There are two ways to sell your book on Amazon: let Amazon print it for you (KDP print-on-demand), or sell copies you’ve had printed yourself through Seller Central. Most guides only tell you about the first. Which is a shame, because the second is often where the margin lives — and the two aren’t exclusive: plenty of UK authors run both at once. This guide covers how each route works, what Amazon takes, how to build a listing that actually converts, and the maths for deciding.
(Looking to sell second-hand books you own? Different game entirely — that’s trade-in and marketplace reselling, and this guide is for authors selling their own title.)
Route 1: Amazon prints it — KDP print-on-demand
Upload your files to Kindle Direct Publishing and Amazon prints a copy each time someone orders. Nothing to stock, nothing to post, and your book gets an Amazon product page with Prime-eligible delivery.
The commercial terms, plainly:
- You set a list price. Amazon pays you 60% of list, minus the printing cost of each copy, for sales on Amazon’s own marketplaces.
- Opt into Expanded Distribution (other retailers ordering through Amazon’s network) and the rate drops to 40% — on many books that’s pennies.
- The printing cost is deducted per copy and never falls with volume, and Amazon sets a minimum list price under which your book cannot go.
Worked example: a 250-page black-and-white paperback at £9.99 might carry roughly £3 of KDP print cost — so you’d receive about £3 a copy (60% of £9.99 = £5.99, minus ~£3). Respectable for zero risk. What KDP is genuinely for: the long tail — the steady trickle of Amazon orders you could never fulfil by hand, from readers you’ll never meet.
What this guide deliberately doesn’t cover: the KDP setup walkthrough, and how KDP’s print quality and options compare with a dedicated printer — both live on our Amazon KDP printing page. The short version relevant to selling: KDP’s format range is narrow, which matters most at the premium end — more on that under route 2.
Route 2: you print it — selling your own stock through Seller Central
The route most author guides skip. You register as a seller on amazon.co.uk, list your book, and sell copies from a print run you own — exactly as any small business sells any product on Amazon.
How the pieces work:
- Seller account. The Individual plan charges per item sold; the Professional plan is a monthly subscription (worth it from roughly 35 sales/month — check current rates when you register).
- Amazon’s cut. A referral fee of around 15% of the sale price in the books category.
- Fulfilment, two flavours. FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant): you post each order yourself — books post cheaply, but it’s your afternoon. FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon): you ship a box of stock to an Amazon warehouse; they store, pick, pack and post, your listing gets the Prime badge, and they charge a per-item fulfilment fee plus storage.
- Your listing. If your book already has a KDP page, your offer can appear on the same page; a book with its own ISBN can have its own listing you fully control.
Worked example, same £9.99 paperback: printed in a short run of 250, the per-copy cost might be ~£2.50. Sell via FBA at £9.99: minus ~£1.50 referral fee, minus roughly £2–3 fulfilment, minus your £2.50 print cost — you keep roughly £3–£4 a copy, with a better-made book, and via FBM (posting yourself) more again. The gap widens fast on premium formats.
Where route 2 wins outright: the books KDP can’t make. If your title deserves a proper sewn hardback — a special edition, foil blocking, ribbon marker, a book with shelf presence — print-on-demand simply doesn’t offer the construction. Authors selling special editions on Amazon are all running route 2, usually alongside a KDP paperback for the price-sensitive tail.
Either route: the listing does the selling
Amazon is a search engine with a checkout. The listing decides everything:
- Title and subtitle — the subtitle is indexed and readable: use it for what the book delivers (“A Practical Guide to…”), not poetry.
- The seven keyword slots (KDP) or search terms (Seller Central) — fill all of them with phrases readers actually type; no need to repeat words already in your title.
- Categories — you can request placement in additional categories beyond the defaults; a well-chosen niche category is where “#1 bestseller in…” badges come from.
- Description — first two lines show before the “read more” fold; earn the click.
- Author Central — free, and most authors never claim it: an author page, your photo and bio on every listing, and follow buttons. Set it up the day the book goes live.
- The cover at thumbnail size — your cover will mostly be seen 100 pixels tall in search results. If the title isn’t legible at that size, nothing else on this list matters.
Reviews, done legally
Reviews move the algorithm and the buyer, and the rules are stricter than most authors realise: no paying for reviews, no swaps, no incentives, no review-gating — and Amazon does remove reviews and close accounts over it. What works and is allowed: a proper advance-reader (ARC) round before launch, a polite ask in the book’s back matter, and telling your actual mailing list the book exists. Ten honest reviews beat fifty suspicious ones, and Amazon’s fraud systems agree.
Amazon Ads, in one paragraph
Sponsored Products ads (your book appearing in search results and on rival product pages) are the one paid channel native to Amazon. Start narrow: a manual campaign, exact-match keywords readers would genuinely use, a small daily budget, and watch ACOS (ad spend as a percentage of ad-driven sales) against your per-copy margin from the maths above — ads that cost more per sale than the margin they earn are a subscription to feeling busy. Ads amplify a listing that already converts; they cannot fix one that doesn’t.
So: which route?
| KDP (Amazon prints) | Your stock (Seller Central) | |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | None | A print run you own |
| Per-copy margin | Fixed, modest | Better at volume, best on FBM |
| Formats | Standard paperback (+ limited hardback) | Anything a bindery can make — sewn hardbacks, special editions |
| Effort | Upload once | Stock management, or FBA fees |
| Best for | The long tail, zero-risk testing | Established demand, premium editions, event authors with stock anyway |
The honest answer for most UK authors: start with KDP to prove demand, add route 2 when the numbers or the format justify it. If you already print short runs for events and direct sales — as most of our authors do — listing that same stock on Amazon is an afternoon’s work, not a strategy change. And Amazon is one channel, not the whole business: direct sales at full margin remain every self-publisher’s best economics, as our UK self-publishing guide sets out end to end.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Amazon take when you sell a book?
Via KDP print-on-demand: you receive 60% of your list price minus the per-copy printing cost (40% through Expanded Distribution). Selling your own printed stock through Seller Central: a referral fee of around 15% of the sale price, plus fulfilment fees if Amazon ships it for you (FBA), plus any subscription. Which takes less depends on your price point and print cost — the worked examples in the guide show both.
Can I sell books on Amazon that I had printed elsewhere?
Yes — that’s a normal Seller Central listing, the same as any product. You’ll need a seller account and (for a listing of its own) an ISBN. Many authors run KDP for the long tail and sell their own better-made stock — including formats KDP can’t print, like sewn hardbacks — alongside it.
Do I need an ISBN to sell my book on Amazon?
KDP will assign a free one if you don’t have your own, with strings attached (Amazon is recorded as the source, and it doesn’t travel to other retailers). To sell your own printed stock under your own imprint, buy your own from Nielsen — the ISBN section of our UK self-publishing guide covers costs and the trade-offs.
Is it worth selling books on Amazon FBA?
For an author with real ongoing sales, often yes: the Prime badge lifts conversion and you stop posting parcels. The fees (referral + fulfilment + storage) only make sense once your per-copy margin can absorb them — run the maths with your actual print cost first. For a handful of sales a month, FBM (posting yourself) keeps more of each sale.
How do I get reviews for my book on Amazon?
Legally: an advance-reader round before launch, a polite request in the book’s back matter, and telling your mailing list. Never pay, swap or incentivise — Amazon removes reviews and suspends accounts for it, and verified-purchase reviews from real readers carry the weight anyway.
Can I sell a hardback special edition on Amazon?
Yes — but not through print-on-demand, whose hardback options are limited and glued. Special editions (sewn binding, foil, ribbon, printed endpapers) are printed as a short run you own and sold through Seller Central. It’s the standard model for premium editions on Amazon, and the margin per copy is usually the best on the listing.