What the royalty options do to the price
KDP pays 35% of the list price without VAT, or 70% less a delivery cost that varies with file size — on Amazon.com the delivery cost is $0.15 per megabyte, and it applies only to the 70% option. The 70% rate is available only for sales to customers in the 70% territories, and public-domain works are limited to 35%. The price ranges on Amazon.com are $0.99–$200 for the 35% option and, since July 7, 2026, $2.99–$12.99 for the 70% option. Two consequences: a $2.99 book at 70% out-earns a $4.99 book at 35% per copy, and a large file with many images eats into the 70% rate through delivery costs. Keep the file small.
Choosing the first price
Three inputs decide the starting point. The format: a lead magnet is free by definition; a workbook or a research report justifies more than a short guide. The channel: a cold marketplace shopper compares you with everything on the page, a warm audience buys the person. The length and depth: a 15,000-word authority book with a specific method carries a higher anchor than a 6,000-word primer. The pricing recommender turns those into a first number. Whatever it says, stay inside the 70% band, and remember the top of the band moved — $10.99 and $11.99 are now available at 70% where a year ago they were not.
Testing instead of guessing
A price is a hypothesis about a reader you have not met yet. Launch at the number, watch conversion for two or three weeks, then move one step and watch again. Down does not always help: a suspiciously cheap book signals a thin one. Up sometimes helps more than expected in narrow professional niches, where the book saves the reader an hour worth more than the cover price. The break-even calculator tells you how many copies a price needs to recover production costs, which is the number to compare against what you actually sell.
Common questions
Straight answers
Is $0.99 ever right?+
As a short promotional price, sometimes; as a list price it puts you at 35% and signals a giveaway. Countdown deals inside KDP Select do the promotional job without moving the list price.
What about other stores?+
Each store has its own share and its own bands. The where-to-sell calculator lets you enter a channel's current fee and compare what one sale leaves you; it stores no fees because they change.
Sources
Platform figures on this page are quoted from the pages below, read on the date shown. Rules change; check the current page before you publish.
Amazon KDP — eBook List Price Requirements · read 2026-09-11
Amazon KDP — eBook Royalty Options · read 2026-09-11
Amazon KDP — Digital Book Pricing Page (delivery costs) · read 2026-09-11
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