How to market a self-published book, when you are the publisher.
Most book marketing advice applies whichever way you publish. A few things change when you publish yourself: you control the book page and the price, you buy your own books at print cost, and nobody else will pitch bookstores or the press for you. This guide covers what is different, what to do about bookstores and libraries, and a 90-day plan.
About the sources. The KDP and IngramSpark facts below were read on their own help and guidance pages on October 21, 2026, and each is linked. Both companies change their terms. Check the linked pages before you set a price or enroll a book.
What is different when you publish yourself
Self-publishing means you are the publisher of record. On a service such as Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) or IngramSpark you upload the files, set the details and decide the price. Many authors also hire editors, designers or a full-service company for the production work; the marketing differences below hold either way, because they come from who controls the book.
| You control | What it means for marketing | Where to go deeper |
|---|---|---|
| The book page: description, keywords, categories | You can test and change them whenever you like, so treat them as marketing copy, not a one-time form | Lesson 3 |
| The list price | You choose the trade-off between royalty per copy and a price that suits your reader | Below |
| Author copies at print cost | Giving books away is cheap, so copies can become your main marketing budget | Lesson 7 |
| Bulk and direct sales | You can quote a bulk price to a company or event host yourself, and sell signed copies from your own site | Lesson 8 |
| The ISBN and imprint | The publisher name on the book is your choice, if you buy your own ISBN | Below |
| Bookstore terms | Discount and returns are settings you choose, and they decide whether stores will order | Bookstores |
Control over copies matters more than most authors expect. Ari Meisel left a traditional publisher partly because it charged him over $10 a copy for his own book, which made giving copies away hard (story). Ari is a Scribe Media author; his story, and the others linked here, show strong results that are not typical and that nobody can promise.
Price, royalties and author copies
Royalties on Amazon
KDP's paperback royalty page offers 50% or 60% on paperbacks sold on Amazon, depending on list price. On Amazon.com, list prices up to $9.98 earn 50% and prices from $9.99 earn 60%. The royalty is the rate times the list price, minus printing costs.
Author copies
KDP sells author copies at print cost, multiplied by the number you order, and says this is the lowest price it can offer, with no further discounts (author copy cost). Shipping is charged separately. KDP also says you will not receive royalties for the purchase or resale of a proof or author copy (proof and author copies). When you sell one yourself, the margin is yours instead.
KDP's own example uses a $15 list price and a $5.00 printing cost. Using those numbers:
| How the copy moves | What you get |
|---|---|
| Sold on Amazon.com (60%) | $4.00 royalty |
| Sold through Expanded Distribution (40%) | $1.00 royalty |
| Author copy sold at your event for $15 | $10.00, less shipping on your order |
| Author copy given to a prospect | Costs you $5.00 plus shipping and postage |
Your printing cost depends on page count, trim size and ink. Check yours in KDP's calculator.
For a book whose job is clients or talks, the last row is often the most valuable. Michael Erath puts his all-in cost at about $16 per book mailed to a prospect, in a branded package, and calls the book his firm's best lead magnet (story). Lesson 7 has the math for deciding how many copies to give.
Your own ISBN
KDP offers free ISBNs for paperbacks and hardcovers. Its ISBN and imprint page says a free KDP ISBN can only be used on KDP and shows the imprint as "Independently published." If you want your company or brand name as the publisher, or plan to distribute the same edition through IngramSpark, buy your own ISBN.
Price for the reader
Scribe Media's chapter How to properly price your book warns that in business and personal development categories, a price that is too low can make readers value the book, and its author, less. Within a sensible range, a nonfiction author who wants clients gains more from readers than from the extra dollar per copy.
Bookstores
Being available to order and being on a shelf are different things. A bookstore has to choose to order your book, and stores decide based on terms and local interest.
Two routes into the trade
KDP Expanded Distribution. KDP's Expanded Distribution page says enrollment is free and makes paperbacks available to distributors, so bookstores, online retailers, libraries and academic institutions can order them. Hardcovers are not eligible. The book's ISBN must not have been submitted for distribution through another service. The royalty is 40% of list price minus printing costs. Enrolling does not mean distributors will accept the book, and once accepted it can take up to eight weeks to become available.
IngramSpark. IngramSpark is Ingram's self-publishing service, and Ingram is the wholesaler many stores already order from. Its guidance on selling to bookstores says stores are more likely to order a book that is returnable, and recommends a 55% wholesale discount so the store keeps a 40% retail margin. Its discount guide gives the allowed U.S. range as 40% to 55%. Returns cost you money when books come back, so decide how many bookstores you will actually work on before you choose.
A decision rule
| If the book's main job is | Bookstores matter | Do this |
|---|---|---|
| Winning clients | Less | Make it orderable, then spend your effort on copies for prospects and one local launch event |
| Booking talks | Some | Make it orderable so hosts and attendees can buy, and ask conference bookstores to stock it |
| Reaching readers | More | Consider a returnable trade setup at a standard discount, and pitch stores one by one |
Local stores
IngramSpark suggests pitching local independent stores in person with a plan to bring people in, and notes some may prefer consignment or an event to test interest. Consignment means the store pays only for copies it sells. Eddy Arriola emailed the owner of a Miami bookstore he had loved for decades and its 175 launch seats sold out within an hour (story). Nicholas Capman got a table at his local Barnes & Noble by walking in and asking (story). Erik Huberman keeps a box of books in his car and asks conference bookstores to sell them on consignment (interview). Bring a one-page sheet with the ISBN, price, how to order and the date of your event.
Libraries
Both KDP Expanded Distribution and IngramSpark make paperbacks available to libraries. IngramSpark's discount guide notes that libraries buy from a set budget and do not need a high discount, but they do need complete, accurate book details to find and catalog your book. Three things help:
- Clean details. Subtitle, description, categories and author bio consistent everywhere the book is listed.
- Reader requests. Many libraries let patrons suggest a purchase. Ask readers who would rather borrow than buy to request it at their own library.
- A local angle. Your home library and the libraries in the towns you write about are the most likely to say yes to a copy or a talk.
Bulk buyers in education behave like libraries with a purpose. A Texas A&M professor bought 300 copies of Lorenzo Gomez's book as required reading (story), and more than ten universities require or provide Rich Kurtzman's book (story).
No publicist: who does the pitching
When you publish yourself, nobody is assigned to pitch the book unless you hire someone. For a nonfiction author, the pitches that matter most are small and specific: podcasts your reader hears, newsletters in your field, associations that run events. You know the subject and the audience better than anyone you could hire, which makes these pitches easier to write yourself.
Hadley Ott, author of Drug-Free Crohn's, reached about 15 podcasts and two university talks through steady cold outreach (story). Devin Fish lined up podcast interviews with a PR team (story). Either works. If you hire help, pay for pitching to shows your reader hears, and ask to see the list before anyone sends a word. The book promotion ideas guide has 38 options sorted by cost.
A 90-day plan
The ideal is to start a year before launch. If you have about three months, this plan covers the essentials. Each step points to the lesson that covers it. The Launch Plan Builder turns it into dated tasks from your launch day.
Days 1 to 30: set up
Write down the one reader and the book's one job (Lesson 1) and fill in the one-page plan. Settle the description, seven keywords and three categories (Lesson 3). Order a proof, then your first author copies. Decide on Expanded Distribution or IngramSpark and your ISBN. Invite early readers (Lesson 4) and send your first podcast pitches (Lesson 5).
Days 31 to 60: launch
Send advance copies. Book one event at a local bookstore or a room full of people who know you, with a card reader and a helper. Write the three launch emails. Run launch week day by day (Lesson 6), and decide where every author copy goes before it arrives.
Days 61 to 90: put it to work
Mail copies to named prospects and give one to each new client (Lesson 7). Pitch two event hosts a week and ask about copies for every seat (Lesson 8). Start a newsletter you can keep (Lesson 9) and set up a one-page scorecard (Lesson 10).
Say you are a financial planner self-publishing a book for people five years from retirement, with three hours a week. Days 1 to 30: your own ISBN with your firm as the imprint, Expanded Distribution on, 100 author copies ordered, 40 early readers invited from your newsletter. Days 31 to 60: a launch evening at your town's bookstore and an email to clients. Days 61 to 90: a copy to every prospect after the first meeting, and a talk pitched to two local associations. No ads, no rank target.
If you would rather have a team handle production and publishing while you keep the marketing decisions, Scribe Media's pricing page shows what that costs. The Scribe Method chapter on picking a publishing option compares the routes.
Sources, read October 21, 2026: KDP: Paperback royalty; KDP: How much do proof or author copies cost?; KDP: Proof and author copies; KDP: Expanded Distribution; KDP: What is an ISBN and imprint?; IngramSpark: How to sell your self-published book to bookstores; IngramSpark: Why should I discount my book?