# Author's Copies at Cost from KDP -- beta



## Guy Riessen (Mar 27, 2016)

Amazon just sent me an email letting me know that I can order actual Author's copies through my KDP dashboard. These are not the formerly available *proof *copies with the big gray watermark across the cover. These are actual author copies that could be resold at local bookstores, conventions etc. They cost the printing costs plus a finally affordable shipping cost (if you get the 3-5 day shipping anyway).

This is the cost for me for 50 copies of a 120 page paperback novella

Items (50):	$114.00
Shipping & handling:	$23.00
Total before tax:	$137.00
Estimated tax to be collected:	$11.50
Order total:	$148.50

Feel free to add how much say IngramSpark, or anyone else, would cost--I'd be interested in finding that out too


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

Are you sure they don't have a watermark or "author copy" printed on the cover?


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

I got the email, too:

We have made updates to your account that allow you to order proofs and author (wholesale) copies of your paperbacks on KDP.

Proofs allow you to review a physical copy of your draft paperback prior to publication. Learn more here.
Author copies are copies of the live version of your paperback that you can order from Amazon. Learn more here.

When you order copies of your own book, you pay just the printing costs plus shipping and applicable taxes. Unlike CreateSpace, KDP proof and author copies for the UK and the rest of Europe are printed and shipped from within Europe.
By publishing a paperback on KDP, you can reach more readers through Amazon websites in the US and Europe, as well as manage your print and eBook publishing from one website. In addition, you can use the KDP website in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese or Dutch. Learn more here.


Best,
The Kindle Direct Publishing Team 


I don't use KDP print, so have nothing to play with.


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## Guy Riessen (Mar 27, 2016)

Monique said:


> Are you sure they don't have a watermark or "author copy" printed on the cover?


These are specifically called out as Wholesale Author Copies and are now a separate order button from what are now called Author Proofs (these do have the watermark). Prior to this change, there was only one choice for supposedly at cost ordering...now there are two different choices under the ellipses on the author dashboard.

Supposedly this is beta program for select publishers for which I received a specific email about an hour ago. I'm a nobody so far, with only 2 paperback sales, but I did complain to their CS about the lack of author's copies and added the fact that I would discount my own book, then order it with Prime to get around their ridiculousness then raise the price back up...which is exactly what I did.


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## C. Gold (Jun 12, 2017)

This is good news. I was going to publish with KDP because I figured they'd get this feature eventually, but they kept giving me unspecified error when trying to upload the PDF while CreateSpace did the same file just fine. Never did work out what the issue was. Oh well, maybe next book.


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## Guest (Nov 18, 2017)

Guy Riessen said:


> Feel free to add how much say IngramSpark, or anyone else, would cost--I'd be interested in finding that out too


For Ingram, presuming black and white interior, a regular size (like 5.5 x 8.5), standard service, and cheapest shipping (commercial ground):

Items (50):	$130.00
Handling:	$1.99
Shipping:	$15.38
Tax:	$11.55
Total:	$158.92

5x8 would be about $1 cheaper, 6x9 would be about $1 more (both due to shipping cost changes).


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## Guest (Nov 18, 2017)

And just for info purposes, here is Blurb.com's 

50 copies: $148.00
Shipping (Standard): $65.99
Tax: $16.05 (only applies in 8 states for them; but since yours is one, I added it in)
Total: $230.04


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## Guy Riessen (Mar 27, 2016)

Anma Natsu said:


> For Ingram, presuming black and white interior, a regular size (like 5.5 x 8.5), standard service, and cheapest shipping (commercial ground):
> 
> Items (50):	$130.00
> Handling:	$1.99
> ...


Oh yeah, my quote is actually for a 5x8. I forgot to mention that


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## Guest (Nov 18, 2017)

Guy Riessen said:


> I did complain to their CS about the lack of author's copies and added the fact that I would discount my own book, then order it with Prime to get around their ridiculousness then raise the price back up...which is exactly what I did.


I'm absolutely certain that this would prompt a positive reaction from Amazon, especially as I don't believe you are the only one to do it.

Great news.


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## Evenstar (Jan 26, 2013)

I tried to order a proof copy from kdp of a book a couple of days ago.

The shipping was around 6 GBP, which meant the proof would cost me over 11 GBP.

So I just changed the price of the paperback down to 4.99 GBP and ordered a copy using Prime (free shipping), then jacked the price back up.

This is silly! Why am I paying for shipping when I can simply order a copy of Amazon for free postage and next day delivery? Why aren't they making it cheaper?

(I have not been offered "author" copies yet)


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## notjohn (Sep 9, 2016)

Does everyone in the US who uses KDP Print see this option? (I print through CreateSpace, so of course I don't see it on my Dashboard.)


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## Steve Vernon (Feb 18, 2011)

I sell a lot of paperbacks through local craft fairs. This is great news to me. I turned my books into KDP paperback early on, just because I do not believe that Amazon does ANYTHING without having a darned good reason. I am waiting to be notified. I am hopeful it won't take too long to happen.


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## Guest (Nov 20, 2017)

notjohn said:


> Does everyone in the US who uses KDP Print see this option? (I print through CreateSpace, so of course I don't see it on my Dashboard.)


I'm in Greece/UK/USA and I'm not getting that option (yet). It is probably being rolled out on server updates.


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## 75845 (Jan 1, 1970)

C. Gold said:


> This is good news. I was going to publish with KDP because I figured they'd get this feature eventually, but they kept giving me unspecified error when trying to upload the PDF while CreateSpace did the same file just fine. Never did work out what the issue was. Oh well, maybe next book.


You could try importing the book into KDP Print from Createspace and see if that works. https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201952960


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## Lynn McNamee (Jan 8, 2009)

When you purchase the author copies, does it give you an option to change the shipping address?

I want to know if I can ship to those directly to other people.


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## Deke (May 18, 2013)

I'd also be interested in this, but my hard copies are through Createspace. I assume that Amazon will simply consume CS completely and stop the charade. I've been tempted by FB ads for something called "48 Hour Books."


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## Used To Be BH (Sep 29, 2016)

Deke said:


> I'd also be interested in this, but my hard copies are through Createspace. I assume that Amazon will simply consume CS completely and stop the charade. I've been tempted by FB ads for something called "48 Hour Books."


At least CS still offers author copies on the same terms as before. There is a shipping charge, but there always has been. It's hard to tell without knowing the weight of the books, but it seems smaller than the one KDP Print is charging, or am I wrong about that?

Why does something CS has been doing for years need such a gradual rollout at KDP Print? The whole mess will make me cling to CS until it ceases to exist.


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

Bill Hiatt said:


> Why does something CS has been doing for years need such a gradual rollout at KDP Print? The whole mess will make me cling to CS until it ceases to exist.


^this^


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## Guy Riessen (Mar 27, 2016)

Bill Hiatt said:


> At least CS still offers author copies on the same terms as before. There is a shipping charge, but there always has been. It's hard to tell without knowing the weight of the books, but it seems smaller than the one KDP Print is charging, or am I wrong about that?
> 
> Why does something CS has been doing for years need such a gradual rollout at KDP Print? The whole mess will make me cling to CS until it ceases to exist.


Not sure if you're right-we posted kdp, Ingram and blurb. If you have cs then the cool move would be to post the information for 50 approx 120page book (or something similar) so everyone could make an informed choice


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## Elizabeth Barone (May 6, 2013)

I'm confused about this author's copies thing; never has CS ever printed "author's copy" across the cover -- or anywhere else -- when I order mine. Thank goodness, too, because I hand sell them, and that would look tacky.

Now, proofs... Those have "proof" printed diagonally across the very last page. Still nothing printed across your cover.

I'm still using CS (and always will, at least until they tear it away), so maybe this is a KDP thing? If so, one more reason to avoid KDP paperbacks (for me, anyway).


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## Used To Be BH (Sep 29, 2016)

Guy Riessen said:


> Not sure if you're right-we posted kdp, Ingram and blurb. If you have cs then the cool move would be to post the information for 50 approx 120page book (or something similar) so everyone could make an informed choice


Closest I can come is 114 pages, but the book is 6 X 9, so on balance it's going to be slight more expensive than a 5 X 8 at 120 pages.

Unit cost: $2.21

Price for 50 110.55
Shipping: 23.00
Tax: 11.06
Total: 145.55

With KDP Print at 148.50 and Ingram at 158.92, CS wins by a small margin. Given all the glitches at KDP print, though, I'd still pick CS, even if it were slightly more expensive.


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## Used To Be BH (Sep 29, 2016)

Marty South said:


> What glitches?


I can only estimate informally, based on the reports on various forums, but Kindle Print complaints far outnumber CS ones. The most common scenarios seem to be the system choking on a cover or interior that worked fine on CS. Second most common are situations in which the book sticks in review for long periods of time.

There doesn't seem to be any consistent pattern I can discern. Some people have no problem; others have so many that they unpublish so they can republish elsewhere.


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## Lynn McNamee (Jan 8, 2009)

Marty South said:


> Lynn, to answer your question, I just began a test transaction. When you order authors' copies, it sends you to a regular shopping cart with the quantity you've selected. From there, it's processed just like a regular Amazon purchase. So, yes, you can designate different recipients.


Thank you!

Hey, since it's processed like a regular 'Zon purchase, if you have a Prime account, is the shipping free?


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## R.D. Smith (Jun 17, 2014)

Long time lurker here. 

I can answer a few questions related to ordering author copies.

I ordered an author copy a couple weeks ago and it’s the same copy a customer gets buying through Amazon. There’s no watermark on the cover or anywhere else in the book.

I ordered one copy with 3-5 day shipping. Shipping costs was $3.59. (I’m in the US) I’m a prime member. I didn’t get the option to ship free with Prime. If the option was there I didn’t see it.

The only real issues I’ve had with KDP is the cover. I transferred my book from CS to KDP a couple months ago. At first, KDP accepted the cover file from CS. Later I made a price change and the cover was rejected.

Having to replace the cover caused another problem. CS cover creator had a template that allowed me to upload a custom JPG front cover and JPG back cover. The template added the spine automatically. KDP cover creator doesn’t have this option that I could find. It only has a template to upload your own JPG front cover. You can’t upload a custom back cover with this template. If you can I couldn’t figure out how to do it. 

I had one more issue after using the KDP template. Once the new cover populated to the product page and in search results, it looked dull and washed-out compared to the CS cover. Just this week I had a custom PDF cover with front, back and spine made. I thought the issue was the template. I uploaded the new PDF cover on Monday night. It appeared on the product page this morning and looks only slightly better on the product page and in searches than the cover I created with the template.


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## Lynn McNamee (Jan 8, 2009)

RDS said:


> Long time lurker here.


Thanks for un-lurking to give some great information.


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## R.D. Smith (Jun 17, 2014)

No worries! I've gotten so much great information from Kboards I felt it was my duty to finally contribute.


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

elizabethbarone said:


> I'm confused about this author's copies thing; never has CS ever printed "author's copy" across the cover -- or anywhere else -- when I order mine. Thank goodness, too, because I hand sell them, and that would look tacky.
> 
> Now, proofs... Those have "proof" printed diagonally across the very last page. Still nothing printed across your cover.
> 
> I'm still using CS (and always will, at least until they tear it away), so maybe this is a KDP thing? If so, one more reason to avoid KDP paperbacks (for me, anyway).


This has been my experience. CS has also been prompt in replacing copies 'lost' in the post. They courier the missing copies within a few days, even if the originals had been shipped by the longer and cheaper surface mail.


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## notjohn (Sep 9, 2016)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> This has been my experience. CS has also been prompt in replacing copies 'lost' in the post. They courier the missing copies within a few days, even if the originals had been shipped by the longer and cheaper surface mail.


Perhaps it's my imagination, but ever since KDP Print Beta came to live with us, I find that CreateSpace shipping is all within three business days. My books come from South Carolina, as I recall (formerly Delaware).


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

notjohn said:


> Perhaps it's my imagination, but ever since KDP Print Beta came to live with us, I find that CreateSpace shipping is all within three business days. My books come from South Carolina, as I recall (formerly Delaware).


My books have to come all the way to South Africa, so usually take a few weeks. I haven't ordered any since KDP print arrived, so can't say what difference it has made to overseas orders.


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## Zana (11 mo ago)

Hello there my name is Zana I am a local author

I recently published my cookbook whitj Beta amazon
I just don’t understand why it’s taking so long for shipping
I also had first cookbook paperback
What is the word shipped into days can anyone help me out just to let me know what’s happening? 
thank you


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