Book Royalty Calculator

Multiply your list price by the platform's royalty rate, then subtract any print or delivery costs. For an ebook on KDP priced at $5.99, the formula is $5.99 × 70% minus a small delivery fee (about $0.15), giving roughly $4.04 per sale. For a paperback, use 60% × list price − print cost, where print cost is $1.00 plus $0.012 per page. Our calculator does this automatically across every major platform.

Amazon pays 70% royalty on ebooks priced between $2.99 and $9.99. Outside that range, you earn 35%. The 70% tier also charges a delivery fee of roughly $0.15 per megabyte, which usually works out to about $0.06 to $0.45 per sale depending on your book's file size. Most self-publishers target this range to maximise revenue per sale.

Apple Books pays a flat 70% at every price point, which is the simplest and often highest headline rate. Kobo Writing Life pays 70% above $2.99 with no delivery fee (slightly better than KDP at small file sizes). Amazon KDP pays 70% only in the $2.99 to $9.99 window. For print, the highest rate is KDP at 60% minus print cost; IngramSpark pays 45% minus print cost but reaches bookstores and libraries that KDP doesn't.

For a standard 6x9 paperback in black-and-white, print cost is approximately $1.00 fixed plus $0.012 per page. A 200-page paperback costs about $3.40 to print, a 300-page paperback about $4.60. Colour interior is much more expensive at $0.065 per page. Amazon deducts this from your royalty on every sale.

Your minimum viable list price is print cost divided by 60% (the royalty rate). A 200-page paperback costs about $3.40 to print, so the minimum list is roughly $5.67 ($3.40 / 0.60). In practice, most self-publishers price paperbacks between $9.99 and $14.99 for healthy margins. Our calculator flags unprofitable combinations in red.

IngramSpark pays a lower royalty rate (45% at default 55% wholesale discount vs KDP's 60%) but gives you access to the Ingram distribution network: independent bookstores, libraries, and international retailers that KDP Print doesn't reach. Many self-publishers use KDP for Amazon sales and IngramSpark for everywhere else. Printing costs are broadly similar.

Yes. Book royalties are taxable self-employment income in most jurisdictions. In the US, Amazon and other platforms issue a 1099 form if you earn over the reporting threshold ($600 in 2026). In the UK, royalties are typically reported as self-employment income via Self Assessment. Check your local tax authority. The IRS publishes guidance on royalty income at irs.gov (Schedule E for passive royalties, Schedule C if writing is your business).

Yes, for print books. You publish the ebook on KDP (or wherever) and the paperback on both KDP for Amazon and IngramSpark for everywhere else. Most hybrid authors use this setup. Important: do not enrol your ebook in KDP Select (Kindle Unlimited) if you also distribute ebooks elsewhere, because Select requires ebook exclusivity for 90 days.

The Alliance of Independent Authors' 2024 income survey found the median self-published author earned approximately $12,800 annually, with the top 10% earning over $100,000. The distribution is extremely skewed: most authors earn under $10/month, while a small minority earn six figures. Royalty rate matters less than sales volume, and sales volume is driven by genre fit, cover, blurb, and consistent publishing cadence.

Draft2Digital (and Smashwords, which D2D now owns) takes about 10% of the net royalty the retailer pays, resulting in a blended rate around 60% of list price across stores. PublishDrive and StreetLib operate on similar terms. The trade-off: one dashboard, one tax form, and broader reach in exchange for a thinner margin on each sale vs direct publishing.

The sweet spot on KDP is $2.99 to $9.99 for the 70% royalty tier. Within that band, higher prices increase per-sale earnings but often reduce volume. Genre benchmarks: non-fiction typically prices $4.99 to $9.99, fiction novels $2.99 to $5.99, short novellas $0.99 to $2.99 (at the 35% rate). Test two or three price points over four-week windows and measure total revenue, not just per-sale royalty.

A few to watch: KDP's 70% tier charges a delivery fee per megabyte (ebooks with heavy images lose more to this). IngramSpark charges a setup fee per title ($49 for paperback, $49 for hardcover, waived under some promo codes). Subscription audiobook platforms often take a different royalty share than ebooks. Always read the current royalty help pages at the platform before committing.

KDP Select is an optional 90-day exclusivity programme. In exchange for not distributing your ebook elsewhere, Amazon enrols you in Kindle Unlimited and pays a 'per-page-read' rate from the global KDP Select fund. The 2026 rate averages around $0.004 to $0.0048 per page read. A 300-page book read cover-to-cover earns roughly $1.20 to $1.44, compared to $2.10 to $4.89 on a direct purchase. Select works best for series authors; less well for standalone premium-priced titles.

Yes. Amazon KDP, Apple Books, Kobo, IngramSpark, and other platforms apply the same royalty rates to AI-generated and human-written books. What changes is the disclosure requirement: KDP asks whether content is AI-generated or AI-assisted at the title-creation step, but this does not affect the 70% royalty tier eligibility or KDP Select enrollment. Our full walkthrough is on the Amazon KDP AI disclosure policy guide.

The calculator assumes USD pricing and USD royalty. Amazon KDP, Kobo, Apple Books, and Google Play each set separate list prices per country in local currency. Royalty rates are consistent across territories (70% / 35% on KDP, 70% on Apple) but the print costs and delivery fees vary. Use the official KDP pricing calculator for exact country-level royalty once your book is live.