Amazon KDP Royalties Explained: 70% vs 35% and the Math That Matters

Amazon KDP pays two ebook royalty rates: 70% on list prices between $2.99 and $9.99, and 35% everywhere else. Paperbacks pay 60% of list price minus a print cost that runs roughly $2.30 base plus a per-page charge for a standard black-and-white 6x9 book, and expanded distribution drops the rate to 40%. Those three numbers decide whether your book earns $6.89 or $0.50 per sale, and this guide walks through the exact math at real price points.

The two ebook royalty bands and who qualifies

Every ebook on KDP sits in one of two royalty plans, and you choose the plan per book when you set pricing.

The 70% plan requires a list price between $2.99 and $9.99 in the US store (other marketplaces have equivalent bands). It also requires that your price be at or below the price of any physical edition, and in some marketplaces 70% only applies to sales in countries where Amazon has negotiated it. From that 70%, Amazon subtracts a per-megabyte delivery fee before calculating your cut.

The 35% plan applies everywhere else: prices from $0.99 to $2.98, and prices above $9.99 up to the $200 cap. No delivery fee is charged on the 35% plan, which matters more than most authors expect once files get large.

The band creates a cliff. At $9.99 you earn about $6.89 per sale. At $10.99, one dollar higher, you earn $3.85. You would need to price at roughly $19.70 on the 35% plan just to match the $9.99 royalty. This is why so many ebooks cluster at $9.99: it is the last price where the 70% engine still runs.

Delivery fees: the quiet tax on image-heavy books

The delivery fee is charged per megabyte of the delivered file and only on the 70% plan. Rates vary by marketplace, roughly $0.06 to $0.15 per MB, with the US at the top of that range.

For a text-only novel, the converted file usually lands around 1 MB, so the fee is about $0.15 and nobody notices. For a photography book, a cookbook with full-color images, or a children's picture book, files of 10 to 30 MB are common. At $0.15 per MB, a 20 MB file costs $3.00 in delivery fees on every single sale.

Run the comparison for a $4.99 illustrated book with a 20 MB file:

• 70% plan: 0.70 x ($4.99 - $3.00) = $1.39
• 35% plan: 0.35 x $4.99 = $1.75, no delivery fee

The "lower" royalty plan pays more. If your book is image-heavy, always calculate both plans before choosing, and compress your images aggressively before upload. Halving file size on a big illustrated book can add more to your per-copy earnings than a price change.

Worked ebook royalties at five real price points

Assumptions: US store, a typical 1 MB text ebook, $0.15 delivery fee where the 70% plan applies.

Read the last two rows together. Raising your price 30% from $9.99 to $12.99 cuts your per-copy earnings 34%. Unless you have strong evidence your audience will pay premium nonfiction prices in volume, $9.99 is usually the practical ceiling.

Paperback math: 60% minus print cost

Paperback royalties work differently. You earn 60% of list price, then Amazon deducts the print cost of that specific book. For black-and-white interiors on 6x9 trim, print cost is approximately a $2.30 base plus a per-page charge, which works out to the figures below (always confirm in KDP's printing cost calculator, since rates change).

Two lessons fall out of this table. First, page count is a direct cost: every 100 pages costs you about $1.20 per copy sold, forever. Trimming a bloated manuscript or tightening interior formatting (font size, margins, line spacing) has permanent royalty value. Second, longer books need higher list prices. A 400-page book at $13.99 earns $1.29 per copy, which barely covers the effort of selling it.

Expanded distribution: reach vs. royalty

Expanded distribution lists your paperback with distributors that supply bookstores, libraries, and other online retailers. The tradeoff is brutal: the royalty rate drops from 60% to 40% of list price, and the same print cost still comes out.

For the 300-page book at $15.99: standard Amazon sales pay $3.69, while expanded distribution pays 0.40 x $15.99 - $5.90 = $0.50. Same book, 86% less per copy. At 400 pages and $15.99, expanded distribution math goes negative, which is why KDP forces a higher minimum list price when you enable it.

Enable expanded distribution if bookstore and library availability matters to your goals, or if you use the paperback mainly as a credibility asset. Skip it if Amazon is where your buyers actually are, which for most self-published authors it is.

Hardcover and KU page reads, briefly

Hardcovers follow the paperback formula, 60% of list minus print cost, but the print cost is meaningfully higher, so hardcovers need list prices in the mid-$20s and up to earn sensible royalties. They are worth doing for gift-market nonfiction and as a premium tier, not as your main earner.

If you enroll an ebook in KDP Select, it becomes available in Kindle Unlimited and you earn from pages read instead of a sale. Amazon divides a monthly global fund across all pages read that month, producing a per-page rate that historically floats around $0.004 to $0.005. A fully read 300-page novel (KENP page counts run higher than print pages, often 1.5x or more) might earn $1.50 to $2.50, roughly comparable to a discounted sale. Select requires ebook exclusivity to Amazon, so weigh KU income against sales you would have made on other stores.

Common royalty surprises and how to fix them

"My 70% book is earning less than 70%." Delivery fees. Check the file size in your KDP bookshelf, compress images, and re-run the 35% comparison for heavy files.

"My report shows sales but no money arrived." Reports update daily, but KDP pays roughly 60 days after month end. A sale on July 10, 2026 pays at the end of September. Plan cash flow around that lag.

"My $1.99 promo price is only paying 35%." Correct, and by design: below $2.99 the 70% plan is unavailable. Price promotions below $2.99 are volume plays, not margin plays.

"My royalty changed and I touched nothing." Marketplace currency conversion, a price-matching adjustment, or a change in which marketplace the sale occurred in. Check the per-marketplace breakdown before assuming an error.

"Expanded distribution sales pay almost nothing." That is the 40% rate working as documented. Recheck whether you still want it enabled.

Pricing strategy that respects the math

Start from the bands, not from instinct. For most ebooks, test within $3.99 to $9.99 and stay on the 70% plan. Fiction typically converts best at $3.99 to $5.99; specialist nonfiction supports $7.99 to $9.99. Use $0.99 and $1.99 only as time-boxed promotions where visibility, not margin, is the goal.

For paperbacks, price backward from the royalty you want: target royalty plus print cost, divided by 0.60, gives your minimum list price. A 300-page book where you want $4 per copy needs ($4.00 + $5.90) / 0.60 = $16.50, so $16.99 is your floor. Then sanity-check against comparable titles in your category, and revisit pricing after launch. Our guide to publishing a book on Amazon covers where pricing fits in the full launch sequence.

Key takeaways

• The 70% ebook royalty only applies between $2.99 and $9.99. A $9.99 ebook earns $6.89; a $12.99 ebook earns $4.55.
• Delivery fees ($0.06 to $0.15 per MB) are negligible for text books and punishing for image-heavy ones. Compare both plans on any file over a few MB.
• Paperback royalty is 60% of list minus print cost, about $2.30 base plus a per-page charge for B&W 6x9. Every 100 pages costs roughly $1.20 per copy.
• Expanded distribution pays 40% instead of 60% and can cut per-copy earnings by 80% or more. Enable it for reach, never for revenue.
• Reports update daily; money lands about 60 days after month end. Budget accordingly.
• Price backward from the royalty you want, then test. The math is fixed; your price is the only lever you control.