Free KDP royalty calculator
KDP economics
KDP economics: what publishing actually pays back.
Royalty tables are easy. The hard number is the sale count at which your costs break even — everything below this page is arithmetic, not hope.
Checked:
✓35% vs 70% explained plainly✓Delivery fee included✓Cost-to-break-even arithmetic
Two well-known rules, one forgotten number
Amazon pays 35% from $0.99 or 70% between $2.99 and $12.99, minus a small delivery fee per megabyte. The forgotten number is everything you spent before the first sale — this page links the royalty line to your actual cost line.
Where the paid boundary sits
Free checks compute; paid work repairs and delivers. The $39 pass pays for itself at the royalty the calculator shows — that is the promise: no subscription you forgot to cancel.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is 70% always better than 35%?
Almost always, but not at every price: 70% demands a price between $2.99 and $12.99 and deducts the delivery fee. Above about 10 MB the delivery fee can erase the advantage — check the calculator.
What is a realistic break-even?
Add your costs, divide by royalty per sale, and that is the copy count. For a $600 editing budget at $3 a sale it is 200 copies before anything is profit.
Make the release arithmetic work first.
Fixed pricing means you know the cost before the files exist — no surprise renewals after launch.