KDP: How much do authors earn? An overview

With Kindle Direct Publishing, you can offer your eBooks for sale independently. The question of how to earn money is only logical. We provide an overview of the framework.

Multiple options: The KDP system offers very different earning options.

Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) has already produced many success stories. This also applies to the earnings, which are all the more interesting for newcomers.

Kindle Direct Publishing: earning options explained simply

The earnings from Kindle eBooks are made through so-called royalties. Here, however, a distinction must be made between direct book sales and earnings through Kindle Unlimited:

• If you list a book at a fixed price, you receive either 35 or 70 percent of the net sales price. For example, if the eBook costs 3.99 euros, the price minus VAT is 3.35 euros. 70 percent of this results in 2.35 euros. The two royalty options each have special properties; the optimal decision depends
• Better sales are possible with KDP Select, because you can use promotions there. However, this also commits you to offer your work exclusively on Amazon. Further income via other platforms is therefore not possible.
• Books that you make available on Kindle Unlimited are much more difficult to calculate in terms of earnings. For this, participation in KDP Select is the prerequisite. With Kindle Unlimited, you get a percentage share, based on the ratio of Unlimited total sales and pages read of your eBooks compared to other eBooks.

The advantage of participating in Kindle Unlimited specifically concerns new and unknown authors: since your books are available for free to subscribers, you potentially reach a larger audience. This allows you to build a name for yourself while making money. Since Amazon tracks exactly how many pages of your work are read, the better the book is received, the higher the chance that it will be read in its entirety, which increases your earnings.Combined models are therefore also possible: For example, you can make your first eBook readable on Kindle Unlimited in order to first gain awareness. You could then offer further books for direct sale only. However, this cannot be said across the board; it merely shows that different approaches are possible depending on the situation.In all cases, it is thus clear: Quality has priority even in the digital era and pays off in the long run.