Amazon KDP Just Made a Brutal Change

About this video

Dale explains an email from Amazon saying that starting June 10th, 2025, KDP will cut print royalties from 60% to 50% for books priced below certain list prices, including below $9.99 in the US, which Amazon attributes to increasing operational costs. Books at or above the thresholds keep the 60% rate. He says the cut hits children’s book authors hardest because color interiors are expensive but parents resist higher picture-book prices, and KDP’s reduction in color printing costs in a few marketplaces does not offset a 10% royalty drop. It also hits non-fiction authors using sub-$9.99 pricing for short reads, planners, workbooks and entry-point books, and low-content and medium-content publishers of journals, notebooks, puzzle books, coloring books and activity books, who must raise prices or accept thinner margins. He notes most of his own books are above $9.99 but hundreds of titles under his imprint are affected, and any content or detail change after June 10th forces a price update. He compares this to ACX, which he says killed a tiered system for a flat 40% exclusive and 25% non-exclusive rate, and urges authors to audit affected titles, run the KDP royalty calculator, check all marketplaces, update metadata, mirror wide pricing, and line up backup print options such as Ingram Spark, Draft to Digital, Book Vault, Lulu and Barnes & Noble Press.

Key takeaways

• Starting June 10th, 2025, KDP print royalties fall from 60% to 50% for books priced below the thresholds, including below $9.99 in the US; books at or above keep 60%
• Children’s, sub-$9.99 non-fiction, and low- and medium-content publishers are described as the three groups hit hardest
• Download your affected titles from the KDP bookshelf and use the royalty calculator to decide whether to raise prices or accept the lower royalty
• Check pricing in all marketplaces, not just the US, and mirror price changes across platforms if publishing wide
• Line up backup print options now, named as Ingram Spark, Draft to Digital, Book Vault, Lulu and Barnes & Noble Press

Episode details: published May 14, 2025 · 7:22 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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