KDP Select ebook test
Use a defined enrolment period to learn from Kindle Unlimited and Amazon sales while keeping print available through other routes. Measure read-through, pages read and opportunity cost.
Luke's public starting target
What does $5,000 a month ask of the catalogue?
The starting scenario uses a $5,000 monthly author-revenue goal and $5 average author revenue per paid unit: 1,000 paid units a month or 12,000 a year. Change either number to explore different format, price and channel mixes.
paid units per month
paid units per day
paid units per year
annual author revenue goal
Publishing routes
Choose channels that fit the catalogue.
Compare the reach, format, exclusivity, current fees and watch-outs of the platform set. Each card links to vendor guidance checked on 15 August 2026.
Loading official-source channel routes…
Two starting architectures
Exclusive ebook or wide experiment?
Both are proposals to test, not universal formulas. A catalogue can also change strategy after an enrolment term or edition cycle, provided current contracts and reader promises are honoured.
Wide ebook distribution
Publish direct where practical and use an aggregator for additional retailers. Track whether reach offsets added metadata, pricing and account complexity.
Direct reader relationship
Build an email list and reader home, then connect them to a suitable commerce and delivery service when direct sales become part of the plan.
What current public channel data can show
Readers use several routes at once.
BookNet's 2025 study of English-speaking Canadian buyers reported 53% of their purchases online and 47% in person; 76% were print, 14% ebook and 7% audiobook. Those are purchase and format shares within the surveyed buyer sample, not retailer market shares.
Among past-year audiobook listeners in the Audio Publishers Association's February 2026 US consumer study, overlapping access included 49% buying through an app or website, 48% using a subscription, 46% using a digital-library app and 42% using service credits.
Comparable platform sales volumes are not public
KDP, Kobo, Apple, Google, Draft2Digital and Ingram do not publish one current, directly comparable public table of independent-author unit sales by platform and country. The Atlas therefore shows current terms and broad channel behaviour, then leaves actual catalogue units, pages read, returns and receipts to Luke's own private dashboards.
Track the money that actually reaches the author
List price, gross sales and author revenue are different numbers. Keep paid units, pages read, refunds, format mix, platform deductions, production costs and net receipts as separate fields.