KDP Printing Cost Increased… Do THIS NOW (Death of Low Content Books?)

About this video

Sean explains KDP’s print cost increase taking effect June 20, 2023, which he says KDP attributed to higher materials, supplier and labor costs, affecting paperbacks and hardcovers with new fixed and per-page costs, while some color-ink books ordered from certain marketplaces see a per-page decrease. Citing a breakdown by Rags to Niches, he says black-and-white books at 6x9 inches and 108 pages or less are barely affected — about a 15 cent royalty difference, roughly 7% less — whereas larger trim sizes are hit hard: an 8.5x11 book under 120 pages loses roughly 69-70 cents per sale in her example, close to a 40% royalty decrease in some cases. Low-content activity and coloring books, typically 8.5x11, are hit hardest, while high-content books usually published at 5x8, 5.5x8.5 or 6x9 are less affected. His advice: raise prices by $1 to $2, expecting the whole market to do the same and reset average prices; build a premium product rather than racing to the bottom; favor trim sizes 6x9 or smaller; and avoid the work of cutting page counts from existing books. On repricing, he advises manual updates if you have few books so prices end in .99 or .97, but a bulk update if you have many, then fixing top sellers’ price points afterwards. He frames the change as inflation affecting every industry, not Amazon greed, and notes digital formats like ebooks and audiobooks are unaffected by print costs.

Key takeaways

• The June 20, 2023 print cost increase barely affects black-and-white books 6x9 or smaller and 108 pages or less (about 15 cents per sale)
• Books larger than 6x9, especially 8.5x11, face steep royalty cuts — roughly 69-70 cents per sale in the cited example
• Raise prices by $1-$2 and build premium products instead of racing to the bottom on price
• Favor 6x9 or smaller trim sizes for new books; low-content 8.5x11 books are hit hardest
• Update prices manually for small catalogs to keep .99/.97 endings; bulk update large catalogs and then fix top books

Episode details: published July 7, 2023 · 9:27 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Sean Dollwet’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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