Amazon KDP royalties explained: how much do you actually earn?
How KDP pays you: the 70% versus 35% eBook options and the conditions for 70%, the 60%-minus-printing maths for paperback and hardcover, and worked examples so you know what lands in your account.
On Amazon KDP you earn either 70% or 35% of an eBook’s list price — the 70% rate carries conditions and a small per-megabyte delivery fee — while paperbacks and hardcovers pay 60% of list price minus Amazon’s printing cost. These terms can change, so always confirm the live figures in your KDP dashboard before pricing.
What is a royalty on KDP, exactly?
A royalty is your share of each sale. KDP doesn’t charge you to upload or to keep a book live; instead it takes a cut of every copy sold and pays you the rest. The trap for new authors is assuming the rate alone tells the story. It doesn’t. Two fees quietly shape what actually lands in your account: a delivery fee on eBooks and a printing cost on print books. Understand those two, and KDP’s royalty pages stop being confusing.
Royalties also differ by format. eBooks run on a percentage-plus-fee model; paperback and hardcover run on a percentage-minus-cost model. We’ll take them in turn.
How does the 70% vs 35% eBook royalty work?
For Kindle eBooks, KDP offers two royalty plans, and you choose one per title. The 70% plan pays far more per sale, but it comes with conditions. At the time of writing, to qualify for 70% your list price generally must fall within a set band — roughly $2.99 to $9.99 in US dollars, with equivalent bands in other currencies — and the book must be priced at least a certain amount below any print edition, among a few other rules. Price outside that band, in either direction, and Amazon drops you to the 35% plan automatically.
The second catch on the 70% plan is the delivery fee. Amazon subtracts a small charge based on your file’s size in megabytes before calculating your royalty. For a normal text novel this is negligible — a few cents. For an image-heavy book, a cookbook or a fixed-layout title, the file can be large and the fee meaningful, which is one more reason image-led books are a different beast (see our note on reflowable versus fixed-layout ePUB). The 35% plan has no delivery fee and no price band, so it is the only option for books priced very low or very high.
The exact band edges, the per-megabyte rate and the territory rules vary by marketplace and are adjusted by Amazon from time to time. Treat the numbers here as the shape of the system, not gospel, and read the live figures on KDP before you set a price.
A worked eBook example
Say you list a 1 MB novel at €4.99 on the 70% plan. Your gross is roughly €4.99 × 70% ≈ €3.49, then a delivery fee of only a few cents comes off, leaving about €3.40. On the 35% plan the same book would earn about €1.75 with no fee — half as much. Now list it at €1.99, below the 70% band: you’re forced onto 35%, earning about €0.70. And at €14.99, above the band, you’re back on 35%, earning about €5.25. The lesson: the band shapes your pricing, and the sweet spot for most eBooks sits comfortably inside it.
How are paperback and hardcover royalties calculated?
Print is simpler in structure but has a moving part of its own. KDP pays you 60% of the list price, minus the cost to print the book. There is no choice of plan and no delivery fee; the variable is the printing cost, which Amazon calculates from your page count, trim size, ink (black or colour) and the marketplace the order ships from.
The formula is the same for paperback and hardcover, but hardcover printing costs more per copy, so at the same list price a hardcover nets you less — which is why hardcovers are usually priced higher. Page count is the biggest lever: a 600-page colour book costs far more to print than a 250-page black-and-white one, and that comes straight out of your royalty. KDP’s printing-cost calculator shows your exact figure once you’ve entered the specs; our KDP versus IngramSpark comparison covers how this maths differs across the two platforms.
A worked print example
Take a 300-page black-and-white paperback, 6×9 inches, listed at €12. Suppose Amazon’s printing cost works out to roughly €3.50. Your royalty is €12 × 60% − €3.50 ≈ €7.20 − €3.50 = €3.70 per copy. Push the price to €14.99 and you’d earn about €5.50; drop it to €9.99 and the print cost eats most of the margin, leaving close to €2.50. For colour interiors the printing cost rises steeply, which is the single most common reason a print book earns less than its author expected.
What does it all look like side by side?
Here is the royalty picture in one view. Figures are illustrative and rounded; your real numbers depend on file size, page count and marketplace.
| Format and plan | You receive | Fee or cost subtracted | Example net per sale |
|---|---|---|---|
| eBook — 70% plan | 70% of list price | Per-MB delivery fee (small) | €4.99 → about €3.40 |
| eBook — 35% plan | 35% of list price | None | €4.99 → about €1.75 |
| eBook priced outside the band | 35% only (70% not available) | None | €1.99 → about €0.70 |
| Paperback | 60% of list price | Printing cost (by page count) | €12 → about €3.70 |
| Hardcover | 60% of list price | Printing cost (higher than paperback) | €20 → about €5.00 |
How should this change the way you price?
Three honest takeaways. First, for most eBooks the 70% plan inside the price band is the obvious choice — the gap over 35% is enormous, and the delivery fee is trivial unless your file is heavy. Second, for print, your page count is your margin: tight, well-typeset interiors print cheaper and pay you more, which is one quiet reason professional print-file preparation earns its keep. Third, don’t set prices off a blog post, including this one. Open the KDP pricing page, enter your real specs, and read the figures it gives you for each marketplace before you publish.
One last point worth saying plainly: a higher royalty rate on an unfinished-feeling book earns you very little, because few people buy it. The royalty maths only matters once the book is good enough to sell.
At Librum we don’t take a cut of your royalties — we build the files and you keep every cent the stores pay you, along with editable source files and all rights. Our job is simply to make a book that earns its place on the shelf: a store-validated ePUB and a press-ready interior built to pass KDP first time, quoted up front. See what that involves on our packages page.
Frequently asked questions
What price should I set my eBook at to earn the most on KDP?+
For most eBooks the sweet spot sits inside Amazon’s 70% band — at the time of writing roughly $2.99 to $9.99, with equivalent bands in other currencies. Price below or above it and KDP drops you to 35% automatically, often halving your royalty. The band edges shift by marketplace and change over time, so confirm the live figures in your KDP dashboard before you set a price.
Why do my paperback royalties feel so low compared to my eBook?+
Because the maths is different. Paperbacks and hardcovers pay 60% of list price minus Amazon’s printing cost, and that printing cost grows with page count, trim size and colour. A long or large book can eat most of the 60%, leaving little behind. eBooks instead pay up to 70% with only a small delivery fee. These are Amazon’s terms and can change — check current rates in KDP.
Does a large image-heavy file lower my Kindle royalty?+
On the 70% plan, yes — a little. Amazon subtracts a per-megabyte delivery fee from your eBook royalty before paying you. For a normal text novel it’s a few cents and barely noticeable. For a cookbook, illustrated or fixed-layout title the file is far larger, so the fee bites. The 35% plan carries no delivery fee. The exact per-megabyte rate varies by marketplace and is adjusted by Amazon, so verify it in KDP.
Does Librum House get a cut of my KDP royalties?+
No. Librum House charges a flat production fee, quoted upfront before you commit, and that is all you pay us. We never take a percentage of your sales. You keep every royalty Amazon pays, all your rights and the editable source files, and your KDP account stays in your name. We prepare your files to meet KDP and IngramSpark specifications; for a current quote, just ask us.