Home Resources KDP royalty calculator
Free toolKDP royalty calculator
What a paperback costs Amazon to print, what you keep on each copy, and the lowest price KDP will let you charge. Black ink, the three marketplaces most novels sell in.
You keep, per copy
- List price
- $12.99
- Printing cost
- $4.60
- Amazon's share
- $5.20
- Through expanded distribution, at 40%
- $0.60
- Lowest price KDP will accept
- $7.67
A thousand copies at this price earns $3,190.
This runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere, and there is no account to make.
How KDP works out your royalty
Printing cost = fixed cost + (pages × cost per page). Black ink, from KDP's own table:
| Marketplace | Under 110 pages | 110 to 828, regular trim | 110 to 828, large trim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon.com | $2.30 flat | $1.00 + $0.012 a page | $1.00 + $0.017 a page |
| Amazon.co.uk | £1.93 flat | £0.85 + £0.010 a page | £0.85 + £0.012 a page |
| Euro marketplaces | €2.05 flat | €0.75 + €0.012 a page | €0.75 + €0.016 a page |
Royalty = (rate × list price) − printing cost. The rate is 60% at or above 9.99 dollars, 9.99 euros or 7.99 pounds, and 50% below it. Expanded distribution pays 40% at any price.
The minimum list price is the point where that sum reaches zero, so it is the printing cost divided by the rate. It rises with every page, which is the quiet cost of a long book and the reason the page count is worth knowing before you set a price.
Figures are Amazon's, for paperbacks, black ink, sold through Amazon itself. Hardcover, colour and the smaller marketplaces are not covered here. Nothing accounts for tax, returns or advertising.
For working things out, not for signing anything. Printers and retailers set their own rates and specifications, change them without notice, and none of them is affiliated with me or with Galley. I checked these figures by hand in August 2026 against KDP's printing cost table and its paperback royalty page . Confirm on the official page before you commit money to a price, a print run or a contract.
Questions
How much does Amazon KDP pay per book?
On a paperback sold through an Amazon marketplace you get 60% of the list price minus the printing cost, or 50% minus printing cost if you price below the threshold, which is 9.99 in dollars and euros and 7.99 in pounds. Through expanded distribution it is 40% minus printing cost.
How much does it cost to print a paperback on KDP?
For black ink on a regular trim above 110 pages it is a fixed 1.00 plus 0.012 a page in dollars and euros, or 0.85 plus 0.010 a page in pounds. A 300 page novel costs 4.60 dollars to print. Below 110 pages it is a flat fee instead.
What is the minimum price I can charge?
The lowest price where your royalty does not go negative, which is the printing cost divided by your royalty rate. A 300 page paperback cannot be listed below about 9.20 dollars. This is why long books cannot be cheap books.
Is a lower price always worse?
No. Dropping below the threshold cuts your rate from 60% to 50%, so a book at 9.99 can earn more per copy than the same book at 9.49 even before you count the copies you sell. Check both prices before you decide.
What counts as a large trim?
Anything bigger than 6.12 by 9 inches. It costs more per page to print. Of the common novel sizes only Royal at 6.14 by 9.21 crosses the line, and it crosses it by two hundredths of an inch.
Next
More at the resources index.
Put all this into practice when you write your novel in Galley.
Launch Galley