I recently published not one but two books via Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). Some people – people with morals and principles, people who care about art and literature and fairness – are disappointed in me. They strongly object to the paltry amount of money Amazon gives to authors. And they believe I should be boycotting the site.

But is their criticism fair? Is Amazon any worse than other publishers? And why did I self-publish anyway?

Before I delve into the invariable “isn’t your work good enough to be published by a real publisher” question, let’s look at the financial facts about KDP.

How much does Amazon make off authors?

Regardless of how and where you publish your work, the price the customer pays is always considerably higher than the royalties – the percentage the author receives. Design, paper, printing and marketing costs cover the bulk of the cover price.

Traditionally, authors get around 10% of the sale price. Sometimes it’s as low as 5%. Sometimes as high as 15%. Authors of self-published books get a whole lot more – up to 70%. So, theoretically, you stand to do better financially if you do it yourself.

But ‘do it yourself’ is the important phrase here. You’ll have to do everything yourself. You won’t have the luxury of an editor, proofreader, marketing team or back catalogue. Never underestimate the amount of work involved in self-publishing.

KDP offers a fixed 60% royalty on paperbacks sold on Amazon. That sounds good. Except you don’t get 60% of the list price. You get 60% times the list price minus printing costs. Depending on the print cost, that book you’re selling for £5 will probably earn you about 80p.

No cost to the author

80p might not sound much but KDP costs the author nothing. (Other than blood, sweat and tears.) You have no upfront costs. You’re not paying for the print – Amazon is. Print on demand has made it possible for your book to be printed in hundreds, tens or individual units. No-one pays for anything until the customer buys a book.

I’ve no idea if any of that has changed your view – if you had one – or educated you if you hadn’t. But all in all, it’s not a bad deal. Now onto the sordid business of self-promotion and self-publishing.

Isn’t your writing good enough?

Trying not to sound too defensive, I am very happy to say that I am a ‘proper’ published author. (By which I mean, publishers have paid me to feature my work in their publications and portfolios.) And many of the pieces in my self-published book have won competitions and have appeared in ‘proper’ publications. Plus, I’ve also earned a pretty good living from my copywriting. So, no, I didn’t self-publish because my writing isn’t good enough.

I self-published because I chose to.

Vanity publishing by any other name

Yonks ago, back when I was still trying to earn a buck or two writing stories, self-publishing – or vanity publishing as it was known back then – was a complete no-no in literary circles. Anyone who had to resort to that sort of behaviour was clearly a second rate writer or ‘up his/herself’.

Getting a book deal – even getting an agent to even read your manuscript – has always been tough. So, for many authors, sick of rejection after rejection, just having the damned thing they’d slaved over for years published, printed and sitting on a shelf was reward itself. The fact it cost them hundreds (sometimes thousands) it was a price worth paying.

Some vanity-published authors went on to buy bulk copies of their work and trundled off to book fairs and talks in an attempt to shift a few and recoup some pennies. Realistically, any money they ‘made’ on sales was miniscule compared to the cost of publishing, marketing, travelling, shoe leather, etc.

In it for the money

But all of this supposes that authors publish their work to make money. To presume that authors make money from book sales is laughable at best and totally ridiculous at worst. A teensy weensy percentage of authors make a living through writing alone. Even the likes of Will Self or David Sedaris rely on teaching, public speaking and broadcasting to earn some decent cash.

Flash forward some twenty years and with the rise of online book sales (yes, yes, blame Amazon), increasing number of authors saw self-publishing – especially self-publishing with no upfront costs – as the panacea to all literary ills. Plus, they might even make a bob or two if they had enough time to promote the work, and persuade enough friends and family to leave reviews, through online book sales.

Compelled to write

But I’ve yet to meet any author, self-published or otherwise, who writes to make a living. They (and I) write because we can’t not write. To say we love it is to say we love sunny days or beach holidays or the smell of mulled wine at Christmas. We don’t love writing. Many of us actually hate it. Or at least hate not being able to do it as well as we want. It’s just something we have to do – are compelled to do.

I don’t know why I feel the need to justify why I self-published my books – and why I chose the demon Amazon as my publisher – but I do. So, I am.

Reason 1. I wanted proof I am a writer.

When people ask what you do, and you say I’m a writer they invariably ask what you’ve written. The backs of jam jars, HR policy documents and post-event emailers rarely impresses them. If I say loads of blog posts, short stories and several stage plays, they’re still disappointed. They want books. If you haven’t written books – and published and sold and had your book made into a movie or mini-series – you’re not a proper writer. I now have books.

Reason 2. I wanted something to talk about.

I do public speaking. I like the sound of my own voice. I think I’m entertaining. And people generally don’t mind listening to me rambling on. Some even find me funny. By having some books published, I could offer to talk about… books. Writing. How to do it. Why I do it. What I find hard about it. What I could pass onto other writers. The usual stuff.

Funny how writers spend so much time talking about writing, listening to other people talking about writing, learning about writing… and spend so little time actually writing.

Reason 3. I had stuff languishing on my computer.

 In the same way that I never (well, pretty much never) throw food away, I never waste words. Like the left-over Bolognese that becomes a chilli or the squishy pepper that becomes a soup, my stories, blog posts, sketches, plays, beginnings of novels, letters to friends, diary entries and other creative jottings are ‘repurposed’. Heaven forbid I should work on a new idea when I have loads of other stuff that could be reworked into a masterpiece! (I wish.)

By publishing a book of my short stories (13:22 and other short stories) and a book of my blog posts (In praise of mediocrity and other ramblings) I turned my left-over ingredients into a banquet. Well, a TV dinner or two, at least.

Reason 4. It makes me feel good.

Whether it’s a G&T at 6.00pm on a Friday, a Radley handbag for half-price from TK Maxx or a free millionaire shortbread from John Lewis, there are certain things in life that make me feel good. (Yes, there was nothing about the touch of a new born baby, world peace or saving the planet in that list. I am a very shallow and selfish person.)

Seeing my name on the spine of a book makes me feel good. It’s a simple as that.

Reason 5. I want to make money.

 No. Not from the sales of the books. Although I have made about £50. I promise not to spend it all at once. I use my own writing (blog posts, short stories, plays) to promote my work as a copywriter and trainer. Clients seem to be impressed by the fact that I’m an author. And my blog posts demonstrate my knowledge, experience and, modesty aside, writing skills.

I did it and I’m proud

Like I said, I’m not sure why I felt the need to write this post. I guess I thought it was better than just saying “I’ve published two books”.

I’ll let you decide if it is.