Amazon Self-Publishing Royalties Calculator: Where to Find It

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The calculator is on this page. Pick ebook or paperback, your marketplace and your price, and it shows the royalty KDP pays, with the working. It uses KDP’s published rules, so for a final price check the calculator inside your KDP account, which knows your exact file. This post also shows how the royalty is worked out and the targets I use to set prices.

There is also a stand-alone KDP royalty and print cost calculator with the print cost, the royalty rate and the working shown in one result.

Try the KDP royalty calculator

Where is the best royalties calculator?

Inside your own KDP account. When you enter a price for your book, KDP shows your royalty, and you can click the information icon to see how it was worked out. IngramSpark and Draft2Digital do the same. I keep an Excel sheet that works the sums out quickly, but the numbers change from time to time, so I always check on the platform itself before I trust my sheet.

Online calculators that let you type in a price are doing their best to guess. They do not take into account how many pages, how many photos, what is on the pages, what paper it is printed on or whether it is a hardback.

How does KDP work out royalties?

Ebooks on Amazon.com earn 70% if the list price is from $2.99 to $12.99, and 35% outside that range. The 70% option has delivery costs taken off (KDP eBook royalties). The top of that band rose from $9.99 to $12.99 on 07-Jul-26, so older advice that says $9.99 is out of date.

Paperbacks earn 50% of the list price at or below $9.98 and 60% at $9.99 or above on Amazon.com, and the formula is “(Royalty rate x list price) minus printing costs.” Printing cost depends on the marketplace, the page count and the ink type (KDP Paperback Royalty). Expanded Distribution pays 40% of the list price minus printing costs.

IngramSpark charges no title set-up fee in 2026, takes a global distribution fee of 1.875% of the local list price, and pays you the list price less the discount less the print cost on wholesale orders (rate card, effective 01-Feb-26).

Why is VAT taken off my royalty?

In some Amazon stores the price readers see includes VAT, and KDP takes the VAT off before it applies your royalty rate. For ebooks, the 35% option is 35% of your list price without VAT, and the 70% option is 70% of that price less delivery costs (KDP eBook royalties). KDP’s own example is a €1.99 ebook in Spain with 4% VAT and a 1 MB file, which pays €1.27 at 70%. The VAT rate differs by country, and KDP’s minimum and maximum list prices account for it too (How EU prices affect list price requirements).

For paperbacks, KDP’s formula uses the list price and does not mention taking VAT off, so check the royalty KDP shows (paperback royalty). HMRC says printed books are zero-rated for VAT in the UK (VAT Notice 701/10). Whether you must register for VAT or GST is a question for your own tax authority and a tax adviser.

Why is my royalty for a sale different from what I worked out?

Three things in KDP’s own pages can explain it. First, the Digital Book Pricing Page says the 70% option applies only to customers in its Available Sales Territories, and a sale to a customer outside them earns 35%. Second, Amazon may sell your ebook below your list price to match another seller’s price, and the royalty is then worked out on the price Amazon sold at. If price matching takes that price below the 70% minimum, the sale earns 35%.

Third, KDP Reports says the Royalties Estimator shows royalties in a single currency, and the exchange rate at payment will differ, so the estimate won’t match what you are paid exactly. Royalties appear only after a payment is recorded, and the estimate should update within 24 to 48 hours.

My advice: before you worry, check the marketplace and format of each order in the Orders report, and look at the book’s price on each Amazon store. Judge your royalties on the Prior Months’ Royalties report, not the estimate.

What price should I set to maximize royalties?

Price affects both the royalty and the number of copies you sell, so the question is how much you make in total. When I first put books out I did not think about royalties. I set prices low so I would not scare customers away, but that cost me royalties, and a low price can make a book look lower in quality.

Someone then pointed out a price range based on royalties, and I made a simple rule from it:

1. Ebooks: earn at least $2 for each ebook you sell. For a bundle of ebooks, add another $1 for each extra ebook, so a bundle of three earns $4 or more.
2. Paperbacks: earn at least $5 per paperback. For every six copies you sell in a month, raise the price by one dollar.
3. Raise paperbacks, not ebooks. I end all prices in 99 cents.

When I changed my prices this way, I saw a big increase in sales. Keep in mind your Kindle books drive traffic to your paperbacks, which is where many authors make most of their royalties. For more on pricing see Kindle book pricing strategy and the best pricing for paperbacks. The question is not whether a price is too high but whether you make as much as possible from each sale, so test and watch your sales.

What should I do next?

Use the calculator on the platform, not a guess, and aim for $2 per ebook and $5 per paperback. See also the cost to self-publish a book on Amazon. Once your books earn, it is also worth planning who gets them later: what happens to your books when you die. If you want help setting your prices, book my free 25-minute discovery call.

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