Calculate your printing cost, minimum list price, and profit per sale for any Amazon KDP book. Updated with 2026 printing rates.
Minimum list price: —
Amazon doesn't charge you upfront to print books. Instead, they deduct a printing cost from each sale before calculating your royalty. This cost depends on four factors: page count, ink type (black-and-white vs. color), trim size, and which Amazon marketplace the book sells in.
The formula is straightforward: Printing Cost = Fixed Cost + (Page Count × Per-Page Cost). The fixed cost covers binding and setup. The per-page cost covers ink and paper. A 200-page black-and-white paperback on Amazon.com costs about $1.00 + (200 × $0.012) = $3.40 to print.
Color printing is dramatically more expensive. A 200-page premium color paperback costs $1.00 + (200 × $0.065) = $14.00 — four times the black-and-white cost. This is why most fiction and nonfiction authors choose black-and-white interior with color covers. If your book has a few color images, consider placing them in a center insert rather than using full-color throughout.
Amazon pays you 60% of the list price, minus printing costs, for sales through Amazon.com and other Amazon stores. For expanded distribution (making your book available through bookstores, libraries, and other retailers), the royalty drops to 40%. This means your minimum list price needs to be higher for expanded distribution to remain profitable.
Price your book so your royalty per sale is at least $2–3 for paperbacks. Below that, the volume you'd need to make meaningful income is unrealistic for most self-publishers. Use this calculator to find the sweet spot where your price is competitive but your margins are sustainable.
Ebooks have no printing cost, which makes the math simpler. Amazon offers two royalty plans:
If your ebook price falls between $2.99 and $9.99, you qualify for the 70% royalty rate. Amazon deducts a small delivery fee (based on file size, typically $0.01–$0.15) before calculating your royalty. A $4.99 ebook earns roughly $3.34 per sale.
For ebooks priced below $2.99 or above $9.99, Amazon pays 35% with no delivery fee. A $0.99 ebook earns $0.35 per sale — which is why most authors avoid pricing below $2.99 unless running a promotional campaign.