October 13: Proceeds from selling a book on Amazon
A breakdown of the proceeds from selling my book on Amazon.com via Kindle Direct Publishing.
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Source: Fact of the Day 1
Published: October 2021
Proceeds from selling a book on Amazon
I’ve always been curious about how much authors make from selling a book. Having self-published a book of 250 facts earlier this year, I now have insight! While it isn’t representative of all books sold, here’s a breakdown of the proceeds from selling my book on Amazon.com via Kindle Direct Publishing (a print-on-demand service).
Paperback
Sale price: $24.95
Manufacturing cost, based on page count (paid to Amazon): $7.81
Distribution fee (paid to Amazon): $9.98
Net proceeds: $7.16 (29%)
Kindle
Sale price: $9.95
Delivery cost, based on file size in Megabytes (paid to Amazon): $4.61
Distribution fee (paid to Amazon): $3.74
Net proceeds: $1.60 (16%)
Questions or comments? I’d love to answer them in the comments.
Editor’s note: This accounting excludes the one-time cost to create the book (e.g. cover art, layout) and promotion of the book (e.g. advertising).
Brilliant insight Danny - thanks for sharing. You havent mentioned volumes - but I hope its a lot as A) its a good book and B) I hope you have got the rewards for your efforts
It seems unfair that an author receives so much less for an electronic version. readers already receive a huge discount. Why is the author's margin so low for electronics books? Who decides that?