Paperback vs ebook for nonfiction: which to publish
Publish the ebook first if readers want the answer quickly or the book will change. Add a paperback if they will write in it, keep it on a desk, or get it from you at a talk. On KDP you can do both. A paperback costs money to print per copy, needs at least 24 pages and sets a limit on the ebook’s price.
What differs
| Ebook | Paperback | |
|---|---|---|
| How it is read | Reflows on a phone, e-reader or tablet | A fixed page, which can be written on and lent |
| Cost per copy on KDP | Delivery, $0.15 per MB in the 70% band | Printing, from $2.30 at a regular trim |
| Royalty on Amazon.com | 70% less delivery from $2.99 to $12.99; 35% otherwise | 50% or 60% of list price, less printing |
| Length | Short books work | At least 24 pages |
| ISBN | Optional | Required; KDP offers a free one for use on KDP only |
| KDP Select | Can enroll: exclusive to Kindle for 90 days | Not covered, and can be sold elsewhere |
| Checking it | Kindle Previewer | A printed proof, marked “Not for Resale” |
| Weekly limit on KDP | 2 new titles | A separate 2 new titles |
A worked example
Take a 25,000-word nonfiction book. At 6 × 9 inches on white paper, by the page counts Chapbook’s sample books measured, it comes to about 104 pages and a spine 0.234 in wide. These figures are for one copy sold on Amazon.com in black ink, before tax. They aren’t a forecast and say nothing about how many copies anyone will sell.
- Printing: $2.30 a copy. KDP charges a flat fee up to 110 pages; above that, $1.00 plus $0.012 a page. A large trim, wider than 6.12 inches or taller than 9, costs $2.84 flat or $0.017 a page.
- Lowest price KDP allows: $4.60, which is the printing cost divided by the royalty rate.
- At $9.98: 50% of the price less printing leaves $2.69.
- At $9.99: the rate moves to 60%, leaving $3.69. One cent on the price moves the royalty by a dollar, so it is worth knowing where that line sits.
- The ebook beside it: if the paperback is $9.99, a 70% ebook has to be $7.99 or less, since it must sit 20% below print. Either edition’s price can limit the other, so set them together.
The spine matters beyond the price, too. KDP only prints spine text on books of more than 79 pages, so a shorter paperback has a blank spine. That can look thin on a shelf, which is worth weighing if the shelf is the reason you want a paperback at all.
When each one fits
An ebook alone fits when your readers want a quick answer, when it is short, or when the facts will date and you will want to update it. A printed copy costs you a new file and a new proof each time. It also suits a lead magnet: a 5,000-word one comes to about 22 pages at Letter size in our samples, under KDP’s minimum for print.
A paperback earns its place when the page is part of the use. A workbook gets written in. A method gets a bookmark and notes in the margin. And if you speak, coach or teach, a printed book is something you can hand to someone. KDP’s author copies are sold to you at print cost, with no royalty, and you may resell them or give them away.
Both make sense for most longer books, with one order to prefer: finish the text first, then do the print files. A paperback’s spine width comes from its page count, so a late edit can mean a new cover as well as a new interior. Each format also has its own weekly slot on KDP, and our guide to the weekly limit explains how that works.
Where Chapbook fits
Every kind of Chapbook book except an activity pack exports a PDF and an EPUB. A nonfiction book, workbook or guide can also make a paperback interior and a full-wrap cover, sized for KDP but never uploaded by Chapbook.
- Interior: pick a trim (5.5 × 8.5, 6 × 9, 7 × 10 and 8.5 × 11 inches) and turn on bleed if your look’s art runs off the page. The inside margin widens as the book gets longer, as KDP asks, and chapters open on a right-hand page. Past 500 pages Chapbook doesn’t make one.
- Cover: back, spine and front in one PDF, with the spine sized from that interior’s page count and the paper you pick. The barcode corner stays empty, and the spine carries text only when it may and when it fits.
- Preflight: each file comes with a report on trim, margins, picture resolution, fonts and page count, read from the PDF itself, and each problem names its page. Under 24 pages the interior is marked as a draft.
These files are KDP-sized, not KDP-approved: KDP’s own previewer and review still decide, so open them there and order a printed proof before you publish. The spine calculator works out the same sizes for any page count, whether or not you use Chapbook.
The sample on this page is a nonfiction book set at 6 × 9 inches, the shape of a paperback.
What to do
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Ask how the book gets used
On a phone to solve today’s problem: ebook. Written in, marked up, kept on a desk or handed to someone: paperback. Honest answers to this settle most cases.
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Check the length
A KDP paperback needs at least 24 pages. Estimate yours with the words-to-pages calculator at your trim size. A book under that is an ebook or a PDF.
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Run the sums for one copy
Work out the printing cost at your page count and trim, the minimum price, and what one sale pays. Then see whether the price makes sense beside similar books.
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Settle the text before the print files
A paperback’s spine width comes from its page count, so an edit that changes the count can change the cover. Fix the text in the ebook first if you can.
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Order a proof
Screens hide what paper shows: margins that swallow words, type that is too small, pictures that print dark. Order a proof copy before you make the book public.
