Calculate your exact KDP royalty per unit across the 70% and 35% tiers — including delivery fees, monthly earnings, and annual projections. Accurate to 2026 KDP terms.
The price a reader pays on Amazon. 70% royalty tier requires $2.99–$9.99.
70% earns more per unit but restricts pricing to $2.99–$9.99.
KDP charges $0.15 per MB as a delivery fee in the 70% tier. Most novels are 1–4 MB; image-heavy books 5+ MB.
Paid copies per month (not KU page-reads — those use a different formula).
Eligible for the 70% royalty tier. Delivery fee: $0.30 per unit.
Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing offers two royalty options: 70% and 35%. The choice between them is the single biggest pricing decision most self-publishers make, and the math isn't always obvious at first glance.
The 70% tier pays authors 70% of list price, minus a delivery fee of $0.15 per MB of the book file. It's restricted to list prices between $2.99 and $9.99, and is only available in eligible regions (US, UK, EU, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, India). Outside those regions or outside the price range, sales default to the 35% tier automatically.
The 35% tier has no price restrictions ($0.99 to $200 list price) and no delivery fee. It's the right answer for books priced below $2.99 (a launch $0.99 or a permafree first-in-series) or above $9.99 (premium specialty non-fiction, textbooks, certain categories).
A 300-page novel priced at $6.99 with a file size of 2 MB earns:
At 100 units/month, that's $468/month on the 70% tier vs $245/month on the 35% tier — about 91% more revenue for the same sales volume. Almost always the right call in this price range.
Choose 70% when: your list price fits the $2.99–$9.99 range, your book file is under 5 MB (most non-illustrated books), and you sell primarily in the eligible regions. This covers ~90% of indie-published books.
Choose 35% when: you're running a $0.99 launch promotion, your book is priced above $9.99 (premium non-fiction, technical manuals), your book has heavy imagery pushing file size above 10 MB, or you're distributing heavily in non-eligible regions.
For the bigger picture on eBook pricing strategy — direct-sale channels, tiered pricing, A/B testing — see our eBook pricing strategy guide.
Other resources for authors and creators publishing with AI assistance.
70% tier: pays 70% of list price minus a $0.15/MB delivery fee, restricted to $2.99–$9.99 list prices and eligible regions. 35% tier: pays 35% of list price with no delivery fee, available at any price. For books priced $2.99–$9.99, the 70% tier pays roughly 2x more per unit — always the better choice unless you have a specific reason.
$0.15 per megabyte of book file size, deducted only under the 70% royalty tier. A typical 2 MB novel has a $0.30 delivery fee per sale. Image-heavy books (5–10 MB) can have $0.75–$1.50 fees per sale, which can push you toward the 35% tier for high-file-size books.
Two common reasons: (1) your list price is outside the $2.99–$9.99 range, so Amazon falls back to 35% automatically, or (2) the sale was in a non-eligible region (outside US, UK, EU, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, India). Check your list price and the buyer's region in the KDP Sales dashboard.
No. KU earnings come from a separate pool (the KDP Select Global Fund) and pay per page read rather than per unit sold. Rate fluctuates between $0.004 and $0.005 per KENP page. Use our KENP earnings calculator for the right formula.
First month, with no promotion and no reviews: 5–30 units. First month with a decent launch (pre-launch list, beta readers, BookBub Featured Deal): 100–500 units. Steady state for a mid-tier indie with a single book: 30–150 units/month. Prolific series authors often hit 500–2,000 units/month per title after catalog compounding.
No — this calculates gross royalties before advertising spend. If you're running Amazon Ads, subtract your ACoS (advertising cost of sale) from the per-unit royalty to get net earnings. ACoS under 40% is profitable for most non-fiction; under 60% works for fiction earning KU page-reads too.
Yes. You can switch between 70% and 35% at any time via the KDP dashboard. The change takes effect on your next sale (not retroactive). Many authors drop to 35% during a $0.99 launch promo, then back to 70% once they raise the price.
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