SelfPub Go vs Book Report
Two different jobs. Book Report collects what your books earned across more retailers than anything else we looked at. SelfPub Go puts what your Amazon Ads cost next to what your books earned, per book. Below is where the line falls — with a link to Book Report’s own page next to every claim we make about it.
Facts checked 21 August 2026. Documentation changes; if something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
What Book Report is good at.
Retailer coverage, and it is not close. Book Report imports from KDP and ten wide distributors, plus direct sales through BookFunnel — the broadest retailer coverage of any indie-author sales dashboard we found.
It is also unusually generous at the small end. As of August 2026, Book Report is free with full features for authors tracking under $1,000 a month, and its paid tiers run from $19 to $249 a month, priced by the earnings you track.
So if your income is spread across Kobo, Apple Books, ACX, Findaway Voices and IngramSpark, and the question you need answered is what did I earn last month, everywhere, Book Report answers it. We are not going to pretend otherwise: SelfPub Go does not import from those retailers at all.
SourceBook Report docs — Connecting wide accountsBook Report docs — Pricingchecked 21 August 2026
Where it stops.
Book Report is built around royalties, and the advertising side of it is a reporting view. Everything below is documented on its own site — quoted where the wording matters, and never stated more strongly than the source states it.
The Amazon Ads integration reports; managing campaigns is not described
Book Report's Amazon Ads integration is reporting only. Its own documentation describes importing, reconciling and displaying ad data; the Report Features index lists eleven feature pages, and none of them covers creating or editing campaigns, bids, budgets, keywords or negative keywords.
SourceBook Report docs — Amazon AdsBook Report docs — Report Features indexchecked 21 August 2026
Sponsored Products, and the last 90 days
Book Report states: “Data for Sponsored Products ads within the last 90 days will be imported, and kept up-to-date.” Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display are not mentioned in its documentation.
SourceBook Report docs — Amazon Adschecked 21 August 2026
Ad-attributed earnings are modeled, and it says so
Book Report calculates ad-attributed earnings by assumption, not measurement. In its own words: “We calculate attributed earnings by assuming that an ad-attributed unit contributes the same amount of earnings as an organic unit during the period in question,” and “We assume each attributed unit occurred as early as possible within its 14-day window.”
SourceBook Report docs — Amazon Adschecked 21 August 2026
It imports when you open it
Book Report imports data when you open it: “Every time you open Book Report, it will attempt to import the latest data from Kindle Direct Publishing and any connected accounts.” Importing requires the browser extension running and an active KDP login. When the extension is not running it falls back to stored cookies — a path it calls less reliable itself: “Because cookies can expire or be invalidated, this process is less reliable than using the browser extension.”
SourceBook Report docs — Importing your dataBook Report docs — How it workschecked 21 August 2026
Five retailers land once the month is over
In Book Report, five connected retailers are updated only after the month completes: Kobo Writing Life, Apple Books, ACX, Findaway Voices and IngramSpark. For a wide catalog that is a month-shaped gap between selling something and seeing it.
SourceBook Report docs — How precise is the datachecked 21 August 2026
It runs in the browser, and your session cookies go to its server
Book Report runs in the browser and needs an extension. Its documentation states: “Book Report works best in Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Opera. Other browsers (like Safari) can be used to browse your data, but do not support importing new data.” The extension sends a copy of your session cookies to its servers — its own words: “When you run Book Report's browser extension, it sends a copy of your cookies to our server.” Copies of sales, royalties, pages read, refunds, book metadata and rankings are stored there too.
SourceBook Report docs — Importing your dataBook Report docs — How it worksBook Report — Privacy policychecked 21 August 2026
What SelfPub Go does differently.
Not more features — a different question. Book Report answers “what did I earn?” SelfPub Go answers “what did I earn, and what did it cost me?”
Ad spend and royalties in the same row
Royalty in, ad spend out, refunds deducted, KENP page reads counted — one line per book, per day. ACOS is measured against what a sale actually pays you instead of the cover price, so profit per book is a number on the screen rather than a calculation you do at midnight.
The ads side is a control surface, not a report
Sponsored Products, Brands and Display in one table, with bulk bid edits and search-term reports parsed for the terms quietly eating your budget. The rules engine proposes changes and every one of them waits for you to approve it — nothing executes on its own.
Royalty reports stay on your computer
SelfPub Go is a desktop app for macOS and Windows. Royalty reports are parsed and stored locally and never uploaded to us. Advertising data comes from Amazon's official Advertising API through our servers, because that is the only way that API works — those are campaign metrics, not your earnings.
Ads data in real time
Amazon's own reporting shows you yesterday. SelfPub Go reads your advertising data as the day happens, so a campaign that starts losing money is visible while you can still do something about it.
SelfPub Go vs Book Report, row by row.
The Book Report column is what its own documentation said on 21 August 2026. Where its documentation is silent, this table says so rather than guessing.
| Book Report | SelfPub Go | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A dashboard in your browser that needs an extension: “Book Report works best in Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Opera. Other browsers (like Safari) can be used to browse your data, but do not support importing new data.” | A desktop app for macOS and Windows. |
| Retailers covered | KDP and ten wide distributors, plus direct sales through BookFunnel — the broadest retailer coverage of any indie-author sales dashboard we found. | Amazon only: your KDP royalty reports and your Amazon Ads account. |
| Amazon Ads data | “Data for Sponsored Products ads within the last 90 days will be imported, and kept up-to-date.” Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display are not mentioned in its documentation. | Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display, in one table. |
| Campaign management | Not described in its documentation as of 21 August 2026: the Report Features index lists eleven pages, none covering campaigns, bids, budgets, keywords or negative keywords. | Bulk bid edits, search-term reports and negative keywords. Suggested changes wait for your approval. |
| How ad earnings are worked out | By assumption, stated openly: “We calculate attributed earnings by assuming that an ad-attributed unit contributes the same amount of earnings as an organic unit during the period in question.” | Spend from Amazon's Advertising API joined to the royalty in your own KDP export, per book and per day. |
| When the numbers refresh | On open: “Every time you open Book Report, it will attempt to import the latest data from Kindle Direct Publishing and any connected accounts.” Five retailers — Kobo, Apple Books, ACX, Findaway Voices, IngramSpark — update only after the month completes. | Ads data in real time. Royalties on each report import, and the app can watch your Downloads folder so the next export imports itself. |
| Where your data sits | On its servers: “When you run Book Report's browser extension, it sends a copy of your cookies to our server.” Copies of sales, royalties, pages read, refunds, book metadata and rankings are stored there too. | Royalty reports are parsed and stored on your computer and never uploaded to us. Advertising data passes through our servers, because that is the only way Amazon's API works. |
| What it costs | As of August 2026: free with full features for authors tracking under $1,000 a month; paid tiers from $19 to $249 a month, priced by the earnings you track. | Nothing to buy. SelfPub Go is in closed early access and there is no checkout. |
Book Report figures and quotations come from the pages listed at the bottom of this page, checked 21 August 2026. Prices move — check theirs before you decide.
Which one should you use?
For a decent number of authors the answer is Book Report, and saying so costs us nothing we were ever going to get.
Use Book Report if…
- You publish wide and a real share of your income arrives from Kobo, Apple Books, ACX, Findaway Voices or IngramSpark.
- You are not spending on Amazon Ads, or you spend little enough that managing campaigns is not the problem.
- You want a dashboard in a browser with nothing to install on a machine you own.
- You track under $1,000 a month and their free tier covers you (as of August 2026).
Use SelfPub Go if…
- Most of your income comes from Amazon, in royalties and KENP page reads.
- You spend real money on Sponsored Products every month and adjust bids by hand.
- The question you cannot answer is profit per book, not units per book.
- You would rather your royalty files never left your own computer.
Use both if…
- Your catalog is wide but your advertising is Amazon-only — a common shape.
- Book Report gives you the everywhere-total; SelfPub Go gives you the Amazon P&L and the campaigns behind it.
- They read the same KDP data from different angles, and nothing about one stops the other from working.
Questions we get asked about Book Report.
Does Book Report manage Amazon Ads campaigns?
Not according to its own documentation, checked on 21 August 2026. The Amazon Ads page describes importing, reconciling and displaying ad data, and the Report Features index lists eleven feature pages, none of which covers creating or editing campaigns, bids, budgets, keywords or negative keywords. If that changes, this page is wrong and we will fix it — tell us and we will.
Can SelfPub Go replace Book Report?
Only if Amazon is where your money is. Book Report imports from KDP and ten wide distributors plus direct sales through BookFunnel; SelfPub Go reads your KDP royalty reports and your Amazon Ads account, and nothing else. If Kobo, Apple Books, ACX, Findaway Voices or IngramSpark matter to your monthly total, SelfPub Go will not show them to you.
Why is SelfPub Go a desktop app when Book Report runs in the browser?
Because of where the royalty data ends up. Book Report's extension, in its own words, “sends a copy of your cookies to our server”, and copies of your sales and royalty data are stored there. We made a different call for SelfPub Go: royalty reports are parsed on your computer and stay there. Both are legitimate engineering choices with different tradeoffs — theirs works from any machine you log into, ours means the reports never leave yours.
Is SelfPub Go's ad attribution more accurate than Book Report's?
We are not going to claim that, because we have not measured the two against each other. Book Report is transparent that its attributed earnings are modeled: “We calculate attributed earnings by assuming that an ad-attributed unit contributes the same amount of earnings as an organic unit during the period in question.” SelfPub Go takes a different route — spend from Amazon's Advertising API joined to the royalty in your own KDP export, per book and per day — and any figure that depends on Amazon's own attribution carries Amazon's assumptions with it. Different method, honestly described, is all we will say until there is a number behind it.
Facts checked August 2026
Every statement about Book Report on this page comes from Book Report’s own website, quoted or closely paraphrased, and links to the page it came from. All of it was read on 21 August 2026. Where their documentation says nothing about a feature, this page says that instead of concluding the feature is missing.
- Book Report docs — Amazon Ads
- Book Report docs — Report Features index
- Book Report docs — Importing your data
- Book Report docs — How it works
- Book Report docs — How precise is the data
- Book Report docs — Connecting wide accounts
- Book Report docs — Pricing
- Book Report — Privacy policy
Book Report is operated by Chapter 14 Publishing Inc. and is not affiliated with SelfPub Go. Product names and quotations belong to their owners and are used here for identification and comparison.