Want to Buy Danmei Ebooks? Guide for 2025
I love the beautiful physical books danmei publishers are putting out, but the truth is that I actually read most of the time on my kindle and just keep those around for eye candy. So what are your options if you want to read ebook versions of officially licensed danmei titles in English? Well, as with almost anything else in this corner of the bookverse—it depends on the publisher. Let’s do a quick rundown.
Publishers
Seven Seas: all releases so far include ebooks, released on the same day as the physical book and available through multiple outlets.
Rosmei: all titles released so far have been physical books only, but some titles are planned with ebooks as well. Check out the “Total Vol” column in the list of all Rosmei releases to see which titles will include ebooks. The first up looks to be Wine & Gun! Right now Rosmei has said, “Please stay tuned for more details regarding the eBook release.” I will update once more information is available.
Via Lactea: often releases titles early with no announcement via ebook, which are available through multiple outlets.
Hai Tang Books: currently focused only on physical books per their FAQ, but may consider ebooks in the future
Retailers
There are three outlets I have used for purchasing ebooks, roughly in my preferred order:
Kobo Ebooks: You don’t have to use a Kobo ereader to purchase books from Kobo. They come in various epub formats that will work across a variety of ereaders (including Kindle). Kobo offers the full range of Seven Seas and Via Lactea ebooks at competitive prices.
Smashwords: This is a non-ereader affiliated ebook retailer. Their books are in epub format that will work across a variety of ereaders (including Kindle). They offer the full range of Via Lactea titles, but unfortunately do not currently offer Seven Seas books.
Amazon: I have personally trying to shift as many of my purchases as possible away from Amazon lately. I don’t like the way they use their near-monopoly on ereaders and ebooks, I don’t like the politics of their founder, I don’t like the way they treat their employees. But sometimes you have to suck it up and use a retailer you don’t love for one reason or another, so here it is: Amazon offers ebooks of both Via Lactea and Seven Seas ebooks, often with very competitive pricing. If there aren’t better alternatives, Amazon is pretty reliable for this.
Did I miss any retailers you love or rely upon for ebooks? Are there any location-specific details I’ve missed? Let me know and I’ll add them!
A Quick Note on Piracy
The internet is full of piracy, and many of these books have copies of fan translations still floating through the ether of 0s and 1s. Regardless of how you find yourself a copy of a book, please monetarily support the official translations.
This is how our beloved authors make enough money to keep on writing, it’s how our talented artists can keep creating, and it’s how publishers, booksellers, and others in the industry know there’s a market for licensing and publishing these kind of stories. Without your support, we would all be reading fewer danmei with a lot more MTL.
