Amazon recently notified me that they’re increasing paperback printing costs for books printed through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), which includes me and many other indie authors and publishers.

This is apparently something they haven’t done in six years, and is intended to reflect increased material and labour costs. It will come into effect on 20 June 2023.

I love offering paperbacks to readers because I love reading them too. There’s nothing quite like being able to hold my book in my hands! I try to keep the prices as low as possible wherever I have control, and I tend to price my books so the royalties earnt remain approximately the same no matter the book’s format. For me, that means the difference in price between my ebooks and paperbacks is primarily down to the cost of materials and labour associated with producing the physical paperback.

With costs increasing, I’ve had to revisit how much I need to sell my paperbacks for. I had hoped that the cost increase would be minimal so there would be no need to change anything, but taking one of my books as an example, the new pricing would mean I’d be earning a royalty of 3p in the UK (i.e. approx 4c in the US) per paperback!

I think we can all agree this is hardly worth getting out of bed for… So, what’s the plan? Nothing will change for the next week or so, then I’ll update my paperback pricing.

Amazon’s current printing costs will remain as they are until 20 June. I can’t answer for other authors or publishers, but my plan is to adjust my paperback prices a few days before that so they’re all locked in place ready for the changeover date.

So, if you’ve been umming and ahhing about grabbing paperbacks from me or fellow indie authors, now’s probably a great time! You can find links to all my books on my website, or check them out below: