Enter trim size, page count, and price — get your exact Amazon royalty and print cost across US, UK, EU, CA, and AU marketplaces.
Print cost (US)
Minimum viable price (60% tier)
Royalty per sale (US · 60%)
Revenue at 50 sales/mo
Revenue at 200 sales/mo
How Amazon calculates your royalty
KDP pays 60% for books priced $2.99–$9.99 on amazon.com; 40% outside that range or on other marketplaces. Print cost is deducted from the royalty dollar amount, not from your list price.
Set your price at or above Print Cost ÷ 0.60. Add $1–2 margin. Color interiors have a much higher print cost — keep prices at $14.99+ to stay viable.
The 40% Royalty Tier
Amazon's 60% royalty only applies within a specific window: list price between $2.99 and $9.99, sold on Amazon.com through standard distribution. Outside that window, you earn 40% of list price minus print cost instead. Two situations trigger the 40% tier:
Price outside $2.99-$9.99. A $12.99 journal earns 40%, not 60%, even on Amazon.com. This is why most low-content books cluster in the $6.99-$9.99 range - pricing above $9.99 actually reduces your per-sale margin unless the higher price more than offsets the lower royalty rate.
Expanded Distribution sales. Opting into Expanded Distribution lets other retailers and libraries order your book through Amazon's print network. Every sale made this way pays the flat 40% rate regardless of price - it extends your reach beyond Amazon.com, at a lower margin per unit.
40% Royalty = (List Price × 0.40) − Print Cost
At $8.99 with the same 120-page B&W book from the example above: ($8.99 × 0.40) − $2.29 = $1.31/sale — less than half the $3.10 you'd earn at the 60% rate on the identical book. This is why checking which tier applies before setting a price matters more than the price number itself.
Why International Royalties Differ
The calculator above breaks out US, UK, DE, CA, and AU because each marketplace has its own fixed cost and per-page print rate, priced in local currency and reflecting that country's actual printing and shipping infrastructure - not a simple currency conversion of the US numbers. A book that's comfortably profitable in the US can be break-even or a loss in a market with a higher fixed print cost at the same list price, which is why checking each marketplace individually before publishing wide matters, especially for color interiors where the per-page gap between markets is largest.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is KDP royalty 60% or 40%?
It depends on price and marketplace. Amazon pays 60% of list price minus print cost for books priced between $2.99 and $9.99 sold on Amazon.com through standard distribution. Books priced outside that range, or sold through Expanded Distribution to other retailers, earn 40% instead.
What is KDP Expanded Distribution and does it affect royalty?
Expanded Distribution lets other retailers and libraries order your book through Amazon's printing network. Any sale made through Expanded Distribution pays a flat 40% royalty regardless of price, compared to the 60% tier available on Amazon.com sales within the $2.99-$9.99 range.
Why is my print cost higher for a color interior?
Amazon charges a higher per-page rate for color interiors ($0.070/page in the US) than black and white ($0.012/page) because color printing uses more ink and a different print process. A 120-page color book costs roughly $9.25 to print versus $2.29 for the same page count in black and white.
Can I change my book's price after publishing?
Yes, at any time through KDP's Bookshelf, and changes take effect within a few hours. There's no limit on how often you can adjust price, which makes it reasonable to test a slightly higher price if your margin is thin and watch whether sales volume holds.
Do royalties differ between the US, UK, and EU marketplaces?
Yes. Each marketplace has its own fixed cost and per-page rate baked into local printing costs and currency, which is why the same book design can be profitable in one marketplace and break-even in another - see the per-marketplace breakdown in the calculator above.
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