KDP Royalty Calculator
See exactly what you earn per sale on Amazon KDP — the 70% and 35% ebook tiers with delivery fees, or paperback royalties after printing costs. Free, no signup.
US (Amazon.com) marketplace · rates last verified 2026-07-24. Amazon revises printing costs and fees — confirm the final numbers on KDP's own pricing pages before you set a launch price.
How KDP royalties actually work
Ebooks come in two plans you choose per book, per marketplace. The 70% plan pays 70% of your list price minus a delivery fee of $0.15 per megabyte of your converted file — but it's only available when your list price sits between $2.99 and $9.99. The 35% plan pays a flat 35% of list with no delivery fee, and it stretches from $0.99 all the way up. That delivery fee is why an image-heavy book can quietly earn more on the 35% plan: at $2.99 with a 20 MB file, the 70% plan pays 70% × ($2.99 − $3.00) — nothing — while 35% pays $1.05.
Paperbacks have one formula: 60% of your list price, minus the cost of printing your book. Printing cost depends on page count, ink, and trim class. A short black-ink book (up to 110 pages) costs a flat $2.30; beyond that it's $1.00 plus 1.2¢ a page. Color is where margins get eaten — premium color runs 6.5¢ a page, so a 200-page full-color book costs $14.00 to print before you've earned a cent. KDP simply won't accept a list price where your royalty would go negative, which is what the "minimum list price" figure above tells you.
One caution: these are the US (Amazon.com) rates. Other marketplaces have their own printing costs, delivery fees, and price bands, and Amazon revises all of them from time to time — treat this calculator as your planning tool and KDP's pricing page as the final word.
Royalty questions, answered.
Should I choose the 70% or 35% royalty plan on KDP?
Choose 70% when your list price is between $2.99 and $9.99 and your file is reasonably small — that is the sweet spot for most novels. Choose 35% when you want to price below $2.99 or above $9.99, or when a large, image-heavy file makes the 70% plan's $0.15-per-megabyte delivery fee eat too much of each sale.
What is the KDP delivery fee?
On the 70% ebook plan, Amazon deducts $0.15 per megabyte of your converted file size from the list price before applying the 70% rate (US marketplace). A 2 MB novel pays about $0.30 per sale; a 40 MB photo book pays $6.00, which usually makes the 35% plan the better choice. The 35% plan has no delivery fee.
How much does it cost to print a KDP paperback?
On Amazon.com, a black-ink paperback up to 110 pages costs a flat $2.30. Longer books cost $1.00 plus $0.012 per page — so a 300-page novel is $4.60. Premium color runs $1.00 plus $0.065 per page, and large trim sizes (wider than 6.12 inches or taller than 9 inches) cost a little more per page.
Why is there a minimum list price on KDP paperbacks?
Your royalty is 60% of list minus the printing cost, and KDP will not let the royalty go negative. The minimum list price is the printing cost divided by 0.60 — for a $4.60-to-print novel, that is $7.67. Price at the minimum and you earn $0.00 per sale, so leave yourself real margin.
Does Kindle Unlimited pay the same as a sale?
No. Kindle Unlimited pays from a separate monthly fund based on pages read (the KENP rate, historically around $0.004 to $0.005 per page), not a percentage of your list price. This calculator models purchases; KU income comes on top if you enroll in KDP Select.
Pricing is one decision — Pendrilo helps with all the rest: drafting, beta readers, KDP-ready formatting, and launch tools in one studio. The free tier includes a full book, no credit card needed.
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