KDP Royalty Calculator

How KDP royalties are calculated

Amazon pays a share of the list price and keeps the rest. For an eBook the share is 35% or 70%, and the 70% option also deducts a small delivery cost for the file. For a paperback or hardcover the share is 60% or 50%, depending on the list price, and the printing cost comes off the top. Three formulas cover every case:

• eBook, 35%: 0.35 × (list price − VAT)
• eBook, 70%: 0.70 × (list price − VAT − delivery cost)
• Paperback and hardcover: royalty rate × list price − printing cost

The calculator above applies these to the store you pick. Amazon rounds the delivery cost, the printing cost and the royalty to the cent, and so does the calculator.

eBook royalty: 35% or 70%

Since July 7, 2026 an eBook on Amazon.com qualifies for the 70% option at any list price from $2.99 to $12.99. From 2007 until then the ceiling was $9.99, so a book priced at $11.99 now earns $8.29 a sale instead of $4.20. Other stores moved their ceilings the same way.

The 70% rate applies to buyers in Amazon's 70% territories; a sale to a reader outside them pays 35%. In Brazil, Japan, Mexico and India the book must also be enrolled in KDP Select. Books made mostly of public-domain text are limited to 35%.

In European and UK stores the eBook list price includes VAT, and KDP removes the VAT before applying the rate. In Australia the same happens with the 10% GST.

Paperback and hardcover royalty: 60% or 50%

Since June 10, 2025 print books priced at or above a threshold earn 60% of the list price, and books below it earn 50%. On Amazon.com the line is $9.99: a 120-page paperback at $8.98 earns $2.05, and the same book at $9.99 earns $3.55. The extra dollar of price adds $1.50 of royalty.

Printing cost is a fixed charge per book plus a charge per page. Short books pay only the fixed charge. Trim size matters only above 6.12 × 9 inches, where the per-page charge rises; bleed and cover finish don't change the price. Color interiors cost more and aren't in this calculator, so check those in KDP's own Printing Cost & Royalty Calculator.

Expanded Distribution (bookstores and libraries) pays 40% of the list price minus the same printing cost. KDP's own example: a 333-page paperback at $15 earns $4.00 on Amazon.com and $1.00 through Expanded Distribution.

Worked examples

• eBook, $4.99, 2 MB file, Amazon.com, 70%: delivery 2 × $0.15 = $0.30; royalty 0.70 × ($4.99 − $0.30) = $3.28.
• eBook, $11.99, 1 MB, Amazon.com, 70%: 0.70 × ($11.99 − $0.15) = $8.29. Before July 7, 2026 this price was 35% only: $4.20.
• Paperback, 250 pages, 6 × 9, $14.99, Amazon.com: printing $1.00 + 250 × $0.012 = $4.00; royalty 0.60 × $14.99 − $4.00 = $4.99.
• Paperback, 120 pages, $8.98 vs $9.99: printing $2.44; at $8.98 the rate is 50%, so 0.50 × $8.98 − $2.44 = $2.05; at $9.99 it is 60%, so $3.55.
• Hardcover, 300 pages, $24.99, Amazon.com: printing $5.65 + 300 × $0.012 = $9.25; royalty 0.60 × $24.99 − $9.25 = $5.74.

The last line of the calculator turns the royalty into a break-even ACOS: the share of the price you can spend on ads before a sale loses money. For the 250-page paperback above that is 33%; for the $4.99 eBook, 66%. The ACOS calculator takes it from there.

From one book to all of them

The calculator answers for one book at one price. Real royalties arrive in KDP reports, spread over formats, stores and months, and ad spend comes from a different console. SelfPub Go reads both and shows what each book earned after its ads, per marketplace.

What this calculator doesn't include

• Color interiors, which have their own printing prices.
• Sales to readers outside the 70% territories, which pay 35% even on the 70% option.
• VAT for buyers in another country than the store's own: the calculator assumes a local buyer.
• Price matching, promotions and Kindle Countdown Deals.
• Kindle Unlimited page reads — the KENP calculator covers those.
• Tax withheld from royalties for authors outside the US, and currency conversion.