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A $9.99 Kindle book earns about $6.99 per sale at Amazon’s 70% rate. Enter your price and page count to see your Kindle and paperback royalties (US, est.) — instantly, with no signup.
Estimated royalty per sale
$6.99 (US, est.)
US, black-ink estimate, before per-MB delivery fee — verify your real figures at KDP upload.
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Worked examples for common Kindle price points across typical paperback lengths. All figures are US, black-ink estimates, before the per-MB Kindle delivery fee — verify your real figures at KDP upload.
| List price | Pages | eBook royalty | Est. print cost | Paperback royalty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $2.99 | 100 | $2.09 | $2.30 | $-0.51 (below break-even) |
| $2.99 | 200 | $2.09 | $3.40 | $-1.61 (below break-even) |
| $2.99 | 300 | $2.09 | $4.60 | $-2.81 (below break-even) |
| $2.99 | 400 | $2.09 | $5.80 | $-4.01 (below break-even) |
| $4.99 | 100 | $3.49 | $2.30 | $0.69 |
| $4.99 | 200 | $3.49 | $3.40 | $-0.41 (below break-even) |
| $4.99 | 300 | $3.49 | $4.60 | $-1.61 (below break-even) |
| $4.99 | 400 | $3.49 | $5.80 | $-2.81 (below break-even) |
| $9.99 | 100 | $6.99 | $2.30 | $3.69 |
| $9.99 | 200 | $6.99 | $3.40 | $2.59 |
| $9.99 | 300 | $6.99 | $4.60 | $1.39 |
| $9.99 | 400 | $6.99 | $5.80 | $0.19 |
Estimates only. eBook royalty uses Amazon’s 70% band ($2.99–$9.99); paperback royalty is 60% of list minus estimated printing cost.
Amazon KDP pays authors two very different ways depending on format, and the rules have a sharp edge that surprises most first-time publishers. Get the price wrong by a single cent and you can halve your earnings per sale. Here is the 2026 math, in plain terms.
For Kindle eBooks, Amazon offers two royalty tiers. You earn 70% of your list price only when that price sits between $2.99 and $9.99 (USD). Step outside that band — price at $1.99, or push to $12.99 — and you drop to the 35% tier. This is a cliff, not a slope: a $9.99 book at 70% earns about $6.99, while a $10.99 book at 35% earns only about $3.85. Raising your price actually cut your royalty. The 70% tier also carries a small per-MB delivery fee based on your file size, which is why our estimates are a slight over-estimate — image-heavy books pay more.
Paperbacks work differently. KDP pays a flat 60% of your list price, then subtracts the cost to print the book. Printing cost is driven mostly by page count: short books (roughly 108 pages or fewer) hit a flat minimum of about $2.30, while longer books add a fixed charge plus a few cents per page. A 300-page paperback costs about $4.60 to print, so at a $9.99 list price you keep roughly $1.39 per copy.
Because printing eats into every sale, each page count has a break-even price below which KDP would actually pay you nothing — or refuse the price outright. The longer your book, the higher you must price it just to earn a cent. This is why padding a paperback with filler can quietly destroy its margins, and why many non-fiction authors keep print editions tight and lean on the higher-margin Kindle version for volume.
For most non-fiction Kindle books in 2026, pricing right at the top of the 70% band ($9.99) maximizes per-sale royalty while staying impulse-friendly. For paperbacks, start from the break-even price for your page count, then add the margin you want — the calculator above shows both. Run your real numbers, then confirm them on the KDP pricing screen at upload, since marketplace, trim size, and ink type all nudge the final figure.
About $6.99 per sale (US, estimate). At $9.99 you qualify for Amazon's 70% royalty rate, so you keep roughly 70% of the list price minus a small per-MB delivery fee. Price below $2.99 or above $9.99 and the rate drops to 35%.
Amazon only pays the 70% Kindle royalty when your list price is between $2.99 and $9.99 (USD). Price a cent outside that band — say $1.99 or $12.99 — and you fall to the 35% tier, so a higher sticker price can actually earn you less per sale.
KDP pays 60% of your list price minus the printing cost. Printing cost rises with page count, so a longer book needs a higher price to stay profitable. For example, a 300-page paperback costs about $4.60 to print, so at $9.99 you'd earn roughly $1.39 per copy (US, est.).
No — treat them as US, black-ink estimates for planning. Your real payout depends on marketplace, trim size, ink type, and the per-MB Kindle delivery fee, and Amazon updates its printing costs over time. Always confirm the figure KDP shows you on the pricing screen at upload.