KDP Paperback Publishing: Is Full-Color Worth It?

About this video

In his self-published book unboxing series, Dale Roberts examines KDP Print full-color paperbacks with bleed, using his children’s book ‘Grumpy Gus’ as the example. Bleed means interior content runs edge to edge and some is cut off, suited to children’s books and coffee-table picture books; text and important content must stay away from edges, the width must be 0.125 inches wider and height an additional 0.25 inches, and text too close to the cutoff triggers KDP’s autovetter. His three books arrived within four days despite being ordered in quarter four, though in a bubble-wrap envelope rather than a corrugated box, which he criticises while noting the books arrived pristine. He praises the full-color quality as second to none — glossy, sheen-like pages reminiscent of childhood books and a good glossy cover — though he still prefers IngramSpark’s glossier cover finish as less smudge-prone. On costs, he says this book’s wholesale cost was $3.65, he priced it at $11.95, leaving a profit margin of about $3.52, and warns a 200-300 page color book would be pricey. He notes buying retail copies through Amazon (rather than author copies via the KDP dashboard) slightly influences paid rank and returns royalties, making it roughly a wash, but warns not to abuse this. Overall he calls KDP Print’s full-color product stellar with no upload fees and reasonable wholesale costs.

Key takeaways

• Bleed makes interior art run edge to edge; add 0.125 inches to width and 0.25 inches to height and keep text away from the edges or KDP’s autovetter will flag it
• Roberts rates KDP Print full-color quality as second to none, though he prefers IngramSpark’s glossy cover for being less smudge-prone
• His example book cost $3.65 wholesale, was priced at $11.95, and left about $3.52 profit — longer color books cost substantially more to print
• His three books arrived within four days in quarter four, but in a bubble-wrap envelope he considers risky for heavier books
• Ordering retail copies through Amazon slightly influences rank and returns royalties versus author copies, but he warns against abusing this

Episode details: published March 16, 2019 · 9:49 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.

← Previous: No Content Book Publishing - How to Publish Notebooks on KDP · Next: Zero Content Books that Sell Well (2019) →

All Dale L. Roberts videos · Dale L. Roberts profile · Dale L. Roberts on YouTube