Amazon is effectively cost-controlling your book, experimenting with different numbers to get the sale—but this does not mean you’re going to get paid less. So, for instance, the majority of our books are $17.99. As long as you see that list price, you can know that that’s what Amazon will be paying you on. Amazon typically discounts books for around 20-30 percent off the list price. What is happening here is that Amazon is undercutting its own profit, but you will always be paid on the list price, not the sale price.