How Much Does Amazon Take From a Book Sale?

On ebooks priced $2.99–$12.99, Amazon keeps 30% plus a small delivery fee, and you keep 70%. Outside that price band you keep only 35%, so Amazon keeps 65%. On paperbacks and hardcovers Amazon keeps about 40% of the list price and the printing cost comes out of your 60% — which is why print margins are much thinner than the headline number suggests.

The longer version

Ebooks

Two royalty options, and the price band decides which you can pick:

Your price	Your royalty	Amazon keeps	Delivery fee
$2.99–$12.99	70%	30%	Yes — about $0.15/MB
Outside that band	35%	65%	No

The delivery fee is charged on file size and comes out of your side. A tightly built ebook is under 2MB and costs pennies; a heavily illustrated one can be far larger and eat meaningfully into a $2.99 sale.

This is the reason so much indie fiction is priced at $4.99. Drop below the floor and your royalty halves — and the same cliff sits at the top of the band.

Paperbacks and hardcovers

Print is a different structure, and the one that surprises people:

60% royalty on Amazon marketplaces — minus the printing cost
50% on Amazon.com for paperbacks priced $9.98 or below
40% through Expanded Distribution — minus printing

Printing is the part that hurts. A 300-page black-ink 6×9 paperback costs roughly $3.65 to print. Colour interiors can exceed $12.

A worked example on a $14.99 paperback:

List price                 $14.99
Amazon's 40%              −$6.00
Printing cost             −$3.65
─────────────────────────────────
You keep                   $5.34

So the "60% royalty" is really about 36% of list once printing is paid — and on a $9.99 paperback it can fall to almost nothing.

Kindle Unlimited

Borrows do not pay a royalty at all. You are paid from a monthly Global Fund based on pages read (KENP). The per-page rate floats month to month, historically hovering around $0.004–$0.005, so a 300-page book read in full pays roughly $1.30–$1.50. It is not a percentage of anything, and it is not guaranteed.

What this means practically

Ebook pricing is a cliff, not a slope. A cent either side of the $2.99–$12.99 band is a 35-point royalty difference
Print is a volume-and-page-count game. Long books cost more to print and squeeze the margin
Your list price is not your income. The number worth tracking is contribution per unit after Amazon's cut, printing and advertising

Common exceptions

Rates differ by marketplace. The 70% band has different price limits in different currencies, and some territories only offer 35%.
The 70% option requires enrolling the title at that rate and pricing within the band; it is not automatic.
Expanded Distribution pays 40% minus printing, which is often barely above zero. Model it before enabling.
Hardcover pricing and printing costs differ from paperback.
Amazon changes these terms. The 50% paperback tier is comparatively recent. Check the current KDP royalty pages before pricing a book.

Sources

Amazon KDP Help — ebook royalty options, delivery costs, print royalties and printing cost tables.

Rates and printing costs change and vary by marketplace. Figures are US-marketplace approximations. Verified 9 August 2026.