KDP Royalty Calculator
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KDP Royalty Calculator — See Your Exact Amazon Kindle Earnings Before You Publish
Enter your book's price and page count below. This free calculator shows your exact royalty for both Amazon's 35% and 70% royalty tiers — including the delivery cost deduction that most authors miss on the 70% tier.
How Amazon KDP Royalties Work
The 35% Royalty Tier
Applies to books priced below $2.99 or above $9.99, books sold in certain territories where the 70% tier is unavailable, and books enrolled in KDP Select that are borrowed through Kindle Unlimited (though KU uses a different per-page payment system).
Your royalty is simply 35% of your list price. No delivery cost deduction applies on this tier.
The 70% Royalty Tier
Available for books priced between $2.99 and $9.99 in supported territories. It sounds straightforward — but Amazon deducts a delivery cost before calculating your royalty.
The delivery cost is $0.15 per megabyte (MB) of your finished KPF file. The formula is: Your royalty = (Price − Delivery Cost) × 70%
Delivery Cost and File Size
A typical hand-coded Kindle file from a 250-page text-only book runs 0.5MB to 1MB — a delivery cost of $0.08 to $0.15. An automated conversion of the same book may run 3MB to 5MB — a delivery cost of $0.45 to $0.75.
This is one reason hand-coded Kindle files earn more per sale than automated conversions of the same book at the same price. A hand-coded Kindle file typically runs 0.5–1.5MB for a text-only book. A file with many images may run 3–8MB.
Setting the Right Price for Your Kindle Book
The most common pricing question authors ask is whether $2.99 or $9.99 is the better boundary for the 70% tier.
At $2.99, your royalty is approximately $2.00–$2.05 after delivery cost on a typical text-only book. At $9.99, your royalty is approximately $6.90–$6.95 after delivery cost on the same book.
The 70% tier is worth the lower price only if you sell enough additional copies to compensate for the reduced per-copy royalty. Use the calculator above to model different price points before you decide.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Kindle Unlimited pays authors per page read at a rate that varies monthly based on the global KDP Select fund. That rate cannot be predicted in advance. This calculator covers direct purchase royalties only.
The calculator estimates file size based on your page count at 0.003MB per page for a text-only book — a conservative estimate for a professionally converted file. If your book contains many images, your actual delivery cost will be higher.
The delivery cost deduction reduces the effective royalty rate below 70%. On a $2.99 book with a 1MB file, the delivery cost is $0.15 — your actual royalty is ($2.99 − $0.15) × 70% = $1.99. On the 35% tier, the same book earns $1.05. The 70% tier is still better — but the margin is smaller than authors often expect.
No. KDP Print paperback royalties use a different calculation based on list price, trim size, page count, and printing cost. This calculator covers Kindle eBooks only.
Maximise Your Royalty With a Hand-Coded File
Smaller file size means a lower delivery cost and a higher royalty on every sale.