How to Sell Books on Amazon in 2025: A Step-by-Step Guide to Making More Money

Here’s how to list your books for sale on Amazon.

Step 1: Login to Amazon’s Seller Page

First, go to the Sellers page. Click on the “Individual Sellers” link. This will take you to the page where you can start listing your books.

Step 2: Enter Book Information

Once at the listing page, enter the ISBN number of your book. If you don’t have that, you can manually enter the details of your book (title, author, etc.).

Step 3: Specify Book Condition

After entering the ISBN, you’ll be asked to describe the condition of the book.

Choose one of these that best describes the condition of your book:

• New: Never been used.
• Like New: Minimal wear, no damage.
• Used: Slight wear, pages intact.
• Torn, Damaged, or Missing Pieces: If your book is in poor condition, be sure to mention any missing pages, creases, or torn covers. Buyers appreciate transparency.

Step 4: Price and Quantity

Now you get to price your book.

If you have no idea, start by researching similar books to get an idea of how much similar books are selling for. Try to set a lower price as a slightly lower price (even by a few cents) can help you sell faster.

At this stage you also have to specify how many copies you want to sell.

Step 5: Choose Your Shipping Method

When it comes to choosing the shipping methods as a seller, you have two options:

• Expedited Shipping: Ships quickly for faster delivery but obviously you have to pay higher fees.
• International Shipping: You can sell to readers from around the world but again, keep the bigger shipping fees in mind.

Now, if you have a lot of books to sell, I would consider using Amazon’s own fulfillment services (FBA). It has faster shipping and better customer service. So while you may make a little less in profit, the process becomes easier for you, and generally you’ll end up with happier customers since they get their books faster and issues resolved quicker.

Step 6: Review & Publish Your Listing

Once you’ve completed the previous steps, click on “Save and Continue” to review your book listing.

You get to see a final summary of all the details you’ve entered. If everything looks good, hit “Publish” to make your book available for purchase.

After your book is listed, it may take a little while for it to appear on Amazon’s marketplace. You’ll be notified when your listing goes live, and from there, buyers can start purchasing your book!

And that’s it! You are now selling book (s) on Amazon!

Amazon Book Selling Fees

Before you start selling books on Amazon, you wanna know about the fees so you can see if it’s worth putting your time and effort into selling a book.

Here’s a breakdown of Amazon’s selling fees (as it is at the time of writing this guide) and how they impact your earnings.

Depending on a few other factors, there could also be other fees. For example, if you are selling a lot of books, there is a “High-volume listing fee” which is about $0.005 per month for applicable ASINs.

How Much Can You Earn Selling Books on Amazon?

As you list out your items one by one, Amazon’s engine will do the calculation and tell you what you stand to make for every sale.

On your part, you better factor in shipping, packaging, and taking it to the post office as you define the price point.

The commission charged by Amazon is 15% on sales.

In addition, they also deduct a 99 cent fee, plus a variable closing fee.

This variable closing fee is based on the shipping method and its amount is deducted from the shipping cost that the buyer pays.

Often, after the deduction of this variable closing fee from the shipping amount paid, sellers suddenly learn that the shipping fees to be borne by them are more than the amount they will get back from Amazon.

If your mode of shipping is Media Mail and the book itself is not very heavy (called a standard book), you may have to make up the difference which amounts to around $1.

Example

To give you an idea of how much you can expect, let me give you an example. Let’s say you sold a book for $20 as an individual seller using FBA.

• Referral Fee: 15% of $20 = $3.00
• Closing Fee: $1.80
• Per Item Fee: $0.99
• Fulfillment Fee: Approximately $2.50 (varies based on size and weight)
• Total Fees: $3.00 + $1.80 + $0.99 + $2.50 = $8.29
• Net Proceeds: $20.00 – $8.29 = $11.71

So you end up with $11.71 as your profit!

Amazon Book Selling: Pros, Cons & Key Comparisons

Wondering whether selling books on Amazon is the right choice for you?

A quick comparison can help. Here’s a table breaking down the key pros, cons, and potential earnings so you can decide if this selling method fits your goals.

This table gives you a quick overview of the cons and pros. At the end of the day, the pros of selling books on Amazon, far outweigh the few cons it has. Just the fact that you have access to the entire segment of Amazon book buyers means you instantly have many more potential buyers for your books.

Why You Shouldn’t Sell Books for Under $6-7?

If you are looking to make a profit, selling books for pennies on Amazon isn’t going to get you there.

You will have to sell your book for at least $3 just to cover your costs and leave enough money for Amazon to take away.

Of course, the calculation is just a gross estimation.

But if you think your strategy at Amazon is to simply push a lot of books really cheap (i.e. in the $3 range), you may want to rethink that!

For this reason, I would never advocate selling books over at Amazon for under 6-7 dollars.

You may argue that the rule of aggregation does apply. Why not? Yes, imagine you are dead sure that you can sell tons of books, and with a mere profit of just one buck each, the end number would still be respectable.

But let’s say you have just a handful of books, are you prepared to settle for a $5 (arbitrary, could be less) profit after all the trouble to list them there at Amazon?

A tip about shipping

Amazon is actually generous with their $3.99 shipping credit for each book you sell there. By sticking to Media Mail from the USPS, the shipping fees should revolve around $2.50 each.

You could use the balance on packing materials and other related expenses, so to ship books for under $3.99 each is definitely doable.

Best Places to Find Cheap Books to Resell on Amazon

Some potential sources to build up your book inventory!

• Yard & Estate Sales – Pay attention to the ads in the newspapers & on Craigslist
• Library Sales – Keep current on library book sales.
• University Book Sales – Call the Libraries directly
• Bookstore Sales – Always look out for the price buster list
• Thrift Stores
• Freecycle.com
• Independent Book Stores – chances are good you find under-priced books here!
• Church Rummage Sales

Avoid These Mistakes (That I Made in the Past)

Selling books on Amazon can be profitable, but small mistakes can quickly eat into your earnings. From shipping issues to pricing errors, I’ve made my fair share of costly mistakes.

To help you avoid the same problems, here are the key mistakes to watch out for, and how to prevent them.

1. Not Getting the Delivery Confirmation Tracking Number

When I first forayed into this bookselling side hustle, in my excitement, I mailed my first book without the delivery confirmation tracking number. The buyer denied ever receiving the book and I ended up paying them a refund!

The moral of the story is that don’t send anything out without a tracking number!

It settles the argument on “Where’s my book?” splendidly.

To be fair, it may not be the customers who try to be funny, it could be other reasons. You don’t need me to tell you about all the problems most of us have with our local post offices, lol.

Of course, there would always be the odd buyers who try to pull a fast one when they claim they receive nothing. Again the delivery confirmation number would be excellent proof that the item is already in their possession!

2. Not Double Checking the Address

One other mistake I made was not to double-check the address on the computer generated shipping label. I figured I could count on PayPal to get everything right as I printed out the address label with the postage on it.

But not that time!

PayPal did not include the address and the apartment number.

I carelessly sent out the book without checking, and it never got to its destined address (of course) and never got back to me.

In the end, another replacement book was sent.

This makes the habit in me to compare the address label to the shipping address in my record. So much talk about computers being powerful and efficient machines.

This wasn’t an Amazon but the lesson applies to selling anything anywhere.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Here are a few common questions beginners have about selling books on Amazon and their answers.

Can I sell books on Amazon without an ISBN?

Yes, you can sell books without an ISBN by manually entering the book’s details or using Amazon’s catalog.

How much does it cost to sell your book on Amazon?

Amazon takes a 15% commission on sales, plus a fixed closing fee of $1.80 for media items.

Is selling books on Amazon worth it?

It can be profitable if you price your books competitively and account for fees and shipping costs.

What types of books sell best on Amazon?

Popular categories include textbooks, bestsellers, rare books, and niche genres with strong demand.

Can I sell used textbooks on Amazon?

Yes, used textbooks can be sold on Amazon, but make sure to accurately describe their condition.

Final Thoughts on Selling Books on Amazon

To summarize, open an Amazon account (very useful since there are many other ways to make money with Amazon as well), put in the right title, ensure it is the correct version of the book, describe its condition, and name your price.

Different people have different policies on pricing; my tactic is to simply list my books at 50 cents lower than the cheapest price already published.

You may find another pricing strategy that works best for you. But you won’t know until you actually start listing and selling your books on Amazon.