It costs $471 to $1,412 or more to publish a book on Amazon.

Officially, Amazon allows you to publish eBooks, paperpacks, and hardcover books for free. However, Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing takes a portion of your earnings. And realistically, you'll have to spend some money to be successful, since the market is extremely saturated.

Our breakdown of costs for publishing a book on Amazon:

• Printing: $1 to $7.49 per copy (paperback, hardcover) 
• Delivery: $0.15 per megabyte
• Marketing and advertising: $50 to $500
• Outsourcing: $500 to $2,000

Author Wendy Coop says she spent $471 to self-publish her ebook and print book Budgeting for Women on Amazon KDP. According to her, she spent:

• $97 for keyword research tool Publisher Rocket
• $125 for the ISBN
• $249 for book formatting software Vellum

Wendy further shares that she designed her own book cover using an existing Canva Pro subscription and stock images previously purchased. "Editing was free because I had my husband do it," she adds. 

Meanwhile, Mandi Lynn shares that she spent a total of $1,411,23 for her self published book Let The Rubble Fall. In her YouTube vlog, she says her most significant expense was hiring a copy editor. This cost her $1,244.22.

Other expenses included:

• Book Funnel distribution
• Creating a book trailer
• Ordering a proof copy from KDP

Mandi also shares that she saved money by designing her own book cover and formatting the book herself. Friends even helped her with the final proofreading.

Dale L. Roberts of The Self-Publishing with Dale Podcast says a community poll with 439 votes revealed the following information about the average self publishing cost:

• 36% of authors spent no money
• 26% spent less than $1,000
• 21% spent $100 or less
• 12% spent $10,000 or less
• 4% spent more than $110,000

“Keep in mind that the rate can increase based on your individual needs,” Dale points out.

We’ll go into the details of how much it can cost you to publish a book on Amazon. We’ll also look into the profitability and risks of the business model. Towards the end, we share with you about a scalable online business idea you can pursue if you’re aiming to generate passive income.

1. Printing ($1 to $7.49 per book)

Printing a book through Amazon usually costs between $1 to $7.49. The actual cost depends on the size of the book, ink type, and book format (paperback or hardcover). You can tap Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing printing services to fulfill customer orders on demand. 

Amazon calculates printing costs using this formula:

Printing cost = Fixed cost + (page count x per page cost)

To further help you help you calculate the cost of your books before you publish them, below are printing cost calculations:

Amazon offers colored ink packages for publishers of low content books. This includes picture books and children’s books.

You can also check out Amazon’s Printing Costs and Royalty Calculator tool to get estimates on your book.

Amazon KDP printing fees are automatically deducted from your royalties. This means you won't have to shell out any money to have your books printed. It's also important to note that print books require an International Standard Book Number, which costs around $20 to $30. However, Amazon provides a free ISBN option for authors. The platform will automatically register your ISBN details with Bowker.

2. Delivery ($0.15 per megabyte)

Amazon charges a “delivery” fee to maintain or manage the servers where thousands of books are stored digitally. According to their website, Delivery Costs are “equal to the number of megabytes” that the platform “determines your Digital Book file contains.” KDP is the largest publisher of eBooks and so without this fee:

• Amazon would have to stop accommodating new publishers from publishing new eBooks since their servers would not have enough storage for both new and old eBooks.
• Amazon would have to delete old eBooks from their servers in order to allow new eBooks to be uploaded.
• Amazon could accommodate everyone, but that would inevitably result in their servers crashing because they won't have any money to maintain or expand the storage of their databases.

Typically, Amazon charges $0.15 per megabyte in the US and Canada. In the UK, they charge $0.10 per megabyte. These rates apply if you’re availing of the 70% royalty option. If you avail of the 35% royalty option (where your books will be priced anywhere between $2.99 to $9.99), then the delivery fee will be waived.

The best way to calculate your eBook's delivery fee is to go to Amazon KDP's pricing page and input the details of your book. Do not make the mistake of simply multiplying the delivery fee by the file size of your book because Amazon typically formats all eBooks before coming up with a final file size.

3. Marketing and advertising ($50 to $500)

Marketing and advertising a book on Amazon can cost anywhere between $50 to $500. Of course, it's possible to publish your books without spending on advertising. However, reaching your target readers and buyers would be much more difficult.

On average, publishers pay $0.81 every time their eBook ads are clicked. This cost can vary, depending on your genre and competition. Overall, you can spend as low as $50 on your ads, but some spend $500 or more to advertise their self-published books.

You can run ads on Amazon by signing up with the Amazon Advertising Program. Amazon Ads offers three types of advertisement types:

• Sponsored products. Sponsored products are ads that appear on Google's SERPs. These ads are usually charged on a per-click basis.
• Sponsored brands. Sponsored brands are ads that appear at the top of Google's SERPs. These ads are usually charged for each impression, also known as cost-per-impression (CPI).
• Display ads. Display ads (also known as banner ads) are ads that appear on other platforms and websites. These are also charged per impression.

Amazon also allows authors to enroll their books on Kindle Select. This free 90-day program allows you to reach more potential readers and audiences. Books enrolled in Kindle Select can participate in Kindle Unlimited. Doing so can significantly boost your title’s visibility and readership. Users who subscribe to Kindle Select can read as many Kindle book titles as they want, making it a good way for KDP authors to gain exposure.

4. Outsourcing ($500 to $2,000)

Outsourcing is hiring a third-party employee or contractor to work for you. As an Amazon publisher, you can hire professionals to help you create your books. For example, you can tap freelance ghostwriters, proofreaders, copy editors, and book cover designers.   

Freelance professionals charge anywhere between $500 to $2000, depending on the type of jobs you require and the scope of your project. Here's the average cost you can expect to pay when you outsource book creation tasks:

• Ghostwriter: $0.10 to $0.70 per word
• Proofreader: $0.03 to $0.10 per word
• Copy editor: $0.25 to $1 per word
• Book cover design: $100 to $1,000

Outsourcing is optional, especially if you have the technical know-how to create your own books from scratch. However, it can be helpful if you want to save time and focus on marketing your titles. 

To find competent freelancers, you can check out outsourcing platforms, such as:

• Fiverr
• Upwork
• OnlineJobs PH
• People Per Hour
• Freelancer
• Guru.com

Is Publishing on Amazon Still Profitable in 2024?

Publishing on Amazon KDP is still profitable in 2024 with over 487 million eBooks being sold through Kindle each year. Approximately 80% of all book sales online belong to Amazon. Experts also anticipate that the eCommerce giant will own 87.9% of the eBook market by 2025. This further demonstrates just how profitable publishing on Amazon can really be.

Amazon KDP authors make anywhere between $100 to $20,000 per month. Beginners typically generate around $100 to $1,000 during their first year. An average self publishing author can make $5,000 to $10,000 per month. This is often possible when they've been in the self publishing industry for over 2 years and already have a collection of publications that consistently generates revenue. An established Amazon author with a solid following can earn up to $20,000 or more. Additionally, studies show that over 2,000 authors have already surpassed $100,000 in total revenue.

In general, your profitability as an Amazon author will be determined by:

• The quality of your work
• Your popularity as an author
• Your marketing strategy

Craig Priestley of Self Publishing Empire shares that he earned “a little bit over $17,000” in one year as an Amazon author. According to his YouTube video, he had a total of 105 titles available on the platform. In January, he sold only 69 copies. Things started to pick up in May as he sold 361 copies. December was his most successful as he sold over 4,000 books in a single month. “I just kept creating quality titles throughout the year,” he says. “I was testing, learning, and seeing what worked.”

“As the year went on, I saw more and more sales,” adds Craig. “And then that huge Spike around Christmas time. That's because I keep on creating quality titles and I'm also marketing effectively now.”

However, success is not always easy to achieve on Amazon. Beginners may particularly struggle with market competition and niche saturation. Besides, the platform hosts over 6 million eBooks. Marketing is also a challenge for authors without a large online following.

Is there a way to publish on Amazon for completely free?

There is no way to publish on Amazon for completely free. Even if you decide not to outsource, do everything on your own, skip the advertising, and choose not to sell any print books, you'll still have to pay the $0.15 per megabyte delivery fee that Amazon charges for every book stored on their platform. These fees can add up, especially for larger files or books with images. Unfortunately, this is also the least profitable way to publish a book on Amazon since you will be relying solely on eBooks and word of mouth to make money.

Can you publish on Amazon without using KDP?

You cannot publish on Amazon without using KDP, but you can publish on other websites and platforms. 

Some popular options include:

• Apple Books
• Google Play Books
• Barnes Noble Press
• Lulu
• BookBaby
• Kobo
• Blurb

However, keep in mind that Amazon KDP is still the best way to launch yourself in the self-publishing space. Also, it’s possible to publish on KDP and other platforms if you own the rights to your book. According to their website, “the only circumstance in which your book cannot be sold on other platforms is if you enroll your eBook in KDP Select, which makes it exclusive to Amazon.”

Related articles on Amazon KDP and Publishing on Amazon

Why Local Lead Generation is Better Than Publishing Books on Amazon

When done right, publishing books on Amazon can be potentially profitable. However, you’ll have to deal with multiple drawbacks. Market competition can be a constant challenge, considering the number of authors and self publishers entering the industry each year. In general, it’s also not a stable business model that can bring you passive income.

Personally, my best recommendation for online business would always be local lead generation. It’s not as saturated as publishing since you’re not competing against authors from across the world. Instead, you’re focusing on a local area and niche of your choice.

With local lead gen, you build a business website and then use SEO tactics to make it rank organically. Once your site achieves top ranking, you can start renting it out to local business owners who need traffic and leads.

The great thing about local lead generation is that each city has 50 to 100 niches you can explore. With that, you can make as much as $500 to $3,000 per website. Plus it’s possible to create, rank, and rent out multiple sites. You can also expect a profit margin of up to 90%. I’ve been doing this since 2015 and today, I earn up to $52,000 per month by offering lead gen services to my clients.

If you're searching for a way to make money online without the hassles of Amazon publishing, local lead generation might be your best bet.