Why the KDP 70% Royalty Plan Isn't Always the Better Choice
Published 2026-09-14
70% sounds like an obvious choice
On the surface, choosing between a 70% and a 35% royalty rate looks like an easy decision — twice the royalty rate should mean twice the earnings per sale. But the 70% plan comes with a catch that the headline percentage doesn't show: a delivery fee based on your eBook's file size, deducted before the 70% is applied.
The delivery fee formula
Amazon charges $0.15 per megabyte of your Kindle file's size for every sale made under the 70% plan (available only for list prices between $2.99 and $12.99, a ceiling raised from $9.99 in July 2026). A typical 300-page text-only novel might be 2–4MB, costing $0.30–$0.60 in delivery fees per sale — a minor deduction. But an illustrated children's book, cookbook or graphic-heavy nonfiction title can easily reach 10–20MB, turning a $0.60–$3.00 delivery fee into something that meaningfully erodes the 70% advantage.
When 35% actually wins
The 35% plan has no delivery fee and no price restrictions, so for a large-file book priced outside the $2.99–$12.99 window, or one where the delivery fee eats deeply into the 70% cut, the 35% plan can produce a similar or even better per-sale royalty — while also giving you full pricing freedom.
Paperback royalties work completely differently
Paperback royalty isn't a 35%/70% choice at all — it's a flat 60% (or 50% below $9.99 list price) minus a printing cost that scales with page count and interior ink type (black & white, standard color, or premium color). A long, full-color book can have a surprisingly high printing cost that needs to be priced around carefully to stay profitable.
Run the actual numbers for your book
Our KDP Royalty Calculator handles both eBook and paperback formats using Amazon's published formulas, so you can compare your actual expected royalty at different prices and plans rather than guessing from the headline percentage alone.