Run the math before you build anything. One book title:
Rules: 70% royalty inside the $2.99–$12.99 band (since July 7, 2026), minus a delivery fee Amazon states averages about $0.06 per sale. Outside the band, flat 35%, no delivery fee.
| Candidate price | Rate | Your royalty per sale |
|---|---|---|
| $4.99 | 70% minus ~$0.06 delivery | about $3.43 |
| $13.99 | 35%, no delivery fee | about $4.90 |
The band trap: at $12.99 you earn roughly $9.03 per sale. At $13.00 you earn about $4.55. One dollar of list price nearly halves your take. Price inside the band unless you have a specific reason not to.
Print cost formula (Amazon.com, B&W regular trim): $2.30 flat for 24–110 pages; longer books $1.00 + $0.012 per page. Royalty rate is 60% or 50% of list price depending on the price tier. Premium color runs $3.60 flat for short books then $1.00 + $0.065/page; standard color $1.00 + $0.0255/page.
| Book | Page count | Print cost | List price | Rate | Royalty per sale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KDP example: 300-page B&W | 300 | $1.00 + 300 × $0.012 = $4.60 | $9.99 | 60% | $1.39 |
| Same book one cent lower | 300 | $4.60 | $9.98 | 50% | $0.39 |
| 150-page journal | 150 | $1.00 + 150 × $0.012 = $2.80 | $7.99 | 60% | $1.99 |
| 250-page at $12.99 | 250 | $1.00 + 250 × $0.012 = $4.00 | $12.99 | 60% | $3.79 |
| Your book | |||||
| Your book |
Never set a print price by feel. Amazon shows the royalty live as you set the price, and the 50%-to-60% cliff means a one-cent move can cut per-sale royalty by more than half.
| Format | Royalty per sale | List price | Break-even ACOS |
|---|---|---|---|
Catalog math: titles × royalty per sale × realistic monthly sales per title. Kindle Unlimited page reads pay roughly $0.004–$0.005 per page (2025 rates), capped at 3,000 pages counted per customer per title; a 300-page full read earns about $1.20 to $1.50.
| Title | Royalty per sale | Monthly sales | Monthly royalty | KU pages read | Page-read total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catalog monthly total |