Like many writers, I’m interested in making my work available on Amazon.com’s Kindle ebook reader. They’ve had a direct publishing option for some time now, which is called (aptly enough) “Kindle Direct Publishing.”

When you’re talking ebooks, there are a number of issues that need to be dealt with. These include, but aren’t limited to: cover design, formatting, illustrations (if any), and the like.

One of the thornier ones is the matter of pricing and royalty structures.

Deciding on a price point for your book is a very personal matter, and it’s a topic I’m still thinking a lot about as I prepare to release my own book. I’ll most likely be in the under $5 bracket. There are a few reasons why that feels like a comfortable place for me: for one thing, I’m used to buying trade paperbacks of many excellent SF&F authors for around $7.99. That’s for a nice little paperback book with black and white text, color cover, and (maybe) a few black and white images inside.

It could also be the case that a slightly lower price point will be enough to get that hypothetical “indecisive reader” to give you a chance. That’s pretty important to me, and if a couple of dollars’ difference is what gets them to buy, I’m game.

But I didn’t really come here today to talk about ebook pricing. I’m sure there are plenty of articles out there about that topic. What I’d like to talk about are the royalty options for Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing specifically. You, the author, can choose the royalty you’d like to receive from the sale of each ebook. There are two options: 35% and “70%”.

Why did I put “70%” in quotes? Because it isn’t exactly a 70% royalty. Or more precisely: it is a 70% royalty rate, but there are a lot of terms and conditions that you have to think about, and that might affect you in ways that aren’t clear from the outset.

After reading through the Kindle Direct pricing page and doing a bit of basic math , I came up with a few things I think my fellow writers should be aware of when deciding on royalty options via Amazon. Keep in mind that there may be errors here. Please do read through my references and perform the relevant calculations for yourself .