What Is The Best Pricing For Paperbacks?

Book a free 25-minute call. Tell me where your book is now.

The best paperback price is one that leaves you at least $5 in royalties on every copy. Work it out from KDP’s printing cost and royalty rate, then price in the range of similar books. Pricing a paperback at the bare minimum feels safe and mostly loses you money, because a very low price also tells buyers the book is not worth much. To see what a paperback price pays after printing cost, use my KDP royalty calculator.

Why price paperbacks higher than you think?

Authors often think a lower price brings more sales, until they find they are earning almost nothing or losing money. I started charging far too little, hoping to bring in more readers. My margin was about a dollar a paperback, and my sales rose when I raised prices. A price influences how people judge quality. If you see three vacuum cleaners at three prices and have not researched them, you tend to assume the dearest is the best. Books work the same way. If you sell yours for $1 over cost, buyers wonder why it is so cheap.

The price still has to sit in the range other people charge for the same type of book. Paperbacks also earn more than ebooks for most authors I know personally: their paperback sales are at least twice their ebook earnings. The exceptions are genres where readers want privacy, such as romance, erotica and some health topics, where ebooks and audiobooks dominate.

How does KDP work out your paperback royalty?

On Amazon.com, KDP pays 60% of the list price on books priced $9.99 or more, and 50% at $9.98 or less, minus printing cost. The printing cost for a black-ink book of 110 to 828 pages on regular trim is $1.00 plus $0.012 a page. Premium color is $1.00 plus $0.065 a page for 42 or more pages. Large trims cost more. Expanded Distribution pays 40% of the list price before printing cost.

Here is the list price that gives a $5 royalty at the 60% rate on regular trim, black ink (my arithmetic from KDP’s figures):

Check KDP’s printing cost and royalty calculator before you set a price, because KDP updates its rates. For a quick first check, my KDP royalty calculator gives the print cost and royalty for your own page count, trim size and price. I set prices in US dollars and let Amazon, IngramSpark and Lulu convert them for other stores.

Is there a lowest price KDP lets me set?

Yes. KDP says it “uses a minimum list price to ensure the royalties you earn are always enough to cover the cost” of printing (KDP paperback royalties). KDP works it out from your printing cost and royalty rate, and the printing cost depends on the marketplace, page count and ink type. Don’t aim for that floor: it only means you won’t lose money, and my $5 rule sits well above it.

Why should you never earn less than $5 a paperback?

Because a lower price might bring more sales but you lose money over time. My rule is that I do not sell a paperback that pays me less than $5 in royalties. If you add color images inside the book, the printing cost rises, so the price must rise too. What matters is the money you make per sale, not the sticker price.

How does bundling raise the royalty?

I bundle books that have something in common. With four books I publish two 2-book bundles and one 4-book bundle, so four manuscripts become seven paperback products on KDP Print. For each extra book in a bundle my minimum royalty goes up by $1: $6 for two books, $7 for three, $8 for four. I have many 4-book bundles and some 8-book ones. Readers see a better deal and the bundle earns more per sale. For audiobooks I pay a narrator once and use the recording on three products.

How do you raise the price as sales come in?

For every six sales of a paperback in a month in one marketplace, I raise the list price by $1. A book at $11.99 goes to $12.99 once it sells six copies. If a month passes with no sales, I go back to the base price. My prices end in 99 because it looks calculated, and it works on me too.

Around Christmas the sales come in so fast that I keep bumping prices, and I have sometimes seen paperback income triple. Paperbacks are much easier to give as a gift than a Kindle book. Some buyers do not care about price, and I want them to be able to pay the higher one without putting off everyone else.

What price do you sell yours at, and what royalty do you make? See also setting self-publishing goals, what the best pricing for ebooks is and whether self-publishers need to learn copywriting. For formatting I use Atticus.

Want help setting prices and bundles for your own books? Book a free 25-minute discovery call.

Listen to this episode on Spotify

Free 25-minute self-publishing call with Chris Baird

Tell me where your book is now. You leave the call with a clear next step for publishing it.

Book your free call

Free, 25 minutes on Zoom, no card needed.