[7-Step Guide] How To Receive Amazon, Apple & Kobo Royalties With Wise

Having difficulty receiving royalties as a non-US author?

As a non-US author, I understand the pain of waiting forever to reach the minimum threshold for cheques. In fact, cheques seem to be the only way to receive Amazon KDP royalties for non-US authors. And this gets harder because you need to reach the minimum amount for each currency.

But do you know there’s another way to receive your royalties faster (and without this minimum threshold)?

The answer is simple: using a US bank account.

You can easily create a US bank account (even if you’re not in the United States) with Wise. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to receive your Amazon KDP, Apple Books and Kobo Writing Life royalties with Wise.

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What Is Wise (previously known as TransferWise)?

Wise, previously known as TransferWise, is multi-currency banking without the bank. You can hold, receive, send and spend money using a Wise multi-currency account. Used by 300k+ businesses of all shapes and sizes, Wise is an affordable way to send or receive money internationally.

• Invoice Payments: pay invoices in 70+ countries with an exchange rate banks and PayPal can’t offer
• People Payments: pay 1,000 people at once & get employees paid without crazy transaction fees
• Banking without the bank: get an IBAN, routing number, sort code & more
• Receive Money: receive overseas payments into your account without high recipient or conversion fees
• Debit Cards: allow your team to spend online & in-store with no foreign transaction fees
• Cash Management: move money between accounts in seconds & manage all transactions in one place

1. Sign Up For Wise

Signing up is simple.

Fill up your email address, password, country of residence as well as other personal information.

Also, Wise has two-factor authentication (2FA) to help you sign in securely. When logging in, Wise will send a code to your phone and you’ll need to enter this code before you can access the platform. So it’s quite safe 😄

2. Add Your Bank Account

The first thing you need to do is to add your bank account.

If you’re adding someone else’s account, select Add a recipient.

This is where you add your local bank account. Don’t worry about currency exchange. You can easily convert currencies in Wise from USD to your local currency then withdraw to your bank account.

Do ensure that your bank account details are correct.

3. Create Balance In Your Desired Currency

Next, open a balance in the currency you’re being paid in. Wise will then create a bank account in this country and you can give the bank account details to your friends, company or customers.

For me, I opened a USD balance because most of my royalties are in USD.

4. Update Amazon KDP Bank Account Details

Now, log into your Amazon KDP account and update your bank account details.

• Bank Location
• Account Holder Name
• Type Of Account: Checking or Savings
• Account Number
• Routing Number

5. Update Kobo Writing Life Bank Account Details

Bear in mind that Kobo Writing Life only supports a few currencies.

In my case, my local bank only accepts local currency. If there are transfers from other currencies, there are additional fees on top of the currency conversion fee. Thus, I decided to use Wise.

Simply go into Payment Information in Kobo Writing Life and update your bank account details.

6. Update Apple Books Bank Account Details

Unlike other retailers, Apple Books support many currencies.

In fact, I could add my local bank account and receive royalty in my local currency. But just in case Apply Books doesn’t support your local currency, you can update the bank account to the one provided by Wise.

Just head over to iTunes Connect. Click Agreements, Tax, and Banking and update your bank account details under Banking.

7. Withdraw Your Royalty

Once you receive your royalties in Wise, go to the balance of the desired currency and click Send. For me, that’s my USD balance.

Next, you can choose between receiving the currency in a different or same currency.

Select International if you want to convert the royalties to your local currency. Or select Same Currency if you don’t want to convert currency.

Most of us will probably choose the former since that’s the reason why we created a Wise account in the first place.

Take note of the amount you’ll receive in your local currency and see if you’re okay with it.

The final step is selecting the recipient.

This is probably you. So just ensure that the bank account is right.

And you’re done! 😆

Bonus Tip: Withdraw Only When Exchange Rate Is Good

Remember, you don’t have to withdraw immediately when you receive your royalties.

Since exchange rates are constantly fluctuating, you can choose to convert and withdraw only when the rate is good.

There are no fees for keeping money in Wise. And you can do it for as long as you want.

Photo by NikolayFrolochkin on Pixabay

Now It’s Your Turn

How’s your experience using Wise to receive royalties?

Wise’s interface is very user-friendly. It’s also simple to navigate and send/receive money so I don’t really have any issues when using this payment gateway.

Hope that this guide can help all non-US authors~!