Overnight, Amazon KDP announced that it’s finally increasing its printing costs to better reflect current printing costs, but how does this affect you as an author?
If you’re an author with books listed in Amazon KDP, you will have probably received an email or logged into your author dashboard to see a notice about upcoming price increases.
On June 20, 2023, Amazon KDP will roll out a new pricing structure for all printed books.
While it sounds terrifying, don’t panic just yet.
I quickly compared some of my books (you can see this by logging into your Bookshelf on Amazon KDP and going to a specific book’s pricing) to see how much the new changes would personally affect me.
My children’s chapter book, Hockey Wars, about 120 pages, has a black and white interior and a 5.5 x 8.5 trim size, increasing printing costs by about 0.20 cents per book. Likewise, my children’s book, The Day My Fart Followed Me Home, is approximately 30 pages, has full-color illustrations, and an 8.5 x 8.5 trim size will increase by about 0.50 cents per book.
Let’s take a quick look at the print cost changes and how they might impact your book royalties and bottom line.
Upcoming Amazon KDP Print Cost Changes
- Paperback and hardcover books will see an increase in the fixed costs to cover the increased materials, labor, and supplies incurred by Amazon KDP.
- A new fixed and per-page cost for paperbacks and hardcover books with a larger than standard (6 x 9) trim size will be introduced.
- They also announced that they would be decreasing the cost for some color-ink books ordered through specific Amazon marketplaces, but there’s not a lot of detail on that yet.
If you want to see a full breakdown of the new costs, check out this cost table link that Amazon KDP has put together.
How Will This Affect You?
This change will affect all authors that publish books on Amazon KDP, but how much will depend on how close your margins are and what types of books you publish.
You have two options:
- Absorb the increase in printing costs and take a reduced royalty.
- Increase the price of your book to offset the new printing costs and keep your royalties the same as before the new changes come into effect.
KDP has put together a FAQ page with all the information you will need to know about the changes coming into effect, and you can see that here.
On your Amazon KDP Bookshelf page, you’ll also notice that they have given you the option of a bulk change which will allow you to adjust all your books in one go and save you having to go through each of your books one by one.
If you want to learn more about the new costs, you can also check out the Printing Costs and Royalty Calculator here. It’s also a great way to check out how much it will cost you to print any future books you’re working on.
Amazon KDP Set to Increase Printing Costs – Conclusion
Regardless of this increase in printing costs, staying current with your printing costs and royalties is essential. If you don’t, you could be missing out on a lot of money from your royalties.
Whether you absorb this new price increase or pass it on to customers and readers is entirely up to you as the author.
If you have any questions or want to learn more about the increase in KDP print costs, don’t hesitate to contact us directly.
