Amazon KDP royalties explained: ebook, paperback and hardcover

Amazon KDP pays two ebook royalty rates, 70% and 35%, and which one you get depends on your list price and where the reader lives. On Amazon.com the 70% option covers ebooks priced from $2.99 to $12.99, after a delivery fee is taken off. Paperbacks and hardcovers work differently: KDP pays 60% of the list price, or 50% on cheaper books, and then subtracts the cost of printing the copy.

Everything below comes from KDP Help as we read it on 1 November 2026. Amazon changes these pages without much notice, so check the current version before you set a price. The ebook price bands are on the eBook list price requirements page and the formulas are on the eBook royalty page.

Ebooks: the 70% and 35% options

On the 70% option, KDP pays 70% of the list price after deducting VAT and a delivery fee. On the 35% option it pays 35% of the list price after VAT, with no delivery fee. In the UK, ebooks are zero-rated for VAT, so on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com the VAT deduction is nil and the arithmetic stays simple.

To qualify for 70%, your ebook has to sit inside a price band for each marketplace. On 7 July 2026 Amazon raised the Amazon.com ceiling from $9.99, where it had been since 2007, to $12.99. The current 70% bands are:

Three more conditions apply. The book must be in copyright, because public domain works only get 35%. Your ebook price must be at least 20% below the Amazon list price of any print edition. And sales in Brazil, India, Japan and Mexico only earn 70% if the book is enrolled in KDP Select.

The 35% option has its own floor, set by file size. On Amazon.com the minimum is $0.99 for files under 3 MB, $1.99 from 3 MB to under 10 MB, and $2.99 at 10 MB or more, with a ceiling of $200. On Amazon.co.uk the minimums are £0.77, £1.25 and £1.49, up to £150.

Worked example: a $4.99 ebook

Take a novel with a 1 MB file. On the 70% option at Amazon.com the delivery fee is $0.15, so the royalty is 70% of $4.84, which is $3.39. On the 35% option it is 35% of $4.99, which is $1.75. On Amazon.co.uk at £4.99 the fee is £0.10, so the 70% royalty is 70% of £4.89, which is £3.42.

The delivery fee only bites on big files. A 10 MB illustrated book would lose $1.50 before the 70% is applied, which cuts the royalty at $4.99 to $2.44. That is still more than the 35% option, but the gap narrows quickly as file size grows.

Paperbacks: royalty rate minus printing cost

The paperback royalty formula is the royalty rate multiplied by the list price, minus the printing cost. The rate on Amazon marketplaces is 60% at or above $9.99, £7.99 or €9.99, and 50% at or below $9.98, £7.98 or €9.98. Expanded distribution, which sends your paperback to other retailers and libraries, pays 40% of the list price minus printing.

Paperback printing cost depends on page count, ink and trim size. For black ink on a regular trim size, Amazon.com charges a flat $2.30 for 24 to 110 pages, then $1.00 per book plus $0.012 per page from 110 to 828 pages. Amazon.co.uk charges a flat £1.93, then £0.85 per book plus £0.010 per page. Large trims, wider than 6.12 inches or taller than 9 inches, cost $0.017 or £0.012 per page.

KDP will not accept a list price below the point where the royalty covers printing. In practice that minimum is the printing cost divided by the royalty rate that applies at that price.

Worked example: a 300-page paperback at $12.99

On Amazon.com a 300-page, regular trim, black ink paperback costs $1.00 plus 300 × $0.012, which is $4.60, to print. At $12.99 the 60% rate gives $7.79, so the royalty is $3.19 a copy. Through expanded distribution, 40% of $12.99 is $5.20, which leaves $0.60. The minimum list price is $9.20, because below $9.99 the rate drops to 50% and $4.60 divided by 0.5 is $9.20.

On Amazon.co.uk the same book costs £0.85 plus 300 × £0.010, which is £3.85, to print. At £12.99 the royalty is £7.79 minus £3.85, so £3.94. At £9.99, a more usual UK paperback price, it is £5.99 minus £3.85, so £2.14, and expanded distribution would leave only £0.15. The UK minimum is £7.70.

That paperback price also caps the ebook. With a $12.99 print edition, a 70% ebook can be no more than $10.39, which is 20% below.

Hardcovers: the same formula with higher printing costs

KDP's hardcover royalty page uses the same 60% and 50% split and the same thresholds as paperbacks. An older hardcover pricing page still says a flat 60%, so if the two disagree when you publish, trust the royalty calculator on your title. Expanded distribution is not available for hardcovers.

The hardcover printing cost for black ink is $5.65 plus $0.012 per page on Amazon.com for 110 to 550 pages, and £4.15 plus £0.010 per page on Amazon.co.uk. A 300-page hardcover therefore costs $9.25 to print, its minimum list price at 60% is $15.42, and at $24.99 it earns $14.99 minus $9.25, which is $5.74.

What to do with these numbers

1. Find your ebook file size in KDP and work out the delivery fee before choosing between 70% and 35%.
2. Price the ebook inside the 70% band for your main marketplace, and at least 20% below your paperback.
3. Price the paperback above $9.99 or £7.99 if the market allows it, so you get 60% rather than 50%.
4. Only switch on expanded distribution if you have a reason to want bookshop and library availability, because at common prices it pays very little.

Our guide to pricing your book covers where to land inside those limits, and the article on KDP's $12.99 band covers which titles are worth moving up. If you sell copies from your own site instead, the Indie Author Toolchest takes direct ebook and paperback orders with you as the seller, so none of the Amazon formulas apply to those sales.