Book Price Changed Without Notice? What Every Indie Author Should Watch For

 

When my book's price changed on Amazon without my consent, I was confused and frustrated. Here's what happened and what indie authors need to know.

🙌 Thank You & Quick Update

First, a big thank you to everybody that read my blog last week or at least took a peek. It had more views than any other post I’ve put out there, so again, thank you.

This week has felt more positive than the last few. Like I just mentioned, blog views have gone up, and my follower count has started to rise on Instagram. This might be controversial, but for me, Blue Sky is proving better than X (Twitter)! I just get no traction on X. TikTok/BookTok isn't great yet, but it is the newest platform I'm on. I haven't sold as many books this month on Amazon, but I have sold books, and people have read "An Irish Mystery" on Kindle Unlimited. I've also sold just as many paperbacks from my own personal stock as I've sold on Amazon.

I think we humans are never completely happy; it seems to be in our DNA that we always want more. And I do! I want more people to read my book and enjoy it. But all in all, I cannot complain. Onwards and upwards.

🕵️‍♂️ The £11.99 Price Mystery

So, why the question at the start? We deserve more, don't we?

I'm writing this because today, Monday 23rd July, something happened on my Amazon account. I was scrolling through Amazon books, and there was my book. I had to do a double-take because my paperback was now listed for £11.99. I couldn't understand it, as I had originally listed it for £9.99. I then proceeded, as you do, to search the internet for reasons why my book price might have gone up on KDP. There were loads of articles, but none seemed to make sense for my situation.

I then went into my KDP account, and my book was still listed at £9.99. "What is going on?" I thought to myself. I decided to click on the 'adjust book price' section to see if I could reset it. It was then I noticed a few extra things I hadn't seen before. The reason was VAT. Amazon had automatically added VAT on top of my £9.99 list price, and after rounding it up by a penny, the customer price was now £11.99. It was the same in other countries too; VAT was added to the book prices, obviously with different percentages in different countries. This was not on there before.

I searched the internet and there it was Novels and fiction books are zero rated not exempt but still £2 VAT shouldn't have been added or at least thats how I read it. 

I contacted Amazon via their online chat spoke to somebody who was looking in to it he eventually got back to me to explain he would have to send it to somebody internally and I would recive an email. So, we waited, I put out a few social media posts to tell people of the mistake and that I was in the process of trying to get it rectified. 

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💰 Let’s Break Down the Numbers: Royalties Explained

I am new to all this, but let me explain how the money is calculated and why it's so hard for us indie authors to survive.

Let's go with the price Amazon has listed it for: £11.99.

As the author of this book, I only make royalties on my original list price of £9.99, not the final £11.99 price the customer pays. Are you with me so far?

So, the calculation looks something like this:

My List Price (£9.99) - Print Cost - Delivery Costs - Amazon's Commission = My Royalty of £2.47

The absolute least I can sell my book for on Amazon is £8.80. But once you add VAT to that, it brings the customer price out at above the £9.99 I originally wanted anyway! This means I cannot sell it for £9.99 again on Amazon.

📉 The Bigger Issue for Indie Authors

My plea to all of you is this: if a self-published author's book looks more expensive than a bestseller from a huge publisher, please don't let it put you off buying it. These big corporations and systems are squeezing even more out of us, and I promise you, a lot of these stories are worth the money we are asking.

📬 The Saga Continues: Amazon’s (Lack of) Response

For everyone reading, I wanted to add a quick follow-up to this post. After contacting Amazon KDP for clarification on the pricing and VAT issue, I finally received their latest official response this morning.

Unfortunately, there is no real outcome yet. This is what they said:

We need a little time to look into this with our technical team. I’ll reply and send you more information within 10 business days.

As you can probably imagine, being told to wait another ten business days is incredibly frustrating. Let's just say my reply wasn't simply "thank you."

Marketing as an indie author is hard enough as it is; having to navigate opaque technical issues like this on top of everything else makes our lives even harder.

The wait continues... I'll create a new post once I have a final resolution. 

❓ So What Do We Do? (Authors & Readers)

If you are an indie author yourself, I’d love to hear from you. Please tell me what you do. Are most of your sales on Amazon? Do you use another company? Do you sell your books directly, and if so, how? Through your website, a platform like Shopify, or something else? or do you rely on e-books?

And my final question to all of you: Is £11.99 too expensive for a new paperback book in 2025?

        🧠 Indie authors: have you faced sudden price changes or VAT confusion on KDP?

Let’s talk in the comments 👇 — I reply to every one.

📚 Or support an indie author and buy An Irish Mystery!

            

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💬 Let’s Chat!

Have you ever run into surprise price changes or VAT issues with your book listings?
Whether you're an author or a reader — I’d love to hear from you.
Leave a comment below 👇 or reach out All my links HERE! Amongst others.

Visit my website: dcsalmonbooks.com