Hey Lovelies,
Gather around, I’ve got some information to share. So you’re probably wondering why this blog is labeled this way. Well, I want to leave Amazon. There! I said it! But like all things, there are upsides and downsides to leaving. Here, I’m going to focus on the downside of staying with Amazon.
So you want to indie publish? Congratulations! The first place you’ll likely look and the easiest is Amazon. But make sure to read the fine print. Amazon takes a hefty cut of every item sold on its site. Amazon has multiple options for publishing with them, but many of these are exclusive options.
If you publish an e-book on Amazon, there are two royalty options that you can choose from. The first is you only make 35% of whatever the cost of the book is. So you can make the price whatever you want, however, the maximum amount of money you will make is 35%.
The other option is you only sell your e-book with Amazon and they will give you 70% of what you sell. But there are some additional fees and other things to take note of. For starters, Amazon will charge a delivery fee for people purchasing your book. This fee is based on how large of a file your book is, so if you write a book that’s 150 thousand words or more, you’ll pay a pretty penny to get it published. Another aspect is that your book must at least be $2.99 or more. If it’s not, then you automatically have to go with the 35% option. (https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200644210)
Creating a paperback book is a little different and it also gives more freedom but fewer royalties. Amazon gives your 60% of whatever you sell when a paperback book is sold. But like e-book selling, they have additional fees. This is the royalty matrix.
(Royalty rate x list price) – printing costs = royalty
(https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201834330)
The final reason why I want to leave Amazon is the crazy idea behind only having your e-book work on its server. Amazon has notoriously blacklisted authors, especially ones of color when they find their work pirated on another site. Amazon will take the work down and not give the person their royalty fees. It’s like Amazon lives to make indie authors’ worlds harder. Amazon also has a strenuous process for getting your account reinstated and you still might not get your royalties.
XOXO Dani M. Ward