my book is supposed to be released today, and I just found out it’s showing up under another author’s profile on Amazon because we have the same name

I wrote The Untamed Mind: Reflections at Seventeen, and somehow it got linked to another Karan Singh’s author page. I’ve already contacted support, but I have no idea how long this is going to take or how to get my book separated from their profile.

Has anyone dealt with this before? Do I need to create a separate Author Central profile, or does Amazon have to fix the association from their end?

I really don’t want my book launch getting messed up over this

I've been publishing books through Amazon KDP, and I wanted to share some actual numbers from my royalty dashboard.

My print publishing results so far:

• Print copies sold: 156
• Print royalties: ₹62,013.51
• USD equivalent: Approximately $648
• Average royalty per copy: Around ₹398 ($4.15)

I'm based in India, so I've included both INR and USD for comparison. The dollar amount is an approximate conversion, not the actual USD payout.

Honestly, 156 copies might not seem like a huge number, especially when you see authors talking about selling hundreds or thousands of books every month. But earning this amount in print royalties from those copies is encouraging.

A few things I've learned along the way:

• Publishing a book is only the beginning. Getting the right readers to discover it is a different challenge.
• Cover design, pricing, keywords, descriptions, and niche selection all deserve attention.
• Different books can perform very differently, even within the same catalogue.
• Sales and royalties are not the same as profit. Advertising, editing, formatting, taxes, and other expenses need to be considered.

For context, these are print royalties only, not my total KDP earnings across ebooks, print, and Kindle Unlimited. I'm sharing the results as a transparent snapshot rather than claiming this is a typical outcome.

I'm curious about other KDP authors here.

A few questions:

1. How many paperback or hardcover copies have you sold?
2. What is your average royalty per print copy?
3. Are you seeing better results from paperbacks, ebooks, or Kindle Unlimited?
4. If you're publishing from outside the US, how are you approaching marketing to US readers?

I'd love to hear your actual experiences, including the challenges. I think sharing real numbers is more useful than simply saying that KDP is profitable.

Note: Results vary by book, pricing, marketplace, and expenses. My figures are personal results, not a guarantee of future earnings.

I have broadened my marketing approach and have connected with a lot of mini-influencers on Instagram… my offer is free book for an honest review, similar to an ARC (I am sending both physical and digital books).

Doing this, I have run out of my physical stock. I put in an order of 20 on 9/13 that says it will arrive between 10/23-10/27. Which is an insanely long time, but that gripe is for another day.

My question: Has anyone purchased retail copies to hold you over? Amazon states you can do this… but then in the same breath states that any actions to try and inflate one’s sales ranking—such as bulk buying of one’s own book—can lead to a ban.

Has anyone ordered retail copies? If so, how many?

I've posted a few times about this little adventure. I've published a grand total of 8 books now, four in a series, two in a related genre and two stand alone pieces. I have three more coming down the pipeline by year end. That exhausts all the writings from the years 2000-2026. The cupboard is empty and i'm beginning from a blank sheet of paper, but with a bit of experience. Current books at are 66,405 Kenp and 94 orders since I began this little journey in mid September. First amazon ad ran 09/21 and I got pretty immediate traction on book one and i'm seeing good read through it appears on the series. I've released the first book of the series on booksy and the fussy librarian. I'm about $75 under water advertising spend vs revenue. I believe we are going to call this a win and check the write a book box off. Been quite an adventure. I intend to keep writing and trying to keep the series alive, but doubt it will ever be financially viable. Just a great and fun retirement project.

Hey everyone,

​I wanted to share a quick reality check and some numbers from my recent promotional efforts for my crime thriller, just to see if others are experiencing this exact same disparity or if I need to tweak my strategy.

​Here is what the data looks like over the recent period:

​Free promotion: ~144 downloads in 7 days.

​Paid period (Regular price): 2 sales in 30 days.

​The moment the price tag goes back on, sales hit a brick wall. It’s the classic "Zero-Dollar Gulf"—readers will hoard free e-books without hesitation, but even a minimal price tag creates a massive psychological barrier if you don't have a huge existing brand.

​My biggest pain point right now: Review conversion.

Out of those 144 free downloads and past newsletter promo pushes (we even tried paid promo newsletters like BookRaid), the review conversion rate is virtually 0%. People grab the book, but very few leave feedback or stars on Amazon/Goodreads unless prompted heavily.

​A few questions for the community:

​How do you bridge the gap between free downloaders and actual paid readers?

​What is your actual conversion rate for getting reviews from free promo days?

​Does adding a direct, personal Call-To-Action on the very last page of the e-book actually help move the needle for Amazon reviews?

​Would love to hear your experiences, numbers, or any tough love. Cheers!

I mean it, it totally worked.

I was so hung up on the cover of my illustrated book. Truth is, it was cute and MIGHT have worked in a bookstore, absolutely not on Amazon as a tiny thumbnail, though. Also it didn't tell the story of Jimmy's Two Homes at all, there was no dilemma, just fun y characters scattered around.

A few people on this sub said my cover needed work and once I admitted to myself that they might be right, things started slowly turning to the better. I have a little baby at home so designing the new one took me a week, however, strangers keep ordering my children book!

It's no huge sales, but it's something beyond family and friends.

Thanks, honest Redditors!

I was lucky enough to be head of Book Marketing for the last couple years - a time of rapid growth. I had personally created all their book marketing services and strategies.

2 months ago I left for personal reasons. I am thankful for the experience and the ability to help authors.

Feel free to ask me anything.

Roy Rubanenko.

Rules:

1. Don't use this platform to slander or badmouth Spines. I am here to help. They were fair to me and I won't participate in activities that harm their reputation.

2. Feel free to ask me about book marketing, promotion tools, technologies, etc. even ask about Spines, but I cannot answer things that are prohibited or sensitive as a former employee.

3. Please be cool. If you don't like my answers, at least be respectful.

As far as I can tell the official KDP site doesn't list what fonts are good to use when formatting an ebook for KDP.

Where can I get a list of safe fonts?

Edited to add I am aware of the reasons one should avoid specifying fonts, but I like including specific fonts in the font families in my css rules, so they'll use a particular font when it's present but fail gracefully to more generic fonts if it's not.

I know that different devices have different fonts and that there's a limit to how much you should try to set the font. I usually just specify the basic serif or San serif font families in the css.

But I'm just curious if there's a list of "these fonts are generally available on most Kindles"? Bookerly, Garamond... ???

I'm so excited! I've only ever broken 1000 page reads once, which was last month, so this is amazing! I've been publishing romance novellas since earlier this year, but have recently switched niches and started publishing again under an old abandoned pen name that never got much attention. My writing has improved a lot since and I'm so happy that people are reading it!

Do I think I'll hit this level of page reads every day going forward consistently? Absolutely not. I think it's just an influx of people reading my new short from a few days ago. But maybe one day when I have more works under my belt, I'll reach this level again.

That's all! Just wanted to share with everyone :)

So I have a paperback which costs 9.67 of course the fees should go off that as well so it should bring only like 3-4 dollars? Yet I got $11.23 royalties from one sale from this book, I'm very confused.

Paperback $9.67 USD

• $11.23\* Estimated royalties
• 1 Processed orders
• 0 Pages read

Where is it coming from? The price is wacky. Was my book pirated?

Does anyone know how KENP payouts are calculated? Is it based on the page breakdown of your book vs. the cost to purchase, or is there some other method?

Recently, my book has picked up readers on Kindle Unlimited, and I cannot figure out how the payout is calculated vs. pages read.

Thanks in advance.

Had 35 Paperback sales show up today out of the blue!

I'm hoping someone here with experience dealing with KDP's Content Review Team can offer some advice.

I recently published three professional desk reference guides through Amazon KDP. All three were approved and are live in both Kindle and paperback formats.

I then submitted Guide 4 using the same title structure and naming convention.

However, Amazon repeatedly told me there was a problem with the word "Guides" in the title information.

Over several days, I repeatedly asked one simple question:

If Guides 1, 2 and 3 were approved using the same naming convention, why is Guide 4 being rejected?

Despite multiple emails and requests for clarification over 8 day period, I never received a clear answer explaining the inconsistency.

Yesterday, I received an email stating that Amazon had upheld its decision not to offer the book for sale and would provide no further explanation.

Earlier that day, both formats were showing as Draft. After receiving the email, I discovered that the paperback had been marked BLOCKED, while the Kindle edition remained in Draft.

I'm particularly disappointed because these are practical desk reference guides intended to be used by professionals at their desks. The paperback format is an important part of the product.

I understand that Amazon has publishing policies, and I'm happy to comply with legitimate requirements. What I don't understand is why the same naming convention was accepted for three books but not the fourth.

My questions to experienced KDP authors are:

1. Has anyone successfully had a BLOCKED paperback reinstated?
2. Is there a senior KDP review team or alternative contact who can independently examine a Content Review Team decision?
3. Is there any formal appeal process beyond repeatedly contacting KDP support?

I'm not looking to bypass Amazon's rules. I'm simply seeking a consistent explanation and a fair review.

Any practical advice from someone who has experienced this would be greatly appreciated.

Hi everyone, I’m an author based outside the US, and I’d really appreciate your help.

I registered my Amazon and KDP accounts using a Gmail address. Google disabled that email account, and several appeals have been unsuccessful. I can no longer receive verification emails, so I’m unable to sign in to either Amazon or KDP.

My book is currently available for preorder, with a release date of October 25, 2026. I’m worried because I can’t access the account to manage the release.

I contacted regular Amazon customer service, but they referred me to KDP support. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a way to reach KDP support without signing in.

During another phone call, an Amazon representative told me my account would be closed within 48 hours and that I would receive a text confirmation. More than three days have passed without confirmation, and the preorder listing is still live. I don’t know whether the request actually reached KDP.

Has anyone successfully recovered access after losing their registered email address?

Is there an official support channel or identity-verification process I can use without signing in? If recovery isn’t possible before release, how can I ask KDP to cancel the preorder?

I’m looking for a legitimate recovery or support process. Any firsthand experience or official contact links would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

This is mainly for ebooks, but also can be for print media, but what catches your eye when looking for a new fantasy book to read?

I’m about to release the second edition of my debut novel and I’m curious… when did you break even and actually start turning a profit on your writing?

Was it on your first?

Your third?

Or your tenth book?

Hi, I published 2 books this month. (2nd published today) But not a single book was sold, and no KENP reads as well. Any advice?

Should I forget about being a writer? Or should I continue?

Ciao a tutti! Ho finito da qualche giorno il mio primo libro horror. 4 racconti che si incontrano tra loro, tra situazioni evidenti e altre così sottili che forse solo un lettore attento può collegare. Sto cercando di farlo uscire entro fine mese su kdp anche tramite ebook.

Voi cosa vi aspettate da un libro del genere? Vi piacerebbe scoprire di più?

My paperback is listed at $6.99 on Amazon.com, and I normally earn around $0.92 per sale.

Today, I noticed a royalty of $6.19 for a single sale in the US marketplace. At first, I thought it might be some kind of adjustment, but the print royalty report shows these figures:

• Average list price without tax: $14.60
• Average offer price without tax: $14.60
• Average manufacturing cost: $2.57
• Royalty: $6.19

The book's list price in my KDP dashboard is still $6.99. I haven't intentionally changed it.

Does Amazon occasionally change the retail price of a paperback on its own, or could this be a reporting issue or some kind of royalty adjustment?

Has anyone experienced something similar? I'm trying to understand why the report shows an average list price of $14.60 when my actual list price is $6.99.

Thanks!

I uploaded a book on Amazon KDP today. I got an email from Amazon that my book is now live on KDP, but unfortunately for some reason whenever I click on the link, I get a message saying something is broken and I should go back to the Amazon webpage 😢

KDP is rejecting my adhar card as valid id what should i do.

I wanted to add back matter to my paperback to acknowledge my editor. I owe her a signed copy. I downloaded the PDF from my KDP bookshelf, opened it in LibreOffice Draw, scrolled to the back, and found that the last two pages were missing. I know they were there when I formatted my DOCX file in Adobe InDesign.

I jumped up and checked my most recent author copies that I had purchased as proofs. They ended two pages short. I checked my older proofs with earlier cover art. Those two ended three chapters short. I had no idea this was a thing. I imagine I screwed up between exporting and uploading, and I didn't make sure all the pages were there when I previewed the uploads. Because why the heck wouldn't they be? I assure you I went through and accounted for every single page in the previewer last night when I added them and the acknowledgment into that PDF.

My book isn't selling like hotcakes, and I honestly never expected to sell any paperbacks. That's why I priced them at $17.99. But in recent weeks, I have sold three. Shockingly. The two missing pages change the story from the tragedy it was meant to be into a happily ever after I'd happily never write.

I imagine these seemingly random customers must have some connection to me becuase my book has eight reviews. Overwhelmingly positive reviews, but only eight, and I don't advertise. Still, I have no way to find these seemingly random shoppers. Will Amazon help me send them the right editions?

Early August my ACOS looked bad enough that I was ready to lower bids across the board.

Then I left for vacation and didn't open the ad console for several days.

When I got back, I checked royalties minus ad spend per book instead of ACOS. The books were clearly in profit. If I had followed ACOS alone, I would have cut exactly the keywords that were paying for everything.

Now the first number I look at is net profit per book after ads. ACOS comes second.

What's the first number you check in the morning?

My book, has two five-star reviews with one person taking the time to write out their thoughts.
 
I've also received a personal text from my brother with an honest rave review. It's not like him to fawn over something like that. I haven't asked him to post his review because I'm afraid that Amazon will be able to tell that we're related and think that I've had him fake the review.
 
Do you all think that's a good idea? Or should I have him go ahead and post the review?

EDIT: Thanks everyone for your input, I'll take the advice and make sure none of my friends and family post a review, but instead tell their friends about it.