KDP Royalties and Pricing Explained: 70% vs 35%, Paperback Math and Launch Strategy

The two numbers that matter

Every KDP royalty comes down to two variables: the list price you set and the royalty rate that applies to your format. For ebooks the rate is 70% or 35%. For paperback and hardcover it is 60% of list price with printing cost subtracted, or 40% through Expanded Distribution.

Everything else is conditions and deductions. Rules, thresholds and printing costs change, so treat the figures below as the structure and confirm the current numbers on KDP’s pricing help pages before you set a price.

Ebook royalties: 70% versus 35%

You choose a royalty option per book when you set the price. The two options are not simply “more” and “less”; each has conditions.

The 70% option

You can select 70% only if the book meets all of KDP’s conditions, which include:

Price band. The list price must fall within a specified range for each marketplace. For the US store that range has long been from $2.99 to $9.99; other marketplaces have their own bands in local currency. Price outside the band and the book falls back to 35%.
Territories. The 70% rate applies to sales in a defined list of countries. Sales in other countries pay 35% even when the book is enrolled in the 70% option. In some marketplaces, 70% is only available to books enrolled in KDP Select.
Relative pricing. The ebook list price must be at least 20% below the list price of any physical edition sold on Amazon, and must not be higher than the price of the book at other retailers.
Content. Public domain content is not eligible for 70%.
Delivery cost. At 70%, Amazon deducts a delivery cost based on the file size of the ebook before calculating your royalty. The rate is per megabyte and varies by marketplace.

So the 70% royalty is really 70% of (list price minus delivery cost). For a text-only novel that deduction is small; for an image-heavy book it can be large enough that 35% pays more.

The 35% option

Allows a wider price range, from a low minimum up to a much higher maximum.
No delivery cost is deducted.
Applies in all territories.
Is the automatic fallback when a 70% condition is not met.

Which to pick

If your book is text-based and you intend to price inside the band, 70% is the obvious choice. If you want to price below the band’s floor (for a short reader magnet) or above its ceiling (for a specialist reference), or your file is large enough that the delivery cost eats the difference, run both calculations. KDP shows the estimated royalty for each option on the pricing page as you type a price, which makes this quick.

Paperback royalties

The formula for a paperback sold on Amazon’s own stores is:

Royalty = (60% x list price) - printing cost

Through Expanded Distribution, which places the book with other retailers and distributors, the rate drops:

Royalty = (40% x list price) - printing cost

Printing cost depends on:

Page count
Ink type (black-and-white, standard colour, premium colour)
Trim size, in that some sizes fall into a different cost tier
The marketplace the book is printed for

Hardcover follows the same 60% structure with its own printing costs. Check the current rate and cost tables in KDP’s help pages, as both have been revised in the past.

Minimum list price

Because printing cost is subtracted after the percentage is applied, there is a floor below which your royalty would be negative. KDP will not let you set a price below that floor. The minimum is the price at which 60% of the list price equals the printing cost. If you enable Expanded Distribution, the minimum rises, because 40% of the price must cover the same cost.

In practice this means a long colour book has a high minimum price, and you need to know that number before you decide on page count and ink type.

Using the printing cost calculator

KDP publishes a printing cost and royalty calculator in its help pages. Use it before you finalise the interior:

Enter the marketplace, trim size, ink type and page count.
Note the printing cost it returns.
Enter candidate list prices and see the royalty for Amazon sales and for Expanded Distribution.
Change the page count or ink type and watch the printing cost move. Dropping from colour to black-and-white, or trimming twenty pages, can change your margin more than any pricing decision.

Pricing strategy: launch versus long term

At launch

Ebook: many authors launch at the lower end of the 70% band, or briefly below it at 35%, to reduce friction for early readers and gather reviews. Decide in advance when the price goes up and tell your early readers it will.
Paperback: price above the minimum with a sensible margin, but check the top twenty in your category. A paperback priced far above the shelf will not sell on day one no matter the quality.
Keep the ebook at least 20% below the paperback if you want to stay in the 70% option.

Long term

Move the ebook to the price point where your category’s established books sit. Readers use price as a quality signal, and the cheapest book is not always the one they trust.
Review paperback pricing whenever KDP announces a printing cost change. A cost increase with an unchanged list price comes straight out of your royalty.
Use temporary price changes deliberately rather than constantly; frequent shifts make your sales data hard to read.
Check each marketplace separately. KDP can set international prices automatically from your base price, but the converted figures sometimes land at awkward numbers or outside the 70% band for that store.

Three numbers to write down

Do not rely on anyone’s quoted royalty-per-copy figure, including figures in other guides. Open the calculator, enter your own page count and ink type, and write down three numbers: the printing cost, the minimum list price, and the royalty at your intended price. Those three numbers, updated whenever KDP changes its rates, are the only pricing facts you need.

Next step

Pricing is one of the last things you set before publishing, and it is easy to rush. Run through the 12-point pre-publish checklist before you click publish so that price, royalty option and territories get the same attention as the manuscript.