Post 2 of 26 of The Self-Publishing Series
Amazon’s hidden fee can cost you a lot of money
If you choose the 70% royalty option Amazon.com charges you for each megabyte of your document. Here is their explanation from their KDP Pricing Page.
Delivery Costs are equal to the number of megabytes we determine your Digital Book file contains, multiplied by the Delivery Cost rate listed below.
Amazon.com: US $0.15/MB
India: US $0.12/MB
Amazon CA: CAD $0.15/MB
Brazil: BRL R$.30/MB
Amazon.co.uk: UK £0.10/MB
Amazon.de: €0,12/MB
Amazon.fr: €0,12/MB
Amazon.es: €0,12/MB
Amazon.it: €0,12/MB
Amazon.co.jp: ¥1/MB
We will round file sizes up to the nearest kilobyte. The minimum Delivery Cost for a Digital Book will be US$0.01 for sales in US Dollars, CAD$0.01 for sales in CAD Dollars, £0.01 for sales in GB Pounds, ¥1 in JPY, R$0.01 for sales in Brazilian Reais, and €0.01 for sales in Euros, regardless of file size.
Again, this only applies to your book if you choose the 70% royalty option which is determined by the price of your book. This is a fee that nine out of ten self-publishing authors don’t know about.(Click to tweet that) If you’re going to self-publish you need to know about this fee because it can really cut into your profits.
How to calculate your royalty – Guy Kawasaki’s Royalty Calculator
Guy Kawasaki wrote a great book about self-publishing called APE: Author, Publisher, Entrerpreneur and one of the bonuses he generously created is a royalty calculator so can find out an estimate of how much your get after the platform takes its percentage and the cost of delivering the book. That’s right, Amazon charges you for delivering the digital file just like they charge you shipping for a physical item. To find out how much the file size effects your profits click on the image below and play with the calculator.
The calculator creates an estimate and gratefully in my experience it overestimates the cost. I make approximately $5.40 on each copy of my $7.99 Kindle book but the calculator estimates it to be a profit of $4.83. The important thing to understand is that the delivery fee is very real and must be considered in the creation and publication of your book. Click on the image below to visit Guy’s calculator
How do you avoid paying too much in digital delivery fees?
1. Use fewer images possible. The text of your document will not add considerably to your file size. Images quickly add to your file size.
2. Price your book appropriately. If you price your book in the 35% royalty range you will avoid the digital delivery fees entirely. That’s my understanding of the KDP Pricing Page.
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Post 1 of 26 of The Self-Publishing Series
Permission
Every creative journey begins with a desire. Most are ended by judgement. Before one word is typed judgement shuts down the journey. You need to get permission for your project and you need to give that permission to yourself. We’re the person judging and we’re the person capable of taking permission. Call it creative suicide, self-defeat or wussing out, but we end most of our dreams ourselves. Most creative journeys end not because of someone else but because of the creator
A few years ago I switched my web site from AndyTraub.com to TakePermission.com because I needed to focus in on one idea.
To self-publish you need to take permission and then do the work. (Tweet that) There’s no waiting in line anymore. You’re not going to wait to get picked. You’re taking permission to move forward, to invest in yourself and to create something from nothing.
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Time
For three and half hours I sat in this chair knowing that I needed to write these words. I’ve done something else for the last 210 minutes. You don’t know how to twiddle your thumbs. I don’t even know if twiddle is a word. You’re not bored because you’re busy.
Doing things isn’t our problem. Doing the right things is our problem. (
Click to tweet that) If you want to write a book and publish it yourself you need to make time.
You can get up earlier or you can stay up later. You can
blog your way to a book or you can
take an on-line course that helps you get the audience your writing deserves. No matter what you do you have to stop doing something else to write. If you had enough time and desire you’d have already finished your book.
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Here’s the start of The Take Permission Manifesto.
Can I do that too?
No, you have to do it your way.
How long will it take?
As long as it takes and that’s assuming you really know what it is. Usually when we set out to find something or build something we end up finding and building something different. Maybe the it you’re aiming for isn’t what you’ll end up achieving. Likely you’ll get something better.
What’s the secret?
Starting without being able to see the ending. Working when it’s not working. Growing when you want to surrender. Giving up on what’s not working so you can go find out what will. Knowing there isn’t one secret, one path or one hero. Success isn’t unlocked with one key because success has more than one door. There is no secret to it and there is no end to it.
Where should I start?
Right where you are.
When should I start?
You already did because you asked that question. When you’re hungry for more you’ve started the journey to changing. People who aren’t hungry or disatisfied don’t change.
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84 days ago I uploaded a file to Amazon.com. As of today I’ve made $19,196. Now I’m hearing things.
Why I should be very, very happy
I’m #1 in Business Leadership on Kindle and in the top ten in a few other categories. Dave Ramsey plugged my book on his radio show this week when my wife and I called to scream we were debt free (Listen here). Crystal Paine, perhaps the most popular “mommy blogger” in the world invited her readers to journey through the book for 30 days. I’ve sold 3,824 copies. In the last 48 hours alone I’ve netted $1,580. So why am I afraid?
Bombarded by lies because of success
Resistance tells us the lies that keep us from becoming who God wants us to be. The job of the resistance is to lie so we stop becoming what we can become. He’s real and he’s crazy smart. Steven Pressfield coined the term “The Resistance” and wrote about it beautifully in The War of Art and Turning Pro. I’ve never felt the resistance on this side though, the side where you’re #1. So what does the resistance tell you when you’re doing well?
Resistance tells us the lies that keep us from becoming who God wants us to be. (Tweet that)
Here are the things the resistance has told me in the last 48 hours alone.
Click to continue…
