Weeks or months after the sale, on a different clock at every platform. Almost all of
them pay monthly in arrears, and most hold small balances until they reach a minimum. The
slowest schedule we have recorded is IngramSpark's:
90 days after the end of the month of sale, and only once the retailer has paid Ingram.
Aggregators combine many stores into one payment, but they can only pass money on after
each store has paid them, so the stores' own delays still apply.
The longer version
| Platform | When you are paid |
|---|
| IngramSpark | 90 days after the end of the month of sale |
| Kobo Writing Life | $50, paid within 45 days of the month end |
| Google Play Books | $100 — Google is not obliged to pay while the earned balance sits below it |
| ACX | paid monthly from Audible, with balances under $50 carried to the next period |
| Voices by INaudio | monthly, within 30 days of INaudio receiving payment from each seller |
| Spotify for Authors | paid monthly once your balance reaches $10, with a $0.30 fee per payout |
| PublishDrive | a single monthly payout about a month after the earnings report, with a $5 minimum |
Amazon KDP and Apple Books are missing on purpose. Apple does not publish its payment terms,
and we could not find them in its agreement. KDP's schedule is not yet a verified fact in
our database, and this table only carries verified facts.
Why the money arrives after the sale
Retailers report sales for a whole month, then pay after the month has closed. Everything
downstream waits on that.
- Aggregators wait for the store. Voices by INaudio pays
monthly, within 30 days of INaudio receiving payment from each seller. Most of its sellers report monthly and some quarterly,
so a sale can take more than one cycle to reach you. PublishDrive and Draft2Digital work
the same way.
- IngramSpark waits for the retailer, and passes on losses. Its agreement makes payment
conditional on the retailer paying Ingram first. If a retailer's account goes
uncollectible, your share of the loss is charged back against your compensation.
Thresholds hold small balances back
Most platforms carry a balance forward until it clears a minimum. Kobo's threshold is
$50, paid within 45 days of the month end, and every format and territory counts
towards it. Google's is $100 — Google is not obliged to pay while the earned balance sits below it.
For a new author, thresholds matter more than schedules. The same modest sales split across
five direct accounts can sit under five minimums for months, where one aggregator account
would clear its minimum sooner.
What this means for your cash flow
- Your first payment arrives months after launch, not weeks. Plan launch spending,
especially advertising, on that basis.
- A strong launch month shows up later. Sales in one month usually land in a payment
one or more months afterwards, so what you earn and what you receive will not line up
month by month.
- Track earned and paid separately. A dashboard showing sales is not money in the bank.
See What is the difference between royalties and revenue?
Common exceptions
- Payment details come first. Nothing can be paid until your bank and tax details are
set up, and some platforms restrict who can be paid at all. ACX, for example, is only open
to rights holders in the US, UK, Canada or Ireland with local tax and banking details.
- Fees per payout. Spotify for Authors charges a fee on each payout, which is stated in
the table above.
- Currency conversion. IngramSpark converts sales in other currencies at the end of each
sales period, into the currency you chose at account setup.
- Payment timing is set by each platform and can change. Check the payment page for any
platform you depend on before planning around it.
Sources
- IngramSpark — Agreement (sections 8.3, 9.1 and 9.2).
- Rakuten Kobo — Kobo Writing Life Terms of Service.
- Google — Google Books and Google Play Books Agreement (clause 5.2).
- ACX — How royalties work, and the ACX Account Holder Agreement.
- Voices by INaudio — "When and how will I be paid royalty payments?"
- Spotify for Authors — "How and when you get paid with Spotify Payouts".
- PublishDrive — "How will I get paid?"
Terms are quoted from the platforms' own documents as recorded in the AuthorAZ Publishing
Database. Platform facts verified 4 and 25 September 2026.