KDP earnings estimator
KDP royalty calculator
Estimate your per-copy earnings on Kindle Direct Publishing. Pick a format, set your list price, and see the difference between the 35% and 70% royalty options — or your paperback margin after Amazon's print costs.
How KDP royalties actually work
Kindle ebooks have two royalty options. The 35% tier is available at any list price and has no delivery fee — you keep 35% of the list price on every sale. The 70% tier is only available when your list price sits inside a set range (e.g. £1.99–£9.99 in the UK), and Amazon deducts a small per-megabyte delivery fee before applying the 70%.
Paperbacks use a single 60% royalty rate, but Amazon subtracts the manufacturing cost (a fixed fee plus a per-page fee that depends on trim size and ink) from your list price × 60% before paying you. Very short or very long books can end up unprofitable at low list prices — this is the most common indie-author pricing mistake.
Want the full breakdown? Read Amazon KDP royalties & payments — the simple guide, or explore our Self-Publishing & KDP blog.
Pricing questions authors ask us
- Why is my paperback royalty so low?
- Print cost is the culprit. A 300-page black-ink paperback in the UK costs Amazon roughly £3.70 to print, which comes straight out of your 60% share of the list price. A £6.99 book only leaves about 50p per copy — many first-time authors underprice paperbacks by £2–£3 and end up losing money on every sale.
- Should I always pick the 70% royalty option?
- Not automatically. The 70% tier is capped between £1.99 and £9.99 in the UK ($2.99–$9.99 in the US) and includes a delivery fee per MB. For a big, image-heavy ebook priced near the ceiling, the 35% option occasionally pays more per copy — always compare with real numbers before you launch.
- Do these numbers match my KDP dashboard exactly?
- Very close, but not exact. Amazon rounds, applies marketplace-specific VAT rules and occasionally runs promotions that adjust delivery fees. Treat this calculator as a pricing sanity check — always confirm final numbers in the KDP Pricing tool before hitting publish.