Royalty Reality
What each route pays per sale. The self-publishing rates are quoted from the AuthorAZ publishing database, so they update when the platforms change them.
| Route | eBook | Audio | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional publisher | 25% of the publisher's net receipts | 10–15% of list price for hardcover, rising with sales; paperback typically starts around 6–8% | Set by contract |
| Amazon KDP | 70% inside the $2.99–$12.99 band, 35% outside it | 60% of list price minus printing cost at $9.99 and above, 50% below it | ACX: 50% for exclusive distribution, 30% for non-exclusive, under Audible's new royalty model |
| Wide, direct to retailers | Apple Books: 70% of list price on every ebook, with no price bands. Kobo: 70% of list price at $2.99 and above with no upper cap, 45% below it | KDP Expanded Distribution: 40% of list price minus printing cost | Voices by INaudio: authors keep 80% of the royalties INaudio collects and set their own list prices |
| Wide, through an aggregator | Draft2Digital keeps about 10% of retail, taken after the retailer’s own cut | — | — |
Kindle+ (formerly Kindle Unlimited) pays roughly $0.0044–$0.0049 a page, set monthly rather than fixed, so a book with 300 pages read in full earns roughly $1.30–$1.50 at the current rate.
Traditional rates are the typical contract terms the Authors Guild describes — ebook royalties at 25% of net receipts, which the Guild argues should be 50%, and escalating hardcover rates on list price. Every contract differs; read yours.
What a Book Will Earn
There is no reliable benchmark for what a debut earns in its first month or first year. Sales depend on genre, cover, price, series position and marketing, and published "average earnings" figures are self-reported and skewed toward authors with something to report.
What you can work out is the break-even point, and it is more useful than a projection:
- Total the budget. Every line, including the ones paid in your own time as tools.
- Find your royalty per copy. A $4.99 Kindle ebook sits inside the $2.99–$12.99 band, so it earns about $3.49 before Amazon's small per-download delivery fee.
- Divide. A $3,500 budget at about $3.49 a copy needs roughly 1,000 sales to break even.
Then ask whether that number is plausible for this book, in this genre, at this stage of your career — and adjust the budget, not the projection, if it is not. The budget calculator has worksheets for both.
Budget Scenarios
Four levels of spend, using the same 2026 cost figures as the budget calculator: EFA editing rates for an 80,000-word novel and Reedsy's quote data for covers.
- $0 — DIY everything. Your own cover, self-edit with free tools, free formatting, platform ISBNs, organic promotion only. Possible, and the riskiest: nothing has been checked by anyone but you.
- Lean — about $1,300–2,100. A cover from a newer designer ($300–500), a professional proofread ($960–1,600), free formatting, platform ISBNs, no ads.
- Standard — about $3,700–5,600. Custom cover ($630–1,200), copy edit ($1,600–2,200), proofread ($960–1,600), formatting tool ($150–250), your own ISBNs ($295 for ten), copyright registration ($45–65).
- Full — $6,000–10,000+. Standard, plus a developmental edit ($2,400–2,900), audiobook production and a real advertising budget.
Related
Publishing Database
Author Answer