The claim
Publish AI-written ebooks on Amazon KDP for passive royalties.
The September 2026 Stony Brook/Fortune study revived coverage of AI books flooding Amazon.
How we checked
This is an evidence check, not a hands-on test. We reviewed platform rules and policies, published earnings data, regulator warnings and reporting: 5 sources, listed below.
Costs
- Start-up cost
- £0–£50/month
- Effort
- medium
What the evidence shows
A 2026 study of 14,000+ self-published novels found AI-heavy books were 20% of titles but only about 12% of sales. The catalogue grew 38 times while revenue grew only 9 times, so the average book earns less every year. Amazon requires AI disclosure and caps uploads at three a day, and Barnes & Noble excludes AI books. Lightly AI-assisted books by people who market them perform like human ones, but auto-generated ones mostly don't sell.
Realistic earnings: Most AI-written titles sell a handful of copies; expect £0–£20 a month without ads and a series strategy.
Limitations
Earnings ranges are typical outcomes for a beginner, drawn from the sources; some people do far better or worse. Platform rules change often, so check the latest policy before you start.
Rarely matches what is promised.
Sources
- Fortune (Sep 2026) on the Stony Brook study: AI-heavy books undersell, and the market is saturated fortune.com
- Study detail: catalogue up 38x, sales titles 19x, revenue only 9x (2023–26) ecosistemastartup.com
- KDP content guidelines requiring AI-generated content disclosure kdp.amazon.com
- Authors Guild: KDP caps new titles at three per day authorsguild.org
- Wired (Aug 2026): AI kids' books listed within minutes and widely sold, with disclosure not visible to buyers aiweekly.co
