How To Price A Self Published Book On Amazon

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When you price a self-published book on Amazon, price it to show its value, not to be the cheapest. Pricing too low cost me thousands of dollars, because readers who match your book will pay for one that solves their problem. I keep my Kindle prices low to bring readers in, and I make about twice as much from my paperbacks. The rest of this post covers the pricing strategy I use. If your book is already out and you want help choosing its price, join group coaching and ask me in the private Slack group. I answer every question, usually the same day or the next. The thinking behind that is in why some readers don’t care about price.

Is price the main reason people buy a book?

No. When I started I thought it was. I figured I would charge as little as $1 a book, because price must be the first thing readers think about, and I wanted to become known. I was wrong, and it cost me thousands of dollars. My books are in libraries around the world now, but that low price was a mistake.

I studied pricing more closely, and it felt wrong until I tried it. After I changed my pricing strategy, my revenue jumped, and I went on to sell over 50,000 books. As I raised prices, sales went up rather than down.

If a book is a good match for the reader and the sales copy promises a result, price rarely stops the sale unless it is very high. A reader who needs the answer in a $30 book will buy it.

Why does price change how people see a book?

Price signals quality. A reader sees a low price and assumes a low-value book. A higher price tells them they are getting more. Many authors don’t see this.

Price is how people judge value, not only whether they can afford something. A Rolex for $50 makes you suspect a fake, while one for $10,000 looks like a Rolex. In the same way, a book at $1 sends the message that it is not worth much.

What should you charge for a Kindle book?

First, know the royalty rules. KDP’s page on ebook list price requirements says the 70% royalty option price band is $2.99 to $12.99 on Amazon.com, which took effect on 7-Jul-26 and replaced the old $2.99 to $9.99. Prices outside the band earn 35%. KDP’s ebook royalties page says the 70% option is paid on the list price without VAT, less delivery costs, which average $0.06 per unit and vary by file size, and only in the countries listed on the pricing page. Check the live pages before you set a price.

Here is what I do. Kindle books are there to bring traffic in, so I keep them low and never change them.

1. A single manuscript is $2.99, which is about a $2 royalty.
2. A bundle of two manuscripts is $3.99.
3. A bundle of three is $4.99, about $3 per sale.

My royalty figures are before the delivery fee. Readers see the cheap Kindle book, then they see the paperback, audiobook and hardback, and many buy those instead. That is why I make about twice as much from paperbacks, even though I sell more Kindle copies.

Do you need KDP Select to earn 70%? Not in most stores. KDP’s ebook royalty page says that for customers in Brazil, Japan, Mexico and India the ebook must also be enrolled in KDP Select to earn 70% (KDP eBook royalties). Each store also has its own 70% band, such as C$2.99 to C$12.99 on Amazon.ca. If you sell wide and leave KDP Select, expect 35% in those four stores, and after you save your prices, look at the box for each store, not only Amazon.com.

How do you price a paperback?

Printing cost depends on page count, so I set the price to reach a profit of about $5 per sale after printing costs. KDP’s paperback royalty page gives the formula as royalty rate times list price, minus printing costs. On Amazon.com the 60% rate applies from $9.99 and up, and 50% below it. The threshold differs by marketplace, so check each store.

Then I let the market tell me when to raise it. For each additional manuscript in the book, add $1. Once I have sold 6 copies in 90 days, I raise the price by $1. If 30 days pass with no sales, I drop it back to the base price. I repeat that every 6 copies. I have raised some books 17 to 20 times this way. At one point a few had gone up 30 times and were making me about $35 a sale, mostly around Christmas. If sales dive, I drop back to base.

I don’t know what your market values, and your book may or may not sell a million copies. The market answers, so you raise by $1 and watch.

The trap is raising the price too often. KDP says a paperback or hardcover list price update takes 72 hours to 5 business days, while an ebook takes 24 hours (KDP Timelines). In that gap, sales can happen at an old price. I have heard of authors who changed prices several times a day getting warnings and losing royalties. So change the price slowly, a dollar at a time, and wait for the new price to be live and for six sales before the next rise.

Printing alone costs $17. How do I price a long print book?

Work backwards from KDP’s printing cost, then ask whether readers will pay what that price comes to. If they will not, shorten the book, change the ink or skip the paperback.

KDP’s formula on Amazon.com is fixed cost plus page count times a per-page cost. For premium color ink on 42 pages or more, that is $1.00 plus $0.065 per page for a regular trim size. A 246-page book in premium color therefore costs $1.00 + (246 x $0.065) = $16.99 to print. Compare black ink on cream or white paper, which is $1.00 plus $0.012 per page for 110 pages and up, so the same 246 pages cost $3.95.

Then use KDP’s royalty formula: royalty rate times list price, minus printing cost. On Amazon.com the 60% rate applies from $9.99, so the color book above breaks even at $16.99 divided by 0.60, which is about $28.32. If you want the $5 profit I aim for, that is ($16.99 + $5.00) divided by 0.60, about $36.65. That is my arithmetic from KDP’s formula, so check it in KDP’s printing cost and royalty calculator before you set a price. KDP does not show an effective date on the cost page, so check the figures again when you publish. If you would rather try prices than do the sum by hand, my KDP royalty calculator shows the royalty for any list price and page count.

Another seller has the buy box or Amazon discounted my paperback. What does that mean?

Two different things can happen, and neither means you set the wrong price. Amazon can show your paperback at a different price than your list price, and a third-party seller can win the buy box.

On discounts, KDP’s price troubleshooting page says Amazon sets the retail price and any discounts at its own discretion, and that they can change. For print books it says your royalty is worked out from your list price, not the discounted price. It also says that while a book is discounted, the list price will not update on the website until the discount is removed. So if you change your list price and the page looks the same, a discount may be the reason.

On the buy box, KDP’s page on Featured Offer eligibility says the winning seller of a KDP paperback or hardcover can be a third-party seller. Only new copies can win it, and eligible sellers are professional sellers who meet Amazon’s performance requirements. When a new copy of your book is printed for a third-party seller’s order, KDP says you get royalties at the rate for your Amazon distribution option.

Neither page explains when Amazon decides to discount a book or how it picks the buy box winner, so I will not guess. If something looks wrong on your own listing, the pages above are the place to start, and KDP support can look at your specific book.

Should my price be the same on Amazon, IngramSpark and my own site?

KDP’s Digital Book Pricing terms say the price Amazon sells your ebook at may not be your list price. Amazon may sell it lower to match a third party’s price for a digital or physical edition. If your ebook is free in another store, Amazon may make it free too, and your royalty during that promotion is zero. KDP’s Price Your Book page adds that some countries have fixed book price laws. It says that means one list price for every retailer you sell through, and that meeting those laws is your job.

This part is my advice, not KDP’s. Pick one list price per format and use it in every store, so no store shows a lower price for Amazon to match. If you sell cheaper on your own site, expect Amazon may match it on the ebook. Before you run a discount, check whether a fixed price law applies where you sell.

What else affects sales besides price?

Niche and keywords. I check them in the discovery session, see how Amazon KDP search works, and then run ads against the book. Read If You Don’t Fix This Now, You’ll Hate Yourself Later and How To Find Success In Self Publishing for more on that.

My goal is that you do not leave money on the table. Try the prices above and watch your royalties.

What price do you sell your books at? Tell me in the comments.

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