Last reviewed by Robert Prime — July 2026
Verdict: This is the most significant KDP pricing change in nearly two decades. If you publish non-fiction, specialist guides, or premium content and were capping your ebook at £9.99/$9.99 solely to stay inside the 70% band, you can now price up to £12.99 and keep the higher royalty rate. Fiction authors already priced at £2.99–£4.99 gain nothing from the ceiling change — don't move your prices for the sake of it.
What changed at a glance
| Before 7 July 2026 | After 7 July 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| 70% royalty band (.com) | $2.99–$9.99 | $2.99–$12.99 |
| 70% royalty band (.co.uk) | £1.77–£9.99 | £1.77–£12.99 |
| 35% royalty | Below $2.99 or above $9.99 | Below $2.99 or above $12.99 |
| Delivery fee (.co.uk) | £0.10/MB (70% tier only) | £0.10/MB (70% tier only) — unchanged |
| Auto-applied to existing titles? | — | No — you must opt in |
| Print royalty tiers | 60% at/above £7.99; 50% below | Unchanged |
This is the first 70% ceiling change since Amazon launched KDP in 2007.
The opt-in step — what you actually need to do
Amazon does not auto-switch existing titles to the new ceiling. If your ebook is already published, you need to:
- Go to your KDP Bookshelf → select the title → Kindle eBook Pricing
- Confirm your price is between $2.99 and $12.99 (or the equivalent in each marketplace)
- Select the 70% royalty option if it isn't already selected
- Save and publish
If you're publishing a new title, the 70% option is available at checkout for any price in the $2.99–$12.99 range. No special action needed.
Important: the 70% tier still carries a delivery fee based on file size (£0.10/MB on .co.uk). For image-heavy books, calculate whether the delivery fee at 70% still beats the flat 35% rate. The crossover is roughly 3.5 MB per £1 of list price: at £2.99 it is about 10 MB, at £9.99 about 35 MB, at £12.99 about 45 MB. Below that file size the 70% tier always wins.
Worked GBP examples
All examples use Amazon.co.uk with the 70% royalty option. Delivery fee estimated at £0.10/MB for a typical 1 MB fiction ebook.
Example 1: Non-fiction priced at £9.99 (the old ceiling)
| Before (70%) | After (still 70%) | |
|---|---|---|
| List price | £9.99 | £9.99 |
| Royalty rate | 70% | 70% |
| Delivery fee (~1 MB) | −£0.10 | −£0.10 |
| Net royalty | £6.89 | £6.89 |
No change if you keep the same price. But now you have headroom.
Example 2: Reprice from £9.99 to £12.99
| At £9.99 (70%) | At £12.99 (70%) | |
|---|---|---|
| List price | £9.99 | £12.99 |
| Royalty rate | 70% | 70% |
| Delivery fee (~1 MB) | −£0.10 | −£0.10 |
| Net royalty | £6.89 | £8.99 |
| Per-sale increase | — | +£2.10 (+30%) |
A 30% royalty increase per sale, with no change in royalty tier.
Example 3: Repricing above £12.99 — the trap
| At £12.99 (70%) | At £14.99 (35%) | |
|---|---|---|
| List price | £12.99 | £14.99 |
| Royalty rate | 70% | 35% |
| Delivery fee | −£0.10 | £0 (no delivery fee at 35%) |
| Net royalty | £8.99 | £5.25 |
Pricing at £14.99 drops you to 35% and loses you £3.74 per sale compared to £12.99. The 70% band has a hard edge — don't overshoot.
Who should reprice
Reprice if:
- You publish non-fiction, specialist guides, textbooks, or premium content and were capping at £9.99 solely because of the royalty band
- Your genre's comparable titles sell at £10.99–£12.99 (check the bestseller charts in your category)
- You sell a box set or omnibus where the value clearly supports a higher price
- Your ebook has a high page count (400+ pages) where readers expect a higher price
Do not reprice if:
- You write genre fiction (romance, thriller, sci-fi) where £2.99–£4.99 is the established price expectation — a higher price won't sell more copies
- Your print edition is already £9.99–£12.99 — ebook pricing too close to print cannibalises your own paperback sales
- You're enrolled in Kindle Unlimited and page reads are your primary income — list price matters less than page count
- You have no sales data yet — establish a baseline first, then test
The UK floor: £1.77, not £1.99
A commonly quoted UK floor for the 70% band is "£1.99." The actual minimum on Amazon.co.uk is £1.77. This hasn't changed in the July 2026 update — it was always £1.77. If you've been pricing at £1.99 thinking it's the minimum, you have slightly more downward room than you thought, though pricing at £1.77 is rarely practical.
What didn't change
- Print royalty tiers: 60% at or above the marketplace breakpoint (£7.99 on .co.uk, $9.99 on .com), 50% below. No change.
- Delivery fee: Still £0.10/MB on .co.uk, deducted from the 70% tier only. No change.
- 35% tier: Still available at any price. No delivery fee. No change.
- KDP Select / Kindle Unlimited: Enrolment terms unchanged. Page-read rates are separate from list-price royalties.
Sources
Figures were checked against these primary sources in July 2026; providers reprice, so verify the live page before you rely on a number.
Frequently asked questions
Does the new ceiling apply to all Amazon marketplaces?
The $2.99–$12.99 band applies to Amazon.com. Amazon.co.uk now uses £1.77–£12.99. Other marketplaces (Germany, France, etc.) have their own thresholds — check KDP's pricing page for each one. Not all marketplaces moved at the same time.
Will Amazon auto-switch my existing ebook?
No. You must go into KDP Bookshelf, confirm the 70% royalty option, and save. This is by design — Amazon doesn't change your royalty election without your consent.
Should I raise my price just because I can?
Only if the market supports it. The ceiling change is permission, not a recommendation. Check comparable titles in your category. If similar books sell at £10.99–£12.99, you have room. If your genre lives at £3.99, the ceiling is irrelevant to you.
Does the delivery fee make 70% worse than 35% at higher prices?
For typical text-only ebooks (under 3 MB), 70% minus delivery always beats 35%. For image-heavy books (photography, cookbooks, children's), calculate both. The crossover is about 3.5 MB per £1 of list price — so around 35 MB at £9.99 and 45 MB at £12.99. Only above that file size can the 35% flat rate net more than 70% minus the delivery fee.
What about the $2.99 floor on .com?
The US floor stayed at $2.99. The UK floor is £1.77. These didn't change — only the ceiling moved.
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