KDP Royalty Calculator
What you actually earn per sale — in pounds, not converted dollars.
Most royalty calculators are built for Amazon.com and quote everything in US dollars. If you publish to Amazon.co.uk that is the wrong answer twice over: the printing costs are different numbers, not conversions, and the royalty thresholds sit at different price points. This one runs Amazon’s published UK figures directly.
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Check my file freeHow Amazon works out your royalty
Paperbacks use one formula: (royalty rate × list price) − printing cost = royalty. Two things decide the outcome, and most authors only think about one of them.
The royalty rate is tiered, and the threshold catches people out. On Amazon.co.uk you get 50% at or below £7.98 and 60% at £7.99 or above. On Amazon.com it is 50% at or below $9.98 and 60% at $9.99 or above. Pricing a paperback at £7.95 to look cheaper than a £7.99 competitor costs you the entire 10-point jump in rate — the calculator flags this above, because it is the single most common pricing mistake we see.
The printing cost is not a percentage, it is a real per-copy manufacturing charge that scales with page count and ink. On Amazon.co.uk, a black-ink paperback up to 110 pages costs a flat £1.93 to print. From 110 pages it becomes £0.85 plus a penny a page. Premium colour is £0.85 plus 4.35p a page — which is why a 300-page colour book is close to £14 to print before you have earned anything.
Kindle eBooks work differently. The 70% option pays 70% of the list price minus a delivery charge based on your file size (£0.10 per MB on Amazon.co.uk, $0.15 on Amazon.com). The 35% option pays a flat 35% with no delivery deduction. Delivery cost is the reason a 40MB illustrated book can earn less on 70% than a 1MB novel priced the same — and the reason keeping your EPUB small is worth real money on every single sale.
What changed on 7 July 2026
Amazon widened the 70% royalty band. The maximum list price rose from $9.99 to $12.99 on Amazon.com, with equivalent changes across the other marketplaces — £12.99 on Amazon.co.uk. The minimum is unchanged at £1.77 / $2.99.
This matters most for non-fiction. A £10.99 or £11.99 business or reference title previously fell outside the 70% band and earned 35%. It can now earn 70%. If you priced a book above £9.99 before July 2026 and have not revisited it since, you may be leaving roughly a third of your list price on the table on every sale — run the numbers above.
Frequently asked questions
How much do you earn per book on Amazon KDP?
On a paperback: 60% of the list price minus Amazon’s printing cost if you price at £7.99/$9.99 or above, or 50% minus printing below that. On a Kindle eBook: 70% minus a per-megabyte delivery charge if you price between £1.77–£12.99 (£2.99–$12.99 on Amazon.com), or a flat 35% with no delivery deduction outside that band.
What is the KDP printing cost for a paperback?
On Amazon.co.uk, black ink on white or cream paper costs a flat £1.93 for books of 24–110 pages, then £0.85 plus £0.010 per page from 110 to 828 pages. Standard colour is £0.85 plus £0.020 per page (72–600 pages). Premium colour is £2.59 flat for 24–40 pages, then £0.85 plus £0.0435 per page. Amazon.com figures differ — they are separate price lists, not currency conversions.
Why did my royalty drop when I lowered my price?
You almost certainly crossed Amazon’s paperback royalty threshold. At £7.99 and above you earn 60%; at £7.98 and below you earn 50%. Dropping from £7.99 to £7.95 cuts your rate by ten percentage points and costs you more than the 4p you took off the price. The calculator above shows the difference.
Is the 70% or 35% Kindle royalty option better?
Almost always 70%, if your price is inside the band. The exception is a very large file: the 70% option deducts £0.10 per megabyte per sale on Amazon.co.uk, so a 40MB illustrated book gives up £4.00 a sale in delivery costs. Below roughly 10MB, 70% wins comfortably at any price in the band.
Does the £12.99 maximum apply to Amazon.co.uk?
Yes. Amazon widened the 70% band on 7 July 2026, raising the maximum from $9.99 to $12.99 on Amazon.com with equivalent changes in other marketplaces — £12.99 on Amazon.co.uk. The £1.77 minimum did not change.
Does the calculator include VAT?
No, and neither does Amazon’s royalty calculation. Royalties are worked out on the list price excluding VAT. On Amazon.co.uk, the price a reader sees includes VAT on eBooks, so your VAT-exclusive price is lower than the shelf price — enter the exclusive figure for an accurate result.
Related tools and guides
- KDP Margin Calculator — the exact gutter and outside margins your page count requires
- Word Count to Page Count — estimate your page count before you have a formatted file
- Trim Size Visualiser — compare KDP trim sizes by genre
- Self-Publishing Costs UK — the full cost picture, not just per-sale royalties
- KDP 70% Royalty Change 2026 — what the £12.99 band change means and who should reprice
