THE BIG ROYALTY DEBATE
What makes the difference between $2.00 and $0.20?
I will say, I have tried to work with Amazon Kindle but over the years, they have changed so much! When I started writing as a self-published author back in 2012, all we had were books that, when published through CreateSpace (of which I do not believe even exists anymore), would automatically appear on Amazon.com. Now, Kindle seems to have disrupted the pattern of debate. Did you know that around 1.2 million new books are uploaded to Amazon and Kindle every year? That is a lot of competition. We have to stand adamant and strong when dealing with this system, as when we try to simplify the system, we are actually just accommodating failure. Think about how much you make off of a Kindle sale versus a book.
HOW KINDLE WORKS
Kindle looks at things differently. They take a set amount of income they have aside for self-published authors, usually around 8-10 million. They then divide that number up by a) the number of books seeking royalties, and b) the number of pages read on a Kindle device. Though to the reader this trend is beneficial (it costs a lot less to buy a book in Kindle format than a paperback), to authors it is absolute calamity. We get about $0.01 per page read, if even. But as the trend continues, we see that paperback books are no longer in people’s repertoires, i.e. a paperback will land you a $2-3 dollar royalty payment whereas a Kindle book must be read 1000 times if 100 pages, if I am doing the math correctly, for you to see an actual profit or a decent paycheck. This is not to say it is not worth publishing on Kindle, but it does leave one to think about proper distribution.
THE LUCRATIVE SIDE
Kindle books can be very lucrative if marketed correctly. However, as authors we know all too well that this means more than just marketing a book with a few ads here and there. The average marketing budget for a self-published author is dick, so-to-speak. I have met far too many self-published authors who are making $200 a month on Kindle royalties when they could easily be making $2,000 if they simply did the work right. And even then, $2,000 a month is not enough to call authorship a detailed career description. That is why many authors have turned to content and copywriting like I have, where the chances at making a decent living exist. This does not mean it works, but it does mean we have some secrets we can share with you to benefit you.