Labels

Can Indie Authors Compete with £5 Books? My Thoughts on Sales, Royalties & the Road Ahead

​By D.C. Salmon | Updated: 19-02-2026

​Looking back at my original post, I was shocked at the tiny royalties coming back from international sales. Since then, I’ve made some changes to how I value my work. My Hardcover books (available online) are now priced at £14.99, which ensures I make just that little bit more on each sale to cover the rising costs of production.

​However, I’ve also realised that being "local" is just as important as being "premium." While the hardcovers are great for collectors, I have focused on stocking the Paperback editions in Unity (Queensgate, Peterborough).

​By stocking paperbacks locally, I can keep the price point accessible for people popping into the city centre, while still supporting a fantastic not-for-profit shop. It’s a balancing act; you want to be competitive with the "big names" in the bargain bins, but you also have to recognise the value of the months of research and writing that go into a Newman adventure.

 I was sitting here staring at my keyboard, wondering what I would write about this week. I often use this blog to get things off my chest – believe me, there are a lot of things that go around in my head every day, and most just get suppressed and locked away. This post comes out on a Friday, but I usually type things out through the week and schedule it to be published at the same time every week.


So, let's start with sales and the thorny issue of pricing.

💸 A Tale of Two Books (and a £1.20 Royalty)

I was talking to a work colleague the other day who mentioned she had been to The Works. "I got myself a new book," she said with a glint in her eye. "Two sentences in, and there it was... smut. I didn't have to wait!" she told me with a laugh.
"Well, you still haven't bought my book," I said, feigning disappointment.
"Your book's too expensive," she replied. "This one was £5. I can buy two books for less than the price of yours, and yours has no smut in it!"

For anyone not from the UK, The Works is a discount store that sells books, stationery, and other things very cheaply. And she has a point. My paperback is £9.99 on Amazon. It's tough to compete.


🛒 Competing with Cheap Paperbacks – Can We?

This really hit home the other day. I was surprised and excited to see that I had sold a hardback copy of "An Irish Mystery" in Deutschland (Germany). Then I looked at my royalty estimator on KDP. "That can't be right," I thought. So, I did some calculations.
My book sold in Germany for the equivalent of £12.99. Okay. Then, the printing costs come off. Then, Amazon's commission comes off (I suppose they handle the delivery and advertise it... sort of). I was left with the grand sum of... drum roll...
£1.20.

Yes, that's correct. £1.20 profit on a £12.99 sale. When my KDP account was set up by my publishers, they set the prices. I know KDP changed their royalty payment percentages recently, but being new to all this, I hadn't looked too closely. And as much as I'm not primarily motivated by how much money I make, I thought £1.20 was... well, let's just say I have a few choice words for it. I have unfortunately had to up the price of the hardback now to £14.99

This brings me back to my colleague buying a book for £5. As an indie author using a print-on-demand service like Amazon's, you simply cannot compete with that price. I would probably run at a loss if I had to sell my books at that price. 

🏪 Should I Sell My Own Books Online?

Ironically, I can buy author copies direct from Amazon myself and sell them in person, which I have done locally since not everyone uses Amazon. So, do I open my own online shop? I would still keep my books on Amazon, but maybe sell them directly in the UK myself. It's more work, but I'd also make more money. I need to find a platform – TikTok Shop? books.by? Shopify? I'm not sure what to do just yet.


📘 The Future of “A Newman Adventure” – Book 2 & Beyond
This uncertainty about sales and pricing naturally leads to my next dilemma: what to do with Book 2?
I need to meet with my ARC reader soon to go over anything she has noticed in the second book of "A Newman Adventure." Then, I need to decide when is the best time to release it. There are issues. One is that I haven't sold a lot of books yet. Another is that my audience is still too small, and reviews for Book 1 are almost non-existent. It feels like shouting from the rooftops to the whole world, but they all have their headphones in.
Book 2 is essentially ready to go, bar a few more edits, I would imagine. It will be ready to publish... unless...
Unless I go with a publisher service again. This is a real question for me. I just felt that for the money it cost, my ARC readers did a better job of identifying mistakes than the professional editing service did. Don't get me wrong, I was happy with the final product we created, but was the cost worth the outcome?

What should I do? If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Despite these dilemmas, work continues. I have been concentrating on editing Book 3, adding a few chapters, and making sure it reads well and complements the rest of the series. And, as I mentioned last time, I'm working on that FREEBIE – a prequel to the series! Follow my socials for updates. Hopefully, in the next month or two, I'll be revealing a title and then the cover, but I am hoping to bring Book 2 out first. The adventure moves forward, one way or another.







Enjoyed the ride? 📖

​I balance my writing life with a full-time day job, which means covers, research, and advertising all come out of my own pocket. If you’d like to see these books reach more readers—and help me stay caffeinated while I write them—you can support my work here. Your help keeps the "Stream" flowing and the books coming.



📬 Want to follow the journey?

I send occasional emails about writing, publishing, and the stories behind The Newman Adventures.

Newsletter subscribers also get an exclusive sneak peek of Book 2, An American Treasure.

👉 Join here: The Newman Chronicle 


📖 Enjoyed this post?

An Irish Mystery is a fast-paced historical adventure about stolen treasures, hidden histories, and the cost of obsession.

Ebook, Kindle Unlimited, Paperback & hardcover

👉 Available on Amazon: An Irish Mystery


You can also find me on Instagram / Bluesky / X / Facbook, where I share writing updates and behind-the-scenes moments.

Labels:
Location: United Kingdom

Comments

  1. Milena Femenías20 June, 2025 14:32

    Hi. I totally identified with your experience and I think many others feel the same way. This path of self-publishing can be frustrating.
    What happened to you with your colleague happened to me with friends and I can't deny that it hurt. I can't say that I had expectations that they would be my first readers because I thought that because they were friends it was something that would come naturally, but it didn't. I didn't stop at that.
    I didn't dwell on that, just like I didn't dwell on the reviews, or the sales, or the profits. I simply relaxed and I'm letting everything go the way it has to go, giving my best to promote my book.
    As for publishing another book, I have one ready too, but I realized that for some reason I was in a hurry and, again, I decided to relax and give time to my first book and to me. I decided to focus and leave for next year a new release because in this time I will learn better how all this works, no rush, no pressure.
    Cheer up, this journey is just beginning and the important thing, for me, is to enjoy it.

    Milena.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. D.C. Salmon20 June, 2025 15:19

      Hi Milena,
      Thank you for interacting; I really like to hear about other people's experiences. I have actually been very lucky, as a lot of my work colleagues bought my book and none of them baulked at the price. They have been really supportive. In fact, the lady in question is a good friend, and I know a lot of what she said was tongue-in-cheek.
      I'm hoping that teachers will be doing most of their reading over the holidays, and that's when the reviews will come flooding in! 🤔
      Regarding the series, I think the reason I've been looking at getting it all out there is because I'm in the middle of writing book four and a prequel to use as a reader magnet. I just want the whole series to be available. I also understand that "An Irish Mystery" has only been out for a month.

      Delete

Post a Comment