Amazon KDP calculator
Royalties, printing costs and margins for self-published books, with your own costs and sales.
Profitable
Profit a month
£204.94
£264.94 royalties − £60.00 costs · one-off costs paid back in 2 months
- First-year profit
- £2,059.28
- Royalties a year
- £3,179.28
- One-off costs paid back
- 2 months
| Format | Per copy | Rate | A month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paperback £9.99 × 40 | £2.64 | 60% | £105.76 |
| E-book £3.99 × 60 | £2.65 | 70% | £159.18 |
Show workings
- Paperback printing£0.85 + 250 × £0.01 = £3.35
- Paperback royalty£9.99 × 60% − £3.35 = £2.64
- E-book royalty (70%)70% × (£3.99 − 2 MB × £0.10 delivery) = £2.65
- Monthly royalties£105.76 paperback + £159.18 e-book = £264.94
- Profit a month£264.94 − £60.00 = £204.94
How it works
Paperbacks earn 60% of the list price (without VAT) minus printing, or 50% if priced below the marketplace's threshold ($9.99, £7.99, €9.99, C$13.99, A$13.99…). Expanded distribution (bookshops and libraries) pays 40% minus printing. Printing is a fixed charge plus a cost per page, depending on ink (black, standard colour, premium colour) and trim size; short books pay a flat charge.
Hardcovers earn 60% minus printing, and come in black or premium colour, 75–550 pages, on Amazon.com, .co.uk, .de, .fr, .es and .it.
E-books earn 70% of (list price without VAT − delivery cost) when priced within the marketplace's 70% band, or 35% otherwise. In Brazil, Japan, Mexico and India, 70% also needs KDP Select. Kindle Unlimited pays per page read (KENP) for books in KDP Select; the rate changes monthly.
Printing costs, thresholds, delivery fees and price bands are from KDP's help pages (November 2026). Tax added to list prices varies by country and is filled in as a typical figure: change it under "VAT in list prices". KDP's own pricing screen shows the exact figures for your book.
Worked example
A 250-page black-and-white paperback at £9.99 on Amazon.co.uk: printing is £0.85 + 250 × £0.01 = £3.35, so the royalty is £9.99 × 60% − £3.35 = £2.64. The e-book at £3.99 with a 2 MB file earns 70% × (£3.99 − £0.20) = £2.65. Forty paperbacks and sixty e-books a month bring in about £265; take off £60 of ads and £400 of setup costs is paid back in about two months.
Questions
What is a large trim size?
Anything wider than 6.12 inches (155.5 mm) or taller than 9 inches (228.6 mm). Large trims cost more per page to print.
What are KENP pages?
Kindle Edition Normalized Pages: Amazon's standard page count for an e-book, which is usually close to (and often a little more than) the print page count. You're paid for each page read for the first time by Kindle Unlimited readers.
Is it worth enrolling in KDP Select?
It adds Kindle Unlimited page reads and promotions, and is needed for 70% in Brazil, Japan, Mexico and India, but the e-book must then be exclusive to Amazon. Paperbacks and hardcovers can still be sold anywhere.
Does this include tax on my royalties?
No. Royalties are taxable income where you live. Complete KDP's tax interview so the correct US withholding (often 0% under a tax treaty) applies.