Creator Unit Math · royalty math for self-published authors
KDP Royalty Calculator
Enter one list price and one Amazon store. See what KDP pays per sale for your eBook at 35% and at 70%, your paperback and your hardcover, side by side, with the formula, printing cost, VAT and price limits behind every number.
Royalty per sale · Paperback · Amazon.com
$3.19
per sale at a $12.99 list price
- Sales through Amazon; Expanded Distribution sales are paid differently
How this number is worked out
- Printing cost: $1.00 + 300 pages × $0.012 = $4.60.
- KDP table row: Amazon.com · Black ink, white or cream paper · 110–828 pages · regular trim.
- Rate: 60%, because $12.99 is at or above $9.99.
- Royalty: (0.60 × $12.99) − $4.60 = $3.194.
Steps show up to two more decimals than the currency uses («≈» marks a rounded step); the headline and the comparison are rounded to the currency's smallest unit for display only. KDP Help does not say how KDP rounds the royalties it pays.
KDP Help, Paperback Printing Cost: Fixed cost + (page count * per page cost) = printing cost
KDP Help, Paperback Royalty: (Royalty rate x list price) – printing costs = royalty
KDP Help, Paperback Printing Cost: To calculate your minimum list price, we divide your paperback's printing cost by the royalty rate
KDP Help, Paperback Printing Cost: KDP will not allow you to enter a list price lower than the minimum list price.
KDP Help, Paperback Royalty: When someone buys your paperback through Amazon or an Expanded Distribution channel and a new copy is manufactured to fulfill that order, you receive a royalty.
KDP Help, Paperback Royalty: In certain marketplaces, Amazon will add the local Value Added Tax (VAT), Goods and Services Tax (GST) or consumption tax to the list price you provide and customers will see an adjusted price including the applicable tax.
Minimum list price
Lowest list price KDP accepts for this paperback on Amazon.com: $9.20. Maximum: $250.00.
KDP divides the printing cost by the royalty rate: $4.60 ÷ 0.50 = $9.20 at 50%, $4.60 ÷ 0.60 ≈ $7.6667 at 60%. A list price has to reach the result for the rate that price earns, rounded up to the currency's smallest unit.
Rules that apply
- Note: In some stores Amazon adds VAT, GST or consumption tax on top of the print list price. Your royalty uses the list price you enter.
| Option | Royalty per sale | How | List prices KDP allows |
|---|---|---|---|
eBook, 35% option
| $4.55 | 0.35 × $12.99 | $0.99 – $200.00 |
eBook, 70% optionHighest before delivery costs
| $9.09before delivery costs | 0.70 × $12.99, delivery not deducted | $2.99 – $12.99 |
PaperbackSelected
| $3.19 | (0.60 × $12.99) − $4.60 printing | $9.20 – $250.00 |
Hardcover
| Not allowed at this priceBelow KDP's minimum list price: $9.25 ÷ 0.60 ≈ $15.4167, so the lowest list price you can enter is $15.42. | (0.60 × $12.99) − $9.25 printing | $15.42 – $250.00 |
Each figure holds only under the conditions listed beside it. Price-matched eBook sales are not included: KDP then pays 70% of Amazon's sale price instead, less delivery costs and less any applicable VAT.
Kindle Unlimited page reads (optional)
Kindle Unlimited pays from the KDP Select Global Fund, which KDP reviews every month, by your share of total pages read. You are paid only for pages a customer reads for the first time, up to 3,000 KENP per title per customer. The per-page amount changes, so there is no built-in rate here: work yours out from your Prior Months' Royalties report, whose KENP line shows the pages read and the royalty they earned.
KDP shows it on the Promote and Advertise page of your Bookshelf.
Enter both numbers to estimate one complete first read.
KDP Help, Royalties in Kindle Unlimited: Author earnings are then determined by their share of total pages read.
KDP Help, Royalties in Kindle Unlimited: They are able to earn a maximum of 3,000 Kindle Edition Normalized Pages(KENPC) read per title per customer.
KDP Help, Royalties in Kindle Unlimited: We review the size of the KDP Select Global Fund each month
Data checked on 5 Oct 2026 against KDP Help. Sources
How much does KDP pay per book?
As of 5 Oct 2026, KDP pays 35% or 70% of an eBook's list price without VAT. The 70% option also deducts a delivery cost that depends on file size, and on Amazon.com it is only available for list prices from $2.99 to $12.99 (the band was widened from $9.99 on July 7, 2026). Paperbacks and hardcovers earn 60% of the list price at or above $9.99 on Amazon.com, or 50% at or below $9.98, minus the printing cost. KDP's own example: a $15, 333-page, regular-trim, black-ink paperback sold on Amazon.com earns (0.60 × $15) − $5.00 = $4.00 per sale (its printing cost is $1.00 + 333 × $0.012 = $4.996, which KDP shows as $5.00).
Every rate, threshold, printing cost and price limit in this calculator comes from nine KDP Help pages, checked on 5 Oct 2026 and linked below. Where they are silent (most delivery costs, eBook VAT outside six countries, Kindle Unlimited rates), the calculator asks you instead of guessing.
How KDP royalties are calculated
eBook, 35% option
35% of the list price without VAT, on every sale. Where VAT applies it sits inside the list price, so it comes out first: in KDP's example a $0.99 eBook sold to a customer with 20% VAT earns 0.35 × ($0.99 − $0.165) = $0.29.
KDP Help: eBook Royalties · KDP Help: eBook List Price Requirements
eBook, 70% option
70% of the list price without VAT, minus a delivery cost that depends on file size, on sales to customers in KDP's 70% territories; sales to customers elsewhere earn 35%. KDP's worked illustration for Spain: 0.70 × (€1.99 − €0.08 VAT − €0.10 delivery for a 1 MB file) = €1.27; today the EUR 70% band starts at €2.69, so a €1.99 eBook could not use the 70% option. The 70% option only applies inside a price band ($2.99 to $12.99 on Amazon.com since July 7, 2026), only to in-copyright works, and, for sales to customers in Brazil, Japan, Mexico and India, only to eBooks enrolled in KDP Select. When Amazon price-matches your eBook below its list price, KDP pays 70% of Amazon's sale price instead, less delivery costs and less any applicable VAT; this calculator does not model that case.
KDP Help: eBook Royalties · KDP Help: eBook List Price Requirements
Paperback
60% or 50% of the list price, minus the printing cost. The rate depends on the price: on Amazon.com it is 60% at $9.99 or more and 50% at $9.98 or less, and each store has its own threshold. The printing cost is a fixed cost plus the page count times a per-page cost, set by store, ink, paper and trim size: a 300-page black-ink paperback with a regular trim costs $1.00 + 300 × $0.012 = $4.60 to print for Amazon.com.
KDP Help: Paperback Royalty · KDP Help: Paperback Printing Cost
Hardcover
The same formula with hardcover printing costs: a 300-page black-ink hardcover with a regular trim costs $5.65 + 300 × $0.012 = $9.25 to print for Amazon.com (a large trim has its own, higher per-page cost). KDP's hardcover printing-cost tables cover Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, the Amazon.de, .es, .fr, .it, .nl, .ie and .com.be stores, Amazon.pl and Amazon.se, in black ink or premium color ink. Hardcover publishing is not supported on Amazon.co.jp.
KDP Help: Hardcover Royalty · KDP Help: Hardcover Printing Cost
Minimum list price
KDP divides the printing cost by the royalty rate and will not accept a lower list price, so the royalty always covers printing. The 300-page regular-trim paperback above ($4.60 to print) needs at least $4.60 ÷ 0.50 = $9.20. This calculator also checks which rate the resulting price earns: for the 300-page regular-trim hardcover ($9.25 to print), $9.25 ÷ 0.50 = $18.50 would sit in the 60% range, so its minimum is $9.25 ÷ 0.60 ≈ $15.4167, which rounds up to $15.42.
KDP Help: Paperback Printing Cost · KDP Help: Hardcover Printing Cost
VAT
In the EU stores eBook list prices include VAT, and KDP's eBook price limits account for it; the royalty is a share of the price without VAT. KDP's eBook rates: 7% in Germany, 5.5% in France, 4% in Spain, 4% in Italy with an ISBN or 22% without, 9% in the Netherlands and 0% in the UK. Print list prices work the other way: Amazon adds VAT at checkout (in Germany, 7% reduced or 19% standard) and KDP works out the royalty on the VAT-exclusive list price you set.
KDP Help: How EU Taxes Affect eBooks List Price · KDP Help: How EU and the UK Taxes Affect Print Books List Price
Kindle Unlimited
Page reads are paid from the KDP Select Global Fund by your share of total pages read, only for pages a customer reads for the first time, up to 3,000 KENP per title per customer. KDP reviews the fund every month, so this calculator has no built-in per-page rate.
Sources
Estimate, not financial or tax advice
This calculator applies the rules on KDP's Help pages as they read on 5 Oct 2026. KDP can change rates, printing costs and price limits, and the royalty shown in your KDP Bookshelf and reports is the one that counts. It is not financial or tax advice, and this site is not affiliated with Amazon.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between KDP's 35% and 70% eBook royalty?
- With 35% you get 35% of the list price without VAT on every sale. With 70% you get 70% of the list price without VAT minus a delivery cost based on file size, but only inside the 70% price band ($2.99 to $12.99 on Amazon.com since July 7, 2026) and only on sales to customers in KDP's 70% territories; other sales earn 35%. Public-domain works can only use 35%. If Amazon price-matches the eBook below its list price, KDP pays 70% of Amazon's sale price instead, less delivery costs and less any applicable VAT.
- Why does my Bookshelf show both 70% and 35% for the same eBook?
- Because the rate depends on where each buyer is. KDP applies 70% when the buyer is located in one of the 70% territories and 35% when the buyer is outside them, and Amazon.com serves customers worldwide, so both rates appear. KDP says this is expected and not a pricing error.
- When does a paperback earn 60% instead of 50%?
- When its list price is at or above the store's threshold: $9.99 on Amazon.com, 9.99 EUR on the euro stores, 7.99 GBP on Amazon.co.uk, 13.99 CAD on Amazon.ca, 13.99 AUD on Amazon.com.au, 1000 JPY on Amazon.co.jp, 40 PLN on Amazon.pl and 110 SEK on Amazon.se. Hardcovers use the same thresholds except on Amazon.se (99 SEK). Printing costs are deducted at either rate.
- What is the minimum list price for a KDP paperback or hardcover?
- The printing cost divided by the royalty rate. KDP will not let you enter a lower list price, so the royalty always covers printing. A 300-page black-ink paperback with a regular trim costs $4.60 to print for Amazon.com, so its minimum list price is $4.60 ÷ 0.50 = $9.20; a large trim costs more to print, so its minimum is higher.
- Does VAT reduce my KDP royalty?
- For eBooks, the royalty is a share of the list price without VAT, so in stores where the list price includes VAT, the VAT comes out first (for example 7% in Germany). For paperbacks and hardcovers, Amazon adds VAT on top of your list price at checkout, and KDP works out the royalty on the VAT-exclusive list price you set.
- How does Kindle Unlimited pay authors?
- From the KDP Select Global Fund, which KDP reviews every month: your share of the fund follows your share of total pages read. You are paid only for pages a customer reads for the first time, up to 3,000 KENP per title per customer. Because the per-page amount changes monthly, it is not built into this calculator.