So, you’ve finally published that book off to Amazon. Congratulations! Many writers don’t even get this far, and this is a phenomenal first step to reach in your self-publishing experience.

Now, all you have to do is kick back, keep an eye on the copies sold of your book, and wait for the royalty payments to start coming in.

It sounds like a great plan. But there’s just one problem: You don’t know when those royalty payments should start coming in!

So, before you start making plans for any purchases that you may want to make with royalties, you should probably at least understand when you can expect those payments to come to you.

Well, that’s what we’re here to answer in this guide!

We’re going to show you when you can expect payments from Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), as well as some clauses or issues that may cause your payment to be delayed.

We’ll also go over some of the other information that many self-published authors likely might have when considering their options when it comes to publishing through KDP. You can never have too much info when it comes to making the right decision when self-publishing!

When Do You Get Paid From Amazon KDP?

So, before we get any further, let’s answer the question that we posed at the beginning of this guide: How long does it take for any payments that Amazon KDP owes to go into your account?

Well, generally speaking, it will take around 2 months for Amazon to pay you your royalties. So, if you earned money through your royalties in January, you can expect to receive those payments by the end of March at the latest.

Methods Of Payment

If you are receiving your payments through a direct deposit, you may find that your money takes 1 to 5 working days to go into your account.

Wire payments will generally take a little longer to get into your account, anywhere from 5 to 10 working days.

You can also receive payments by check, but these can take up to 30 days to be sent to your address, so make sure that you allow this amount of time to pass before you report that your check has been lost.

So, overall, it seems like a simple system. However, there is a little more to it than that.

Amazon Royalty Threshold

When it comes to publishing through Amazon, it’s not as simple as uploading your book and waiting for payment. At least, if you’re choosing to receive your payment via wire or check.

If you do not meet the minimum threshold for Amazon’s royalty payments when using these payment methods, then Amazon KDP will not pay you at the scheduled time.

Instead, they will keep a record of your overall earnings through royalties, and initiate a payment when you do eventually meet that threshold.

So, if you miss the threshold minimum in March, Amazon will keep track of your overall earnings and check again at the end of April.

If you are receiving your payments through a direct deposit, however, these limitations do not apply to you, so you’ll be able to receive your payments on the right dates when they roll around.

Royalty Options

So, we’ve established just when you can expect to be paid by Amazon when it comes to royalties, but we haven’t exactly answered how much that is when it comes to your book sales.

How much you can expect to earn back will depend on whether you are selling your book as a paperback option, or as simply an e-book option. Paperbacks have historically always cost more due to printing costs, and their royalties also reflect this.

When KDP can support your book being sold in a paperback format, you will get a fixed royalty rate of around 60% of all the profits, minus printing costs, page count, and ink type that is used.

When it comes to e-books, you can expect roughly 35% on each copy of your book sold, which doesn’t sound like nearly as much overall.

However, if you live in one of the countries listed here, you are entitled to a much higher percentage back when it comes to royalties, up to 70%. And considering how long the list is, it’s pretty likely that wherever you are in the world, you’ll probably be earning this amount back.

Pros And Cons Of Self-Publishing With Amazon

If you have already signed up to self-publish your works with Amazon, you can probably skip this section.

However, if you are still considering signing up with KDP, or perhaps would like to remind yourself of what the positives and negatives of self-publishing through the Kindle platform are, you may want to take a look at these next few notes!

Pros

• Self-publishing your work gives you almost completely, total creative control over your book, something that you just aren’t going to get as a new author when working with a publishing company.
• You’ll earn higher royalty rates as a result. We’ve already gone into detail about the exact amounts that you’ll earn further back in this guide, so we won’t talk more about it.
• You’ll have an easier time making edits or fixing grammatical errors when signing up with Amazon.
• It can often be easier to get your books into libraries for lending, further spreading news of your story by word of mouth.

Cons

• While you will have that creative freedom to write and talk about anything you want in a self-published work, you’re not going to have the same level of support that you would otherwise have with a publishing house. If you’re looking to find a good editor, marketing or promotional manager, or even some inventive illustrations or graphic designs, you’re going to need to do or find those for yourself.
• Even with the creative freedom self-publishing gives you, you’re still going to have to okay Amazon’s formatting and structure policies, which can be pretty strict at times.
• Amazon is a huge platform, but you won’t be able to sell your book with any other service or platform, while it is primarily available on their website. Not even on your own author’s page.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do I Check My Earnings Through KDP?

If you want to check how much you have earned through Amazon Kindle’s platform, go to the Sales dashboard page, and click the ‘Generate Report’ option. This report will contain records of sales, orders royalties earned in a specific period.

Do I Have To Pay Taxes On My Earnings Through KDP?

Yes, you are required to provide valid taxpayer identification on your earnings report.

Final Thoughts

With the proportionally massive amount of money authors get back on royalties with Amazon KDP, it’s no wonder that the number of self-published writers has exploded in the last few years.

However, make sure that you have considered all the options open to you before you decide on a route for publishing your work.

Because sometimes, you just want the marketing, editing, and designing powerhouses of a publishing company behind you. And for others, you can’t argue with the creative freedom that self-publishing gives you.

Especially with the amounts you get in royalties!