What it costs
What print copies costs — and what you're actually buying
Amazon KDP charges £1.93 for a 24-to-110-page black-and-white paperback, or £0.85 plus £0.010 per page from 110 to 828 pages. A 250-page copy costs £3.35 and a 320-page copy costs £4.05, plus roughly £4.15 UK shipping.
What good looks like
- A physical proof before you approve anything
- Paper stock and finish you have actually seen and held
- Correct spine width for your page count
- A test order shipped to you, not just a PDF proof
A separate free preview: A free outside view of your own pages
A separate writing preview; it does not design, format, export, print or publish the book. Send up to 5,000 words. You get back what the draft appears to be doing to somebody who wasn't there when you wrote it, the strongest thing in it named, the exact place a reader starts to drift, and three revision priorities in order.
A separate writing preview; it does not design, format, export, print or publish the book. An AI-assisted read of your own pages. Not a human edit, not a line edit, and not a scored report.
What you are actually buying
Print-on-demand means a copy is manufactured when someone orders it. There is no minimum, no warehouse, and no boxes in your hallway. Short-run offset printing is cheaper per copy but requires ordering hundreds at once.
Why it costs that
Print-on-demand pricing is a fixed setup per copy plus a per-page rate, which is why page count drives everything: a 200-page paperback and a 500-page one differ substantially per unit. Short-run offset printing has a real setup cost spread across the run, so it only beats print-on-demand somewhere in the low hundreds of copies — and it commits you to storing them.
How to spend less
Order a single proof copy early, at the messy-draft stage: £3.35 for a 250-page copy plus roughly £4.15 UK shipping. It is the cheapest genuinely useful thing on this whole list, because paper catches what a screen hides. Then use print-on-demand unless you have a specific reason to hold stock — an event, a shop, a bulk order that is already agreed.
What good looks like
- A physical proof before you approve anything
- Paper stock and finish you have actually seen and held
- Correct spine width for your page count
- A test order shipped to you, not just a PDF proof
Questions to ask them
- Can I order a single proof copy first?
- What is the actual delivered cost per copy including shipping?
- What happens if I find a typo after approval?
Red flags
- Being asked to commit to a print run before seeing a proof
- Setup fees for print-on-demand, which should be zero
- Vanity press packages bundling printing with services you did not ask for
Honestly
Order one proof copy at the messy-draft stage, long before you are finished. Paper catches errors a screen hides — which is why proofreaders have always read the final proof on paper — and holding it is the cheapest motivation available.
About Your Book Pro
Your Book Pro is a book-writing platform built in Britain. Start with an idea, notes, half a draft, a podcast, or a finished manuscript, and use our purpose-built AI tools for planning, feedback, editing, proofreading, cover designs, and to create print-ready files. Writing is totally free: you can type, upload or speak your book as much as you like, and use only the editing tools you need with Plus, or go unlimited with Pro.
Produce world-class drafts at the fraction of the cost of hiring a human editorial team.
Every account starts with 1,000 welcome credits, and a plain export of your own words is free.
These prices are here to be used, not to sell you something — brief a freelancer with them, sanity-check a quote, or work out what you actually need. Where Your Book Pro changes the arithmetic, the page says so; where it does not, it says that too.
Order one proof copy at the messy-draft stage, long before you are finished. Paper catches errors a screen hides — which is why proofreaders have always read the final proof on paper — and holding it is the cheapest motivation available.
What it costs
Printing is deducted from each sale, not paid upfront. There is no print run to fund.
| What you are buying | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 24 to 110 pages | £1.93 flat | No per-page charge |
| 110 to 828 pages | £0.85 + £0.010 per page | Amazon KDP UK formula |
| Worked example, 250 pages | £0.85 + £2.50 = £3.35 a copy | Amazon KDP UK formula |
| Worked example, 320 pages | £0.85 + £3.20 = £4.05 a copy | About 80,000 words |
| UK shipping per copy | ~£4.15 | Print on demand |
Amazon KDP published printing costs, UK marketplace, verified 24 September 2026.
Try it free
Email me my free review linkQuestions people ask
- How much does it cost to print one book?
- £3.35 for a 250-page black-and-white paperback through Amazon KDP, plus roughly £4.15 UK shipping for a single copy.
- Is offset printing cheaper?
- Only above a few hundred copies, and it commits you to storing and shipping them yourself.
- Should I order a proof copy?
- Always, and earlier than you think. Reading your own book on paper finds things six screen read-throughs missed.
- Does page count affect price much?
- Substantially. Print-on-demand is a setup cost plus a per-page rate, so cutting 40 pages changes your unit economics.