publica.la
Free tool for indie authors

Author Royalty Calculator

How much are you really earning per book?

Two numbers in, the full marketplace landscape out. We do not ask where you sell today — we run the math against every major channel and against direct-to-consumer with Publica.la.

Platforms we analyze:

Amazon KDP Apple Books Kobo Google Play Books Publica.la (D2C)

Your numbers

Just two inputs. KDP royalty tier is auto-detected from your price.

$

The retail price your readers pay.

Not sure how to price your book? Try our Ebook Price Calculator.

Across all channels combined. Be conservative — the comparison is most useful with a realistic baseline.

Fill in the form to see the numbers

We will show your net per sale and projected annual revenue across every major channel — side by side with Publica.la.

How the author royalty calculator works

Three short steps and you have the full picture.

  1. 1

    Enter your book price

    Enter the list price your readers pay. Our calculator automatically detects whether the price falls inside Amazon KDP's 70% royalty band ($2.99–$9.99) or outside it (35% tier applies). If you do not know how to price your book, our Ebook Price Calculator can help.

  2. 2

    Enter your monthly sales

    Type your average monthly sales across all channels combined. Be conservative — the comparison is most useful with a realistic baseline, not your best-month spike.

  3. 3

    Compare every platform side by side

    We project net per sale and total annual revenue across Amazon KDP, Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play and a direct-to-consumer storefront on Publica.la. The headline number is what you would gain (or lose) switching from KDP to D2C, at the same sales volume.

How we calculate author royalties for each platform

No hidden assumptions. Here is the exact math we run for every channel.

Amazon KDP — 35% or 70% royalty, plus a $0.15/MB delivery fee

Amazon's royalty tier is chosen automatically by your list price. Titles priced between $2.99 and $9.99 qualify for the 70% tier; everything outside that band gets the 35% tier — including titles below $2.99 (common for short stories or loss-leaders) and above $9.99 (box sets, premium nonfiction, illustrated). On every KDP sale we also deduct the per-MB delivery fee at $0.15, the typical cost for a 1 MB reflowable EPUB. Author net per sale = list price × royalty rate − delivery fee.

Apple Books, Kobo and Google Play — flat 70% royalty, no delivery fee

The three major non-Amazon marketplaces all pay a flat 70% royalty regardless of price band, and none of them charge a per-MB delivery fee. Author net per sale = list price × 0.70. The volume is much lower than Amazon for most indie authors, but the per-sale math is cleaner.

Publica.la Authors early-access — 80% revenue retained, $0.25 per transaction

On a direct-to-consumer storefront the author keeps 80% of every sale (20% commission), minus a flat $0.25 transaction fee. There is no setup cost, no monthly maintenance fee, no per-MB delivery deduction. Author net per sale = list price × 0.80 − $0.25. Annual projections multiply the per-sale net by twelve times your reported monthly sales.

Frequently asked questions about author royalties

Quick answers to the most common questions indie authors ask before choosing a sales channel.

On Amazon KDP, an author earns between 35% and 70% of the list price, depending on the price band. Titles priced between $2.99 and $9.99 qualify for the 70% royalty tier; outside that band the rate drops to 35%. On every sale Amazon also deducts a per-MB delivery fee ($0.15 for a typical 1 MB EPUB). So a $4.99 ebook nets approximately $3.34 per sale.
There is no single "standard" royalty. Self-published authors typically see 35% to 70% on marketplaces (Amazon KDP, Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play), and 70% to 90% on a direct-to-consumer storefront — minus a per-transaction fee. The right tier depends on price, channel mix, and whether the author owns the reader relationship.
Amazon KDP keeps 30% of the list price on titles inside the $2.99–$9.99 band (paying the author 70%), and 65% on titles outside that band (paying the author 35%). Amazon also keeps the per-MB delivery fee on every 70%-tier sale.
It depends on your audience size. Below ~1,000 engaged readers, Amazon's discovery engine still moves the needle and pure D2C is hard to justify. Above that threshold, the per-sale math, faster payments, multi-currency payouts and ownership of the reader relationship all favor direct sales. Most indie authors run a dual-distribution strategy: stay on Amazon for discovery, route owned-audience traffic to a D2C storefront.
Apple Books pays a flat 70% royalty on every sale regardless of list price. There is no delivery fee. So a $4.99 ebook nets the author approximately $3.49 per sale. Volume is significantly lower than Amazon for most indie titles, but the per-sale math is consistent.
Audiobook royalties on ACX (Amazon's audiobook arm) are 25% for exclusive distribution or 40% for non-exclusive, locked in for seven years. Direct-to-consumer audiobook sales on a platform like Publica.la retain 80% minus the per-transaction fee. Audiobook D2C usually pays off faster than ebook D2C because of the higher list prices.
The Authors early-access program has zero setup cost and zero monthly maintenance fee. The only deductions are a 20% commission and a $0.25 transaction fee per sale. There is no minimum sales volume.
On Amazon KDP, royalties are paid in USD approximately 60 days after the end of the sales month. On Apple Books, Kobo and Google Play, payment timing is similar. On Publica.la the author is paid monthly in their local currency through MercadoPago, PayU, Stripe or the equivalent local rail.
No. The figures shown are gross author net before any income tax, VAT or local levies. Tax treatment varies by country and tax residence, so we leave that out of the comparison. The marketplace and Publica.la numbers are both pre-tax, so the side-by-side comparison stays apples-to-apples.
Yes. The calculator works for any digital title. Note that box sets and audiobooks frequently sit above $9.99, which automatically drops Amazon KDP to its 35% tier — making D2C economics much more favorable on these formats. Short stories priced under $2.99 are in the same 35% tier on Amazon.

Why author royalties have become a strategic decision

For most of the last decade, indie authors defaulted to Amazon KDP because the marketplace effectively monopolized discovery. That is still true for new authors with small audiences — but for authors who have built an engaged following on a newsletter, podcast, or social channel, the math has shifted. Selling direct now retains 80–90% of revenue (versus 35–70% on marketplaces), pays out in local currency on a monthly cadence (versus USD-only every 60 days), and most importantly keeps the reader relationship in the author's hands. Our author royalty calculator surfaces the per-sale and per-year impact at your specific price and volume, so the dual-distribution decision becomes a data question, not a vibes question.

Read the full analysis: Amazon KDP vs Direct-to-Consumer revenue math

Related resources for indie authors

Ebook Price Calculator

Not sure how to price your book? Get a data-driven recommendation based on genre, length, format and market.

Authors solutions overview

Everything Publica.la offers for indie authors: D2C storefront, native apps, multi-currency, multi-format catalog.

Amazon KDP vs D2C — the full revenue math

The complete breakdown of per-sale economics across every channel, plus when D2C actually beats KDP.