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Regardless of participation in KDP Select, authors who self-publish on Amazon through KDP also earn a 70 percent royalty on books priced between $2.99 and $9.99, and a 35 percent royalty on books that cost more or less than that.
(Amazon’s terms vary from publisher to publisher, but that share is usually around 60 percent.) The publisher uses that money to pay the author, cover its expenses, and contribute to its profit margins. Amazon pockets the remaining 40 percent for its own purposes.
How do authors make money on Amazon?
You can run ads every time someone does a keyword search on Amazon and also show ads for your books when visitors are looking at other books related to your book. This is one of the most cost effective ways of doing paid advertising for an inexpensive book and still make a profit doing it.
How does Amazon pay authors for Kindle Unlimited books?
This July, Amazon is changing the way it pays authors for books in Kindle Unlimited and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. In short, it’s paying the authors a royalty based on pages read, rather than paying authors a royalty each time a reader makes it through 10\% of a book. You recognize this is not how royalties usually work.
Now authors are likely to make less money each time the book’s borrowed, unless his or her readers complete a considerable chunk of the text (or even–gasp–read the whole thing). The contract puts the “Limited” in Kindle Unlimited. Authors are also required to sign over exclusive rights to each work to Amazon.
Independent bookstores vs. Amazon: Buying books online is better for authors, better for the economy, and better for you. Buying books on Amazon is better for authors, better for the economy, and better for you. Jupiterimages/Thinkstock. Amazon just did a boneheaded thing, and it deserves all the scorn you want to heap on it.
What percentage does Amazon take from your money when selling books?
Amazon pockets the remaining 40 percent for its own purposes. Here’s what happens to your money when you buy a book through Amazon but from a third-party seller: Amazon gets 15 percent of the total sales price, including shipping, plus a flat rate of $1.85 per item.