KDP paperback printing cost and royalty: how page count sets the price, with the formula

The printing cost formula, and the figures for amazon.com

KDP works out a paperback's printing cost as a fixed cost plus the page count times a per-page cost, and both figures depend on the marketplace, the ink and paper and the trim size. KDP's Paperback Printing Cost page states it as "Fixed cost + (page count * per page cost) = printing cost". Every figure in this guide was read on KDP's own help pages on 4 November 2026.

Short books do not use the formula. A black-ink paperback of 24 to 110 pages "only incur[s] the fixed cost", a single flat price per book (24 to 108 pages on Amazon.com.au). Above 110 pages the fixed part drops and the per-page charge starts, so a 24-page book and a 110-page book cost the same to print.

A large trim, in KDP's words, is "more than 6.12 inches (155.5 mm) in width or more than 9 inches (228.6 mm) in height". So 6 × 9 in is regular and 6.14 × 9.21 in is large; the trim size chooser marks which of KDP's sixteen sizes are which. KDP's own worked example is the one this guide builds on: "1.00 USD fixed cost + (300 page count * 0.012 USD per page cost) = 4.60 USD".

Bleed and cover finish do not change the cost, by the same page. Nothing is paid upfront: KDP prints each copy when it is ordered and "subtracts your printing costs from your royalties".

Printing cost in every marketplace

KDP prices printing separately in eight marketplace groups, each in its own currency, and the fixed and per-page costs are not conversions of the US figures. The UK's fixed part is £0.85 and the EU's €0.75, against $1.00 in the US, while Australia's flat band stops at 108 pages, not 110. KDP's note at the top of the page: Amazon.com.br, Amazon.com.in and Amazon.com.mx "do not support paperback and hardcover distribution".

The cost that applies is the one for the marketplace the reader ordered from, so one book has eight printing costs and eight minimum prices. The large-trim surcharge also differs: in the UK a large trim adds £0.002 a page to £0.010, a fifth more, while in the US it adds $0.005 to $0.012, over two fifths more.

The royalty: 50% or 60%, set by the list price

A paperback sold on Amazon earns 60% of its list price minus the printing cost at or above each marketplace's threshold, and 50% minus the printing cost below it. KDP's Paperback Royalty page gives the formula as "(Royalty rate x list price) – printing costs = royalty" and sets the line at $9.98 and $9.99 on amazon.com: 50% "at or below" $9.98, 60% "at or above" $9.99. So both figures quoted online are right: $9.98 is the last 50% price and $9.99 the first 60% price.

The "royalty added by the step" column is worked out here, not stated by KDP: it is 60% of the first 60% price minus 50% of the last 50% price, and the printing cost cancels out, so the step is the same for every page count. KDP's own example on its Print Book Pricing Page shows it: a 300-page black-ink paperback earns (0.60 × $9.99) − $4.60 = $1.39, and at one cent less, (0.50 × $9.98) − $4.60 = $0.39.

KDP rounds printing costs and royalties "to 2 decimal places for all currencies except JPY, which will be rounded to the whole number". A customer discount from a promotion "won't affect your royalties", and if Amazon price-matches another seller, the royalty is still worked out from the list price.

Worked example: a 300-page 6 × 9 black-ink paperback on amazon.com

A 300-page 6 × 9 in black-ink paperback on white or cream paper costs $4.60 to print on amazon.com, has a minimum list price of $9.20, and earns $1.39 a copy at $9.99 and $4.39 at $14.99. 6 × 9 in is a regular trim, 6 in wide and exactly 9 in tall, so the regular figures apply.

1. Printing cost. 300 pages is over 110, so the formula applies: $1.00 + 300 × $0.012 = $4.60.
2. Minimum list price. At 50%: $4.60 ÷ 0.50 = $9.20. That is at or below $9.98, so it sits in the 50% band and is the minimum. At $9.20 the royalty is (0.50 × 9.20) − 4.60 = $0.00.
3. Royalty at $9.99. 0.60 × 9.99 = 5.994, minus 4.60 = $1.39 (KDP's own figure).
4. Royalty at $14.99. 0.60 × 14.99 = 8.994, minus 4.60 = $4.39.
5. Royalty at $14.99 through Expanded Distribution. 0.40 × 14.99 = 5.996, minus 4.60 = $1.40, if the US printing cost applies, as it does in KDP's own Expanded Distribution example.

The same 300 pages at 6.14 × 9.21 in, a large trim, change every line. The printing cost is $1.00 + 300 × $0.017 = $6.10. Its 50% minimum would be $12.20, above the $9.98 ceiling, so the 60% rate applies: $6.10 ÷ 0.60 = $10.17, rounded up. At $14.99 it earns $2.89, $1.50 less a copy than the 6 × 9 in book, for a page 0.14 in wider and 0.21 in taller.

The table shows where marketplaces part company. In the US, Canada, the UK, the EU and Sweden the book can be sold in the 50% band. In Poland, Australia and Japan it cannot: doubling the printing cost lands above the 50% ceiling (40.62 PLN, 18.04 AUD, 1,612 JPY), so the lowest price is in the 60% band. In Australia the 300-page book has to be listed at 15.04 AUD or more, above the 13.99 AUD threshold, to cover a 9.02 AUD printing cost.

The minimum list price, and the pages where it is $9.99

KDP's minimum list price is the printing cost divided by the royalty rate, "50% or 60%, depending upon list price", which makes it twice the printing cost in the 50% band. The rule exists, in KDP's words, so "that your royalties earned are always enough to cover the cost to print your book". KDP will not accept a list price below it.

The two rates make three zones on amazon.com for a black-ink, regular-trim paperback, worked out here from KDP's figures:

• 24 to 332 pages: the minimum is twice the printing cost, from $4.60 up to $9.96, all in the 50% band.
• 334 to 416 pages: twice the cost is over $9.98, so no 50% price covers it, and the cost divided by 0.60 is under $9.99. The lowest price that passes both rules is $9.99 itself.
• 418 to 828 pages: the cost divided by 0.60 is over $9.99, so the minimum rises from $10.03 to $18.24.

Where the division does not come out exact, as $6.40 ÷ 0.60 = $10.666…, the table rounds up to the next cent so the royalty is not negative. KDP does not state how it rounds this figure; its Printing Cost & Royalty Calculator shows the exact minimum for a given book.

How page count and trim size move the cost

On amazon.com every 100 pages of a black-ink regular-trim paperback adds $1.20 to the printing cost and takes $1.20 off every royalty, and winning it back at 60% takes $2.00 on the list price. That is why the page count matters before the price does: it is the one input in the formula an author controls by typesetting choices. The book page count calculator turns a word count, chapters and trim size into the page count the formula needs.

The trim size works in both directions. A bigger page holds more words, so the book has fewer pages, but once the page is a large trim each page costs more. An 80,000-word novel, inside the range many publishers ask for, in 25 chapters of 3,200 words, a length inside the middle half of novel chapters measured, and set in Palatino Linotype 11 pt, comes out like this:

The 6 × 9 in book is the cheapest to print of the six, at $4.05, and the 6.14 × 9.21 in book, only a fraction of an inch bigger, costs $1.06 more a copy because it crosses into the large-trim rate. Going from 5 × 8 in to 6 × 9 in saves $1.29 a copy on the same words. The page count also sets the spine: the book spine width calculator and the KDP cover size calculator take it from there.

Margins move the count too. KDP's inside margin widens as the book gets thicker, and the page count calculator's gutter table shows 2,000 extra words and one chapter adding 16 pages instead of about 8 when they push a 300-page book into the next margin band. At $0.012 a page that is $0.19 a copy, where 8 pages would have cost $0.10.

The ink and paper move the cost far more than the trim does:

Groundwood, by KDP's note, is "approximately 5% lower" per page than white or cream; its flat band runs to 112 pages at $2.23, against $2.30 to 110 pages. Premium colour has its own flat band, $3.60 for 24 to 40 pages, and standard colour is not offered below 72 pages or above 600.

Why the figures online disagree

Guides quote the fixed cost as $1.00, $0.85 or $2.30, and all three are on KDP's page, for different books. $1.00 is the US fixed part for black-ink paperbacks of 112 pages or more; $2.30 is the US flat price for 24 to 110 pages; and £0.85 is the UK fixed part, in pounds. Applied to the wrong book, each gives a wrong cost: a 300-page US book is $4.60, not $0.85 + $3.60 = $4.45.

The 50% and 60% line is quoted as "under $9.99" and "under $9.98", and the table on KDP's royalty page settles it: 50% at or below $9.98, 60% at or above $9.99.

Two more sources of conflict are on KDP's own site:

• Trim size. The Paperback Royalty page and the Print Book Pricing Page both say "Trim size, bleed settings, and cover finish don't affect printing cost". The Paperback Printing Cost page's tables charge large trims more ($0.017 a page against $0.012 in the US), and so does its "large trim" column on every marketplace. The tables are the specific figures; the calculator is the check for a given book.
• Hardcover. An older page, Hardcover (Beta) - Pricing & Royalties, is still served and describes "a fixed 60% royalty rate" with a $5.50 fixed cost, giving $9.10 for 300 pages. The current Hardcover Printing Cost page gives $5.65 and $9.25, and the current Hardcover Royalty page uses 50% and 60%.

Hardcovers, Expanded Distribution and tax

A hardcover uses the same formula with a higher fixed cost, Expanded Distribution pays 40% instead of 50% or 60%, and VAT and consumption tax are added on top of the list price, not taken from the royalty.

Hardcover

A black-ink hardcover on amazon.com costs a flat $6.80 for 75 to 108 pages ($7.49 large), then $5.65 plus $0.012 a page ($0.017 large) from 110 to 550 pages. KDP's example: $5.65 + 300 × $0.012 = $9.25. Twice that, $18.50, is over $9.98, so the minimum is in the 60% band: $9.25 ÷ 0.60 = $15.42, rounded up. At $19.99 the hardcover earns $2.74 a copy, against $7.39 for the 300-page paperback.

The Hardcover Royalty page uses the same thresholds as paperback except in Sweden, where the hardcover line is 98 and 99 SEK against 109 and 110 SEK for paperbacks. Hardcover publishing "is not supported on kdp.amazon.co.jp", and the hardcover cost tables list only Amazon.com, .co.uk, the EU stores, .pl and .se.

Expanded Distribution

Expanded Distribution offers a paperback to bookshops, libraries and other retailers through distributors in the United States and the United Kingdom, at "40% of the book's list price effective in the distribution channel at the time of purchase, minus printing costs". Hardcovers are not eligible, nor are paperbacks in Hebrew, Yiddish or Japanese, and the trim and paper must be on KDP's eligibility chart: 6 × 9 in is eligible on every paper and ink.

At 40% the 300-page book's $4.60 printing cost needs a list price of at least $11.50 to break even, by the arithmetic of the formula. KDP's calculator page says the calculator "doesn't include Expanded Distribution estimates" and that the minimum list price "will be different" for enrolled books, without giving it.

VAT, GST and consumption tax

For print books "VAT (Value Added Tax in Europe), GST (Goods and Services Tax in Australia) and JCT (Consumption Tax in Japan) should not be included in your list price", and the royalty is calculated on the tax-exclusive list price, by the Print Book Pricing Page. KDP's EU and UK tax page lists the reduced rate for books as 0% in the UK and Ireland, 4% in Italy and Spain, 5% in Poland, 5.5% in France, 6% in Sweden and Belgium, 7% in Germany and 9% in the Netherlands. A €9.99 list price reaches a German buyer at about €10.69.

KDP adds that some books "may" take the standard rate instead, naming children's books, notebooks, planners, diaries, colouring and activity books, and books with bonus content; in Germany that is 19%. In Japan a 10% consumption tax is added, by KDP's Amazon Japan pricing page, and the royalty is calculated "on the list price after consumption tax is deducted".

When the royalty is paid, and author copies

Royalties on Amazon sales are paid about 60 days after the end of the month of the sale, and on Expanded Distribution sales about 90 days after, by KDP's Print Book Pricing Page. The Expanded Distribution page words it differently: those royalties show in reports about 30 days after the month ends and are paid about 60 days after the month the distributors report the sale.

Author and proof copies cost the printing cost for your book in the marketplace you order from, times the number of copies, by KDP's author copy page, which calls it "the lowest price we can offer". A box of 20 copies of the 300-page paperback on amazon.com is 20 × $4.60 = $92.00 before shipping, which KDP prices on a separate page not covered here.

What KDP's pages do not say

KDP's help pages give the rates and the formula but leave six things open, and each one can move a figure in this guide. Where that happens, KDP's calculator, or the pricing grid in a book's own setup, is the final figure.

1. How the minimum list price is rounded. KDP rounds costs and royalties to two decimal places, but does not say how it rounds a minimum such as $6.40 ÷ 0.60 = $10.666…. This guide rounds up.
2. The minimum when no 50% price covers the cost. The pages give the two divisions, not what happens when the 50% answer is above the 50% ceiling and the 60% answer below the 60% floor, as for a US book of 334 to 416 pages. By KDP's two rules, the lowest price that passes is the 60% threshold itself.
3. The 110-page boundary. The flat band is "24 - 110 pages" and the per-page table is headed "110-828 pages". The note above the table says 110 pages pay only the fixed cost, which is what this guide uses.
4. Which printing cost an Expanded Distribution sale uses. KDP's examples subtract the same US printing cost; the pages do not state a separate one, nor the Expanded Distribution minimum list price.
5. Hardcover costs in Canada and Australia. The Hardcover Royalty page lists thresholds and maximum prices for Amazon.ca and Amazon.com.au, but the Hardcover Printing Cost page has no rows for them.
6. The exchange rate for automatic prices. KDP can set other marketplaces' list prices from your primary one, but the pages do not say which rate or how often it updates. Prices you set by hand do not follow later changes to the primary price.

What this guide does not cover

This guide covers KDP's print books: paperback printing costs in every marketplace KDP lists, the royalty and minimum list price, and the main hardcover figures. It does not cover Kindle eBook royalties (35% and 70%, on separate pages), Kindle Unlimited page reads, shipping on author copies, tax withholding on royalties, or other print-on-demand printers, whose prices differ. Every figure is KDP's as read on 4 November 2026; KDP changes them, so check the help pages linked above before you set a price.

Simple Online Counter is a free, browser-based set of counters and writing tools. Its book page count calculator turns a word count into the printed pages that KDP's formula needs, and its trim size chooser, margin, spine and cover calculators use KDP's published page limits and sizes, all worked out in the browser without uploading anything.