Author platform advice, indie publishing news, and what actually works for selling direct to readers.
Amazon raised the 70% ebook royalty ceiling from $9.99 to $12.99 on 7 July 2026. Worked numbers for a novel, a boxed set and a nonfiction title, plus what it does to direct sales.
Who has to register for VAT or sales tax when selling ebooks direct: UK zero-rating, EU One Stop Shop from the first sale, US state digital goods tax, and which checkouts take the liability on.
A plain reading of KDP Select's exclusivity terms: what you cannot sell direct, what you can (print, audio, ARCs, samples), the box set trap, and how to time a book out of Select before opening a shop.
A line-by-line fee comparison of direct ebook selling against KDP's 70% and 35% royalty bands, with the break-even point for monthly platform fees at 5, 20 and 100 sales a month.
A per-book and per-year cost breakdown of self-publishing, with current editing, cover, ISBN and platform prices, and where to spend first if the budget is tight.
Book pricing is mostly arithmetic: royalty bands, printing costs and series position. Here is how to narrow the range to two or three sensible numbers, then test.
The delivery question stalls more direct ebook sales than price does. Here is how Send to Kindle works in practice, plus instructions you can paste straight onto your thank-you page.
A working sequence from finished manuscript to book on sale, including which steps depend on each other, what you can change later and the one deadline with a real penalty.
What Amazon exclusivity actually covers, what Kindle Unlimited pays, what wide distribution adds, and how to run the numbers on your own catalogue before you switch.
The real advantages of self-publishing are control levers: rights, price, availability, speed and reader data. Here is what each one gets you, and the work it takes to cash it in.
What indie author income surveys actually report, why the average is five times the median, and how to model your own earnings from royalty rates, catalogue size and price.
A running order for publishing a book properly: four moves on the book itself, two on retailer placement, two on connecting readers to your next book, and two on launch and measurement.
A straight answer for indie authors weighing up an author website: what Amazon already covers, the four jobs a site does that KDP cannot, and when you can wait.
What self-publishing a book actually involves, from editing and covers to ISBNs, KDP royalty bands and the reader list you own. Current rates and real costs, no hype.
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