Self Publishing Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing: Full Comparison

Okay so here’s the thing about KDP that nobody really explains properly – it’s not one platform, it’s actually like three different publishing models smashed together and which one you pick completely changes your strategy.

The Three Main KDP Routes You Need to Know

First up is regular KDP eBooks. This is what most people think of when they say “self-publishing on Amazon.” You upload a digital file – EPUB, MOBI, or Word doc – set your price, and boom, you’re live in like 72 hours. Royalties are either 35% or 70% depending on your price point and distribution settings. The 70% option sounds great but you gotta price between $2.99 and $9.99, and Amazon charges delivery fees based on file size. I learned this the hard way with a photography book that had massive images – those delivery fees ate like 30% of my royalty.

Then there’s KDP Print which is print-on-demand paperbacks. Same dashboard, totally different economics. Amazon prints books as people order them, no inventory needed. Your royalty here is way smaller because printing costs come out first. A 200-page paperback might cost $3-4 to print, so if you sell it for $12.99, you’re looking at maybe $2-3 profit after Amazon’s cut.

Third option is low-content books – notebooks, journals, planners, coloring books. Technically these go through KDP Print but they’re a whole different game strategy-wise. The profit margins are better because printing a blank notebook is cheaper than a text-heavy book, but the market is insanely saturated now.

eBook Publishing Deep Dive

So with eBooks, your main decision is KDP Select vs wide distribution. KDP Select means Amazon exclusive for 90 days minimum. In exchange you get:

• Access to Kindle Unlimited where readers pay monthly and borrow unlimited books
• You earn money per page read (currently around $0.004 per page)
• Free promo days (5 per enrollment period)
• Countdown deals

Going wide means you can also publish on Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play, whatever. More potential readers but you lose KU page reads which for some genres is where 60-70% of income comes from.

I ran a test last year with two similar romance novellas – one in Select, one wide. The Select one earned $847 in the first month mostly from page reads. The wide one earned $291 total across four platforms. But here’s where it gets interesting… that wide income was more stable month-to-month. KU income is volatile as hell.

Your pricing strategy completely flips depending on this choice. In KU, some authors actually price higher (like $4.99-6.99) because they’re not really selling copies, they’re getting page reads. Outside KU, you’re competing on price more directly.

File Formatting Hell

Nobody warns you how annoying formatting is gonna be. Amazon accepts Word docs which sounds easy except Word does weird things with spacing and fonts. My dog literally stepped on my keyboard once while I was fixing indent issues and somehow fixed the problem – still don’t know what key combo that was.

The pros use Vellum ($250 one-time for Mac, there’s a Windows version now too) or Atticus (subscription model, like $147/year). I resisted buying Vellum for two years, formatted everything manually in Word, wanted to throw my laptop out the window regularly. Finally bought it and formatted a book in 20 minutes that would’ve taken me 4 hours before.

If you’re broke, Reedsy has a free online formatter that’s pretty decent. Or just learn basic HTML – KDP accepts that too and honestly gives you more control.

Print Books Are a Different Beast

Print royalties seem terrible at first glance but here’s what changed my mind – perceived value. A $4.99 eBook feels cheap. A $14.99 paperback feels like a real purchase. I’ve had customers buy both versions of the same book.

The trim size decision matters more than you’d think. 6×9 is standard for non-fiction and most fiction. 5×5 for small books. 8.5×11 for workbooks and coloring books. Bigger sizes cost more to print which eats your royalty, but they can also justify higher prices.

Page count affects everything. You need minimum 24 pages for a paperback (72 for hardcover). But here’s the weird part – around 110 pages there’s a threshold where printing costs jump because they have to use a different binding method or something. I noticed books at 108 pages had better margins than books at 115 pages at the same price point.

Cover Design Reality Check

For print you need to understand bleed and spine width. The cover wraps around the whole book, so you need:

• Front cover (your trim size)
• Spine (width depends on page count and paper type)
• Back cover (same as front)
• Plus 0.125 inch bleed on all outside edges

Amazon has a cover calculator that tells you exact dimensions. Use it. I once uploaded a cover without enough bleed and the text on the back was cut off – had to delay my launch by three days waiting for the fix to go live.

Oh and another thing – you can’t use the same cover for eBook and print without modifications. The proportions are different. eBook covers are usually taller, print covers depend on your trim size.

Low-Content Publishing Economics

This is where I make most of my KDP income honestly. The competition is brutal but the workflow is way faster. I can create a notebook in 30 minutes versus weeks for an actual book.

Your costs breakdown for a 120-page notebook:

• Interior template: free if you make it yourself, $5-20 if you buy one
• Cover design: $5-50 depending if you DIY or outsource
• Printing cost: roughly $2.50 for a 6×9 notebook

List it at $7.99, you make about $2 profit per sale. Doesn’t sound like much but when you have 200+ notebooks live and each sells 5-10 copies a month… it adds up to $2k-4k monthly pretty reliably.

The trick is niching down. Don’t make a generic “notebook” – make a “Chicken Coop Maintenance Log for Backyard Farmers” or whatever. Specific beats generic every single time.

Tools I Actually Use

Book Bolt ($9.99/month) – has interior generators, cover creators, keyword research. Worth it if you’re doing volume.

Tangent Factory or KDP Interiors ($47-97 one-time) – pre-made interior templates. Saves hours.

Canva Pro ($12.99/month) – covers and simple interiors. The free version works too but Pro has better fonts and elements.

Creative Fabrica ($6/month) – unlimited graphics downloads. Insane value if you design your own covers.

Wait I forgot to mention – you can do hardcover books now too through KDP. Just rolled out widely in 2023. The royalties are even tighter than paperback but the perceived value is through the roof. I tested this with a prayer journal – paperback at $11.99 sold okay, hardcover at $24.99 actually sold MORE copies. People buying gifts want the fancy version.

The Select vs Wide Decision Framework

Okay so going back to this because it’s probably your biggest strategic choice. Here’s how I decide for each book:

Go KDP Select if:

• You write romance, sci-fi, or fantasy (KU readers devour these genres)
• You’re launching a series and want fast initial traction
• You don’t have time to manage multiple platforms
• You’re okay with Amazon having complete control

Go wide if:

• You write non-fiction (less KU readership)
• You want to build a business not dependent on one retailer
• You can handle uploading to 4-5 different platforms
• You’re thinking long-term stability over quick wins

I personally do both – romance series in Select, non-fiction wide. Different strategies for different products.

There’s also aggregators like Draft2Digital or PublishDrive that distribute to multiple stores for you. They take a small cut (10-15%) but save you the hassle of dealing with each platform separately. I use D2D for wide distribution and it’s pretty seamless.

Pricing Strategy That Actually Works

This is gonna sound weird but your price should be based on page count and genre, not what you think your time is worth. I see people price a 80-page book at $9.99 because they worked hard on it – it won’t sell.

For eBooks:

• Short reads (under 100 pages): $0.99-2.99
• Novels (200-400 pages): $2.99-4.99
• Non-fiction/how-to: $4.99-9.99
• Professional/business: $9.99+

In KU I price most fiction at $4.99 because I’m not really selling it, I’m getting page reads. Outside KU I drop to $2.99-3.99 to be competitive.

For print add $3-5 to your eBook price minimum. A $3.99 eBook should be $8.99-12.99 in paperback.

Low-content books are weird – people will pay $7.99-9.99 for a nice journal but won’t pay $4.99 for a basic one. Quality perception matters more than actual content since they’re all blank inside anyway.

Categories and Keywords Nobody Explains Right

You get 7 keywords and 2 categories when you publish. Most people waste them.

Keywords should be phrases not single words. “cozy mystery small town” not just “mystery.” Amazon’s algorithm looks for exact phrase matches in customer searches.

Use all 7 slots. Each keyword can be up to 50 characters. You can pack multiple phrases into one slot like “notebook for writers, writing journal, story planner” – that counts as one keyword but gives you multiple search terms.

For categories, pick the most specific ones you can. Don’t choose “Fiction > Romance” – go for “Fiction > Romance > Western > Historical.” The more specific, the easier to hit bestseller status in that tiny niche. I have books that are #1 in their subcategory that rank like #180,000 overall. But that #1 badge shows up and helps sales.

You can contact KDP support after publishing to get added to additional categories beyond your initial 2. I usually pick my 2 best ones at upload then email support to add 8-10 more. They usually approve it.

The Review Problem

You need reviews but Amazon is super strict about how you get them. You cannot:

• Offer free copies in exchange for reviews
• Ask family to review
• Use review services
• Review swap with other authors

What you CAN do:

• Enroll in Amazon Vine (requires a Publisher account, $200 fee per title)
• Use Amazon’s “Request a Review” button in your KDP dashboard
• Build an email list and ask readers to leave honest reviews if they enjoyed it
• Use services like BookSirens or NetGalley where readers get ARCs and leave honest reviews

The automated “Request a Review” button is underrated. It sends a gentle Amazon-branded email to buyers. I get about 1 review per 50 requests which sounds bad but it’s passive and free.

Marketing Reality Nobody Tells You

Publishing the book is like 20% of the work. Marketing is the other 80% and it never ends.

Amazon Ads are almost mandatory now for visibility. You can set your own budget – I started with $5/day campaigns. Auto-targeting campaigns let Amazon figure out what works. Manual campaigns give you more control but require research.

The first week after launch is critical. Amazon gives new books a visibility boost. If you can generate sales momentum in that window through ads, email list, social media, whatever – Amazon’s algorithm notices and keeps promoting you.

I was watching The Bear while setting up my first ad campaign and totally messed up the bid amount – set it at $2.50 instead of $0.25. Burned through my budget in like 6 hours but actually made sales so maybe it wasn’t a mistake?

BookBub Featured Deals are the holy grail but hard to get approved. You discount your book heavily ($0.99 or free) and they email it to millions of subscribers. I’ve gotten approved 3 times out of maybe 30 applications. When it hits though – you can get thousands of downloads in a day.

Tax and Business Setup

Don’t skip this part. You need to fill out tax forms in KDP – W-9 if you’re in the US, W-8BEN if international. Without this Amazon withholds 30% of your royalties.

Technically you’re running a business so track expenses – cover design, editing, software subscriptions, ads. All deductible.

I set up an LLC after my first $10k year. Probably should’ve done it sooner for liability protection but honestly most self-publishers operate as sole proprietors just fine.

ISBN situation – Amazon provides free ISBNs for print books but you don’t own them, Amazon does. If you want to sell elsewhere or have distribution flexibility, buy your own ISBNs. They’re like $125 for one or $295 for 10 from Bowker in the US.

For eBooks you don’t need ISBNs at all, Amazon assigns ASINs automatically.

Alright I think that covers the main comparison points between the different KDP options and how to actually make this work. The platform itself is pretty straightforward once you understand these fundamental differences – it’s really about picking the right model for your goals and going deep on that strategy.