How Much Does Self-Publishing On KDP Cost?

How Much Does Self-Publishing On KDP Cost?

Listing your book on amazon is free. Amazon does not charge you any upfront fees to list or upload your book. There may be outside costs but these are usually optional and based on the individual’s needs. Amazon does charge fees that we will list in this article but the fee is deducted from the final listing price of the book.

Amazon KDP uses the “print on demand” method so there is no need for them or you to house any inventory. This is also great because you don’t need to worry about having copies that don’t sell.

---

Affiliate Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission.

---

Other Costs

The real cost is your time and effort on creating and/or writing your book (unless you are paying other people to create your book).

Other outside costs could include advertising fees or the software (programs) that you use to create the book. This includes paid software like Canva Pro, Adobe, Grammarly, Jasper (Formally Jarvis AI), etc.

Of course, if you pay for any extra services like, paying someone else to write, create a cover, or even professionally edit, these things will all add up too.

It is important to note that there are many FREE programs that can be utilized when creating a book but that decision is up to you.

---

Editing

Grammarly and Jasper will help with editing and proof-reading your copy or you can hire a person 

“You can get proofreading done for about $0.01 per word, depending upon the length of your manuscript. Copyediting will cost you between $0.02-0.04 per word. While developmental editing can cost $0.08 or more per word.”

Source: https://selfpublishedwhiz.com/amazon-kdp-self-publishing-all-costs-fees-explained/#book-editing-and-proofreading

---

Design

Creating a cover does not have to be expensive there are tools like Canva Free or Paid version that can help you with this task. Hiring someone does not have to be expensive either as you can hire someone from Fiverr for as low as $10.00. More than likely you will spend more depending on how intricate and complicated the design.

---

Fees, Printing Costs, And Royalty          

The fees are all calculated and included at the end of the form you fill out when you upload your book to KDP. So again, there are no upfront fees, however, the printing and shipping costs are calculated and taken from the final price. This process allows you to make the best decision regarding the final cost of the book. You choose the price point.

Amazon’s KDP Formula For Printing Costs

Fixed cost + (page count * per page cost) = printing cost

Amazon’s KDP Formula For How They Calculate The Final Price (or in other words your royalty/profit margin)

60% x list price – printings costs = Royalty.

Example Of The Form

Delivery Costs

There are no delivery costs if you take the 35%Royalty. 

With the 70% Royalty (See Image Below) 

Source: Amazon’sDigital Pricing Page

---

Advertising/Marketing

Advertising and marketing are totally up to you. You can market your books on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, On You Own Blog, for free.

AND/OR

You can advertise on Amazon. This can cost as little as 5 cents per click. However Amazon uses a bidding process so this can cost you more if you are trying to get more of a return on your bids

See Amazon’s Bidding Page.

---

Conclusion

Make sure you are familiar with all the potential fees before you create your book as they are important to choosing the final listing price of the book. Outside of Amazon itself there are many ways you could spend money while creating your books but it is possible to do things finacially free but you will put in the time and effort yourself.

Did you like this article? Then help us out by sharing with your audience on Pinterest!

#Does it cost anything to self-publish on Amazon?

#How much does it cost to self-publish on Amazon?

#Does it cost money to publish content on the KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) on Amazon?

---

---

---