Kindle eBook Royalty Calculator

Enter your list price, file size and marketplace to see what each Kindle sale earns at the 35% and 70% royalty options.

70% royalty
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35% royalty
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Delivery cost
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Price without VAT
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Amazon.com prices exclude sales tax, so use 0% VAT there.

The formulas

70% royalty = 0.70 × (list price − VAT − delivery cost)
35% royalty = 0.35 × (list price − VAT)
Marketplace70% price rangeDelivery per MB
Amazon.com$2.99 to $12.99$0.15
Amazon.co.uk£1.77 to £12.99£0.10
Amazon.de, .fr, .es, .it, .nl, .ie, .com.be€2.69 to €12.99€0.12

The 70% option also requires your ebook to be priced at least 20% below the list price of any print edition, and isn't available for books that are mainly public domain content.

Worked examples

$4.99 on Amazon.com, 1.5 MB file. Delivery = 1.5 × $0.15 = $0.23. 70%: 0.70 × (4.99 − 0.23) = $3.33. 35%: 0.35 × 4.99 = $1.75.

€3.99 on Amazon.de, 4 MB file, 7% VAT. Price without VAT = €3.73. Delivery = 4 × €0.12 = €0.48. 70%: €2.27. 35%: €1.31.

Keeping delivery costs down

Text-only novels are usually under 2 MB, so delivery costs a few cents. Images are what make files large. Export images at the size they display on a Kindle screen rather than print resolution, use JPEG for photos, and avoid embedding fonts you don't need. If you also sell the book in print, the paperback royalty calculator helps you set both prices so the ebook stays 20% below the paperback.

Frequently asked questions

Should I choose 35% or 70%?

If your list price is inside the 70% range for the marketplace (for example $2.99 to $12.99 on Amazon.com), 70% almost always pays more, even after the delivery fee. 35% only wins for large, image-heavy files: at $4.99 on Amazon.com the crossover is about 16.6 MB. Enter your numbers above to check.

What is the delivery cost?

With the 70% option, KDP charges for the file size of each copy it sends: $0.15 per MB on Amazon.com, £0.10 on Amazon.co.uk and €0.12 on Amazon.de, .fr, .es, .it and .nl. The 35% option has no delivery cost.

Where do I find my file size?

On the Kindle eBook Pricing page in KDP, after your manuscript has been converted. It is often smaller or larger than your upload, because KDP converts the file.

Why does VAT matter?

KDP pays royalties on the price without VAT. In the EU and UK, the list price you set includes VAT, so the royalty is based on a smaller number. For example, Germany charges 7% VAT on ebooks.

Sources

Rates last checked against KDP's help pages on 2026-10-16.

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