The Kindle effect in self-publishing

Commerce doesn’t exist without value, or in today’s age, pricing. Pricing is about availability, and availability implies no easy substitutes (real or perceived).

The internet has dramatically flattened and widened availability. The number of books a brick-and-mortar store can make available is a kernel compared to the capacity of Amazon, not to mention what the advent of digital formats and the Kindle have contributed. Real availability is virtually limitless. That effect cannot but have implication on pricing, right? It seems that some traditional publishers are slow to catch on when pricing books, especially their digital and Kindle titles.

But this is big news for the self-publishing author. With full-service self-publishing options, you can now integrate a Kindle edition into the version library of your book AND control your own pricing, keeping 100% of your royalties. And here is the key – Amazon pays royalties based on one of two retail price categories:

$2.99 – $9.99 received 70% royalties

Above or below receive just 35%.

It seems like Amazon understands one or two things about commerce, and this couldn’t be better for self-publishing authors.


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