Amazon KDP listing decision (2026): the new 70% price band, Select vs our own shop, Author Central follows

Read 26 Oct 2026 on KDP's own help pages plus two practitioner write-ups. Status for Cedwyn: PROPOSAL (new channel; KDP signup needs the owner's tax interview, bank and identity). Builds on the format/royalty table already in the project workspace; this file adds the 2026 changes and the decision steps.

What changed and what the rules are (KDP help, read)

• From 7 July 2026 the 70% royalty band on Amazon.com is $2.99-$12.99 (was $2.99-$9.99), "with equivalent changes in other KDP marketplaces". Amazon.co.uk table now: 70% option £1.77 min to £12.99 max; 35% option £0.77-£1.49 min by file size, £150 max. (G200634560)
• 70% royalty = 70% x (list price minus VAT) minus delivery cost (average $0.06 a unit, varies by file size), only for buyers in 70% territories; others get 35%. UK e-book VAT is 0%. (G200644210)
• KDP Select: free, 90-day auto-renewing terms; enrolled e-books go into Amazon's subscription (named "Kindle+" on KDP's Select page as read today) and get Select promotions. You can cancel within 3 days of an enrolment starting; after that, contact KDP. (G200798990)
• Select is exclusive for the digital edition: D2C and KDP Select are mutually exclusive on the same title; D2C and "wide" combine cleanly (publica.la decision framework, 2026; matches KDP's exclusivity term, wording of the term itself not re-read this run).
• Author Central (free, from KDP > Marketing): Author Page with books, bio in several languages, follower count. Followers get Amazon's notice of a new release or pre-order if they allow Amazon marketing emails. (G200644310)

Practitioner figures

• Subscription reads pay roughly $1.20-$1.50 per full read; one book with ~100 reads a month earns about $30-50, "not worth the cost of exclusivity for most people". Free days: 5 per 90 days. Test: if 70%+ of the category top 100 is in the subscription, it matters; under 30%, it likely does not. Standalones gain less than series. (ellenwroteabook.substack.com, 2026; figures not checked)
• Select makes sense mainly for a first/second book with under ~500 active readers in a subscription-heavy genre; Spanish/Portuguese/French authors often see 15-30% of sales outside Amazon (publica.la; not checked).

Decision steps

1. Category test: open the Kindle top 100 for "Welsh history" / "local history" / "genealogy"; count subscription badges. Under 30% = stay out of Select.
2. If any edition is sold on our own shop (Stripe/Gumroad), do NOT enrol it in Select.
3. Price inside the 70% band: list between £1.77 and £12.99 on .co.uk (and $2.99-$12.99 on .com). Anything priced above £12.99 drops to 35%.
4. File size matters: delivery cost is per MB, so a scan-heavy fixed-layout file loses royalty on every sale. Ship the smallest reflowable or Print Replica file that reads well; record the size before choosing price.
5. Free-elsewhere rule (from the earlier distribution research): if the same book is free elsewhere, Amazon may match to free and the royalty is zero. List only an edition that is not given away.
6. Day one: set up Author Central on .co.uk and .com, bio in English and Spanish, link every edition, add the Follow ask ("Follow on Amazon for the next volume") to the e-book back matter.
7. Measure: KDP dashboard orders per week vs direct-shop orders; if Amazon sales replace (not add to) direct sales for 8 weeks, reconsider.

How we apply it to Cedwyn

• PROPOSAL only (owner GO; owner does the KDP signup: tax, bank, identity). No account, listing or price change from the box.
• Current list prices: £9.99 v0.02 is inside the new £1.77-£12.99 band (70% option). The £31.99 bundle is outside it and would earn 35% if ever listed; keep bundles direct-only.
• Free v0.01 is the full compilation and is free elsewhere, so it is the wrong edition for Amazon (price match to free = £0). The better candidate is the shorter, reflowable companion (the ~221-page book named in the distribution note), never in Select, because our own shop sells it too.
• Category test above can run read-only now; write the count into the Sunday growth notes.
• Spanish/Patagonia readers: list in .es/.com.mx only if a Spanish edition exists; until then the bio line in Spanish is enough.

Sources

• kdp.amazon.com (eBook list price requirements, 7 Jul 2026 band, .co.uk table) - read
• kdp.amazon.com (eBook royalties, delivery cost) - read
• kdp.amazon.com (KDP Select, 90 days, 3-day cancel, Kindle+) - read
• kdp.amazon.com (Author Central, Follow) - read
• ellenwroteabook.substack.com (reads, free days, 70/30 test) - read; figures not checked
• publica.la/en/blog/kdp-select-vs-going-wide-vs-d2c-decision-framework (D2C vs Select, 15-30% non-Amazon) - read; figures not checked
• the project workspace (earlier KDP format/royalty table, free-match rule)

Raw Markdown: amazon-kdp-2026-price-band-select-vs-direct.md · version and changes: changelog · machine index: agents.json