35% or 70%: what a Kindle sale actually pays you
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R. S. Breed Founder
KDP's two ebook royalty options sound simple, and then the delivery cost and the price band get involved.
- 70% is only available inside a price band. On Amazon.com that band is US$2.99 to US$12.99 (KDP widened it in July 2026). At 70%, KDP also takes a delivery cost based on your file size.
- 35% is what you get outside the band, with no delivery cost.
- Paperbacks pay 60% (or 50% below US$9.99 on Amazon.com) of the list price, minus printing.
The free calculator does the arithmetic with KDP's own published rates: https://bervet.com/tools/kdp-royalty-calculator
Put in your price and file size (or for a paperback, your page count and ink) and you get what you earn per sale at each option. For most text-only novels the delivery cost is a few cents and 70% wins easily, but a big file full of images can change that.
It covers Amazon.com in US dollars. Other Amazon stores have their own bands, costs and tax, so check KDP's pricing page for those. No account needed.