KDP Royalty Calculator for eBook Authors & Publishers

By Jeff Cobb.  Last Updated on September 12, 2026
Free Tool by Jeff Cobb

KDP Royalty Calculator

Find what you’d actually earn per sale on Amazon KDP, for an ebook or a paperback, before you set a price. A quick way to check whether that companion workbook pays for itself.

Based on Amazon KDP’s publicly published royalty structure as of this writing. Delivery costs, printing costs, and eligible price ranges can change, and vary by marketplace and book type, so confirm current numbers in your own KDP dashboard before pricing a real book.

Ebook royalty plan

KDP offers two royalty plans for ebooks. The 70% plan only applies within a specific list price range and charges a delivery fee based on file size.

Royalty rate
70%
Delivery cost
$0.00
Royalty per sale
$0.00
KDP royalty plans at a glance
PlanRateApplies when
Ebook, 35% plan35%Any list price from $0.99 to $200, no delivery fee
Ebook, 70% plan70%List price $2.99–$9.99 (most territories), minus a delivery fee based on file size
Paperback60%List price minus a printing cost based on page count

How KDP calculates royalties

Ebook royalty (70% plan) = (List price × 0.70) − (File size in MB × $0.15)
Paperback royalty = (List price × 0.60) − Printing cost

Amazon pays ebook royalties on one of two plans you choose per book. The 35% plan has no delivery fee and works at almost any price. The 70% plan pays double the rate but only within a set list price range, and it charges a small delivery fee based on how large the file is, since Amazon is covering the cost of delivering that file to a reader’s device.

Paperback works differently. Amazon prints each copy on demand, so it deducts a printing cost tied to page count before paying out the 60% royalty share. A short book costs little to print. A long one can eat a meaningful chunk of the royalty, which is exactly why page count matters as much as price for a paperback.

Example

A $6.99 ebook on the 70% plan with a 3MB file: royalty = (6.99 × 0.70) − (3 × 0.15) = $4.89 − $0.45 = $4.44 per sale. A $14.99 paperback at 150 pages: printing cost = $1.00 + (150 × $0.012) = $2.80, so royalty = (14.99 × 0.60) − 2.80 = $6.19 per sale.

Using this for a companion workbook or course guide

A lot of course creators publish a workbook, cheat sheet, or companion guide on KDP alongside their main course, either as a low-cost entry product or a free-plus-shipping lead magnet. This calculator answers the question that decides whether that’s worth doing: at your planned price and page count, does the royalty actually cover your time, or does the printing cost eat most of it?

Switch to paperback mode and try a few page counts before you finalize a layout. Trimming even 20 pages from a workbook can noticeably change the royalty, since printing cost scales directly with page count while your list price usually can’t move much without hurting sales.

KDP calculates ebook and paperback royalties independently. If you publish both formats for the same book, which most creators do, run each one through this calculator separately. A price that works well for the ebook can be a poor fit for the paperback version once printing cost enters the picture.

What affects your KDP royalty

  • List price: the single biggest lever for both formats, and the only input that affects royalty for the 35% ebook plan
  • File size, ebook only: a heavily illustrated ebook or one with embedded audio and video carries a bigger delivery fee on the 70% plan than a plain text book
  • Page count, paperback only: directly sets the printing cost, so a workbook with lots of worksheet pages costs meaningfully more to print than a short guide
  • Territory: the 70% ebook plan’s eligible price range and the paperback printing cost both vary by marketplace, so a book priced for the US can pay out differently in other countries
  • Royalty plan choice: a book priced below $2.99 or above $9.99 only qualifies for the 35% ebook plan, no matter how the file is set up

KDP royalty calculator: frequently asked questions

Should I choose the 35% or 70% royalty plan?
If your list price falls between $2.99 and $9.99, the 70% plan almost always pays more, even after the delivery fee, since double the royalty rate usually outweighs a delivery cost of a few cents to a dollar. Outside that price range, the 35% plan is your only option anyway.
Why does file size affect my ebook royalty?
On the 70% plan, Amazon charges a small delivery fee per download to cover the cost of transmitting the file, calculated at a set rate per megabyte. A plain text ebook stays small and the fee is minor. Heavy use of images, audio, or embedded video can push the file size, and the fee, up meaningfully.
Why is my paperback royalty so much lower than my ebook royalty at the same price?
Printing cost is the difference. An ebook has no physical production cost, so the full 70% or 35% share reaches you minus only a small delivery fee. A paperback has to cover the actual cost of printing and binding a physical copy first, which can take a meaningful bite out of the 60% royalty share, especially for a longer book.
Can a paperback price actually lose money?
Yes, if the list price is too low relative to the page count, the printing cost can exceed the royalty share entirely, and KDP won’t let you publish at a price where that happens. This calculator flags that scenario so you can catch it before you’re stuck raising a price after launch.
Does KDP pay the same royalty rate worldwide?
No. Amazon sets royalty plans, eligible price ranges, and delivery or printing costs per marketplace, so a book sold on Amazon UK or Amazon Germany can pay a different rate than the same book sold in the US. This calculator uses US-marketplace figures as the reference point.
Selling more than one format?

The Profit Margin Calculator shows how a low-cost product like a workbook fits into your overall margins.

Profit Margin Calculator → See all free tools

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Jeff Cobb, Founder of Learning Revolution

Jeff Cobb is an expert in online education and the business of adult lifelong learning. Over the past 20+ years he has built a thriving career based on that expertise – as an entrepreneur, a consultant, an author, and a speaker. Learning Revolution is a place where Jeff curates tips, insights, and resources to help you build a thriving expertise-based business. Learn more about Jeff Cobb here.

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