Amazon, oh Amazon . . .

You may or may not have heard that Amazon is raising it publication prices starting June 20th of this year. What does that mean for authors?

What does that mean for you?

Well, its not that bad. It's not that good, either.

First, let me say that most authors write out of a need. I couldn't stop writing if I were only writing to myself. I do enjoy sharing my stories. I love sharing my family history. Some authors make enough money that writing can be their sole occupation. Most of us write for the sheer pleasure of it - and we dream of one day making enough money to write all day, all the time.

But, I digress. Back to Amazon . . .

Let me first say that Amazon has not raised its prices on the publishing end in a few years. They DID absorb Create Space a few years back. When they did, authors like me lost a large percentage of royalties when selling books through Create Space.

I will also say, for all those that do not know, that Amazon already gets a BIG chunk of an independent author's cut on paperbacks and, probably, with their new hardback option. (I haven't ventured into hardbacks yet.)

Granted, everything is going up in price. Once things go up, they don't go down. It was only natural that, eventually, price surges hit the publishing industry as well.

In looking at my books and the price increases on the publishing end, it appears that Amazon will eke into my profits by nearly $2.00 on every book. That doesn't sound like much, but when an author is already trying to keep costs of paperback books low, and when the profit margin is already only $5 to $10 on each book - $2.00 becomes more than chump change. For authors with an even smaller profit, which some will choose because they sell a whole lot more books, the loss is even greater.

That means that authors will have to raise prices on paperback books. They will have no choice. Yours truly has already raised the prices on all my books by $2.00.

What about Kindle and digital versions?

You can expect those to go up as well, as authors try to pull a profit margin near or equal to what they were making before.

It is what it is.

Amazon, oh Amazon . . .