infringement leads to termination.
Who it suits
Original books. A PLR ebook that many other buyers may also have published, or that echoes free online articles, is exposed to the duplicate and freely-available rules. Substantial rewriting reduces that risk but does not change the policy.
Kobo
The Rakuten Kobo content policy says Kobo may reject content that is in the public domain or derived from it, content widely available through other public channels or online platforms, content that is low quality or incomplete, and content that is wholly or partially created by digital text-generation algorithms. It also covers content that imitates or is confusingly similar to other works.
The AI rule is notable: as written, it reaches content “partially” created by text generators, which is stricter than Draft2Digital’s or KDP’s approach. If you used AI to rewrite a PLR ebook, Kobo’s policy may apply on two counts.
Who it suits
Original, human-written books. It is a poor fit for PLR-based or AI-rewritten titles.
Amazon KDP
KDP’s content guidelines don’t name PLR either. They say Amazon won’t accept copyrighted content that is freely available on the web unless the copyright owner submits it, and that it doesn’t allow content that is typically disappointing to customers. KDP accepts public domain content but not undifferentiated versions when a free version is already in the store. It also requires you to disclose AI-generated text, images or translations, though AI-assisted content you wrote and only refined with AI doesn’t need disclosure.
We walk through the KDP side in detail in Publishing PLR Ebooks on Amazon KDP: What to Check Before You Upload, including the license checks that come first.
Who it suits
Of the five, KDP is the only one where a heavily reworked PLR ebook isn’t ruled out by name or by a public domain ban, provided your license allows it and the result is substantially your own. Even so, a lightly edited PLR ebook that matches other listings is exactly what the “freely available” and “disappointing content” rules target.
Pros and cons of going wide with PLR-based books
- Pro: More stores could mean more readers, if your book genuinely qualifies.
- Con: Two of the five platforms reject PLR by name, and the others have rules that catch typical PLR content.
- Con: Several policies mention account-level consequences, not just a rejected book. Google may disapprove accounts, and PublishDrive says it restricts uploads.
- Con: AI rewriting, a common way to differentiate PLR, runs into Kobo’s policy and Draft2Digital’s human-editing expectation.
A better route for most PLR ebooks
For most PLR-based ebooks, selling direct on a platform like Payhip or Gumroad, or using the book as a lead magnet, avoids retailer content policies altogether while still respecting your license terms. Our Payhip vs Gumroad comparison covers fees and taxes for that route. Gumroad has its own limits on PLR resale in its Discover marketplace, so check each platform’s rules either way.
If you want a book in the big ebook stores, treat the PLR as research or an outline and write something that is truly yours. Then confirm your PLR license permits publishing a derivative work, keep your records and read the current policy of each store you plan to use.
Before you upload anywhere
- Read your PLR license and confirm it allows publishing the content, or a derivative of it, as a book in your name.
- Search a few distinctive sentences from the original PLR text online. If they turn up on other sites or in other books, a store’s “freely available” rule is likely to apply.
- Note how much of the final text you wrote, how much came from PLR and how much AI was involved, so you can answer any disclosure questions honestly.
- Check fonts, images and the cover separately. A license for the text doesn’t automatically cover them.
- Keep copies of the store policy you relied on, with the date you read it.
Sources
- Draft2Digital: Content Guidelines
- PublishDrive Help: Can I publish PLR (Private Label Rights) books?
- Google Play Books Partner Help: Publisher content policies
- Rakuten Kobo: Content Policy
- Amazon KDP: Content Guidelines
Featured image: Photo: StockSnap (CC0)