If you’ve ever wanted to publish your own book but don’t know where to start, you can now do it from the comfort of your own home with the help of Amazon.
While self-publishing has long been seen as a ‘last resort’ for authors to get their books out to the public, or an option if they are unable to secure a traditional publishing deal, more and more are seeing it as a preferred way to publish as you have more freedom to do what you like.
Even best-selling authors, such as Francesca Cavallo, have taken to self-publishing as their go-to publishing method, with Cavallo opting to publish her latest children’s book through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).
But how much money can you actually earn from publishing your own books through Amazon? To give an insight, fantasy author R. A. Sandpiper has taken to social media to break down exactly how much money she’s earned in her first year of being a self-published author.
“I’ve done the math, it’s horrible, but I’ve done it. One year as an indie fantasy author. One year completed,” she said at the start of her video.
Having published the first book in a trilogy on the June 9, 2024, Sandpiper decided to break down and explain exactly how much money she’s earned from her books in her first year.
Within these 12 months, she has released a trilogy of books in paperback while one of them is also available in hardback. She also has one audiobook version released and is planning on making the other two into audiobooks as well. Sandpiper also shared that the series has almost 1000 reviews on Goodreads as a series, with an average rating of 4.3 out of 5 and a similar rating on Amazon.
She shared that she earned $415 (£305) in her first month, adding that all her earnings were in dollars. She made $480 (£354) in July, $280 (£206) in August, and $340 (£250) in September.
She then went on to release the second book in the trilogy in October, which boosted her earnings to $658 (£485). That November she also released a novella, which helped get her earnings that month to $537 (£396). In December, she made another $407 (£300).
As the new year started, she shared that she earned $371 (£273) before her earnings for February once again boosted up to $729 (£537).
“That month, I had a Bookbub featured deal, which I did spend $500 to get, so up to you if you think that was a good deal,” Sandpiper said.
Her earnings continued into March, when she earned $562 (£414) in book sales, as well as $408 (£301) in April. She then released the third and final book of her trilogy in May 2025, which helped her earn $1,300 (£958). She then added an estimate of $180 (£133) for the first days of June, as that would complete one whole year of sales.
“And that totally makes $6,650 US dollars. That’s how much I brought in, which is around £4900,” Sandpiper revealed. “That’s what Amazon has paid me, that’s my Amazon KDP earnings for one full year with three books and a companion novella out in a complete trilogy.”
“Also, I’m gonna add in $3,250 (£2394) which is any other money I brought in,” she said, explaining that it included an audio book deal, book boxes, book clubs, as well as profits from signed books that she sells through her own website.
“I have made in one year, like gross income, $9,900. I have spent about $6,000, not including the signed copies stuff that I mentioned earlier, but the other expenses is $6,000,” she shared. “So in one year as an indie published author of three and a half books, I’ve made $3,900, or £2,880.”
She went on to say that while she was happy with the success of her books and having been able to earn some money from her writing hobby, she still noted that it’s not enough to live on.
“If we assume that I’m gonna continue at the rate that I’m currently at, it would probably take me three or four series before I would start to see this being a commercial success, sorry not commercial success, before I can see it as a salary,” Sandpiper shared.