One of the biggest mistakes new authors make is focusing only on getting their book published and never taking the time to understand how royalties actually work. When you publish a paperback on Amazon KDP, your royalty isn't just based on the price of your book. Amazon first deducts the printing cost, and then calculates your royalty based on what's left. This means that the way your book is designed can directly impact how much money you earn. A few things that affect your printing costs: ✅ Total page count ✅ Trim size (book dimensions) ✅ Black & white vs. color interior ✅ Premium color vs. standard color ✅ Paper type and ink usage ✅ Formatting choices such as font size, spacing, margins, and image placement Many authors don't realize that adding extra pages can significantly increase printing costs over time. Even small formatting decisions can make a difference. A friend of mine who is also an author decided to completely reformat her book to reduce the page count. The change only increased her royalty by about $0.20 per sale. At first, that doesn't sound like much. But let's do the math: - 100 sales = $20 extra - 500 sales = $100 extra - 1,000 sales = $200 extra - 5,000 sales = $1,000 extra That's the exact same book, with the exact same content, simply formatted more efficiently. The same concept applies to ebooks. While you don't have printing costs to worry about, pricing, file delivery fees (for certain royalty options), and royalty percentages all impact how much you earn per sale. PLAY WITH THE ROYALTY CALCULATOR HERE 🔢 The takeaway? Don't just publish your book. Understand the business behind your book. A successful author doesn't only know how to write a book—they know their numbers. 📊 Have you ever calculated your royalty per sale, or do you usually just wait to see what shows up in your KDP dashboard? I'd love to hear your answer below. 👇

Sometimes it's hard to explain your book in a sentence... but what if you had to explain it with a GIF? 😆 Drop a GIF in the comments that represents what your book is about (or the book you're currently working on). Examples: ❤️ Relationship book → A couple hugging, arguing, or reconnecting 💰 Personal finance book → Money raining from the sky 🐶 Dog training book → A dog doing something hilarious 🚀 Business book → Someone launching into space 📖 Self-help book → A dramatic transformation GIF No titles. No descriptions. Just the GIF. Let's see if the community can guess what your book is about based on the GIF alone! 👀

I'm curious to get a read of the room and learn a little more about what everyone here is working toward. What is your main goal with your book? 📚 Is your goal to support or grow your business? 💰 Is your goal to create an additional stream of income? 🧠 Is your goal to get your thoughts, knowledge, or story out into the world? 🏆 Is your goal to build authority or become known for something? ❤️ Is it something more personal? ✨ Or is your goal something completely different? There’s no right or wrong answer here. Everyone comes into self-publishing for different reasons, and I always think it’s interesting to see what’s driving people. Drop your goal below 👇 I’d love to see what everyone is building.