Book Pricing Calculator
Sweep your list price against royalty on one chart — find your breakeven, see exactly where KDP's 60% rate kicks in, and drop in the competitor prices you're up against.
Your book
Competitor prices
Look up a few books competing for your reader and type their prices in. They appear on the chart as vertical lines, so you can read straight off it what you'd earn if you matched each one. These are prices you found — SmartKDP doesn't fetch them.
Royalty per sale vs list price — Paperback, 200 pages, Amazon.com (US)
- Breakeven $6.80
- 60% royalty starts at $9.99
- Your price $12.99 — $4.39 per sale
Your price at a glance
Printing costs and royalty rates are transcribed from KDP's public help pages — printing cost (verified 2026-07-22) and royalty rates (verified 2026-07-22). Figures exclude VAT and any taxes KDP deducts before paying out — check your KDP dashboard for your exact payout.
How the chart works
Every point on the curve is one list price run through KDP's published formulas. Printing cost is fixed for your book — it depends on page count, ink, trim, and marketplace, not on what you charge:
printing cost = fixed cost + (page count × per-page cost)
Royalty is what's left after KDP takes its share of the list price and subtracts that printing cost:
royalty = (list price × royalty rate) − printing cost
The royalty rate is the part that makes pricing interesting. It isn't constant: KDP pays 50% below a marketplace threshold and 60% at or above it, so the curve has a genuine step in it rather than a smooth slope. Pricing one cent under that threshold is usually the most expensive mistake in KDP pricing, which is why the chart marks it explicitly.
Below your breakeven price the royalty is negative and is drawn that way, inside the shaded loss band. Above your marketplace's maximum list price the curve goes dashed, because KDP won't let you publish there.
What is a breakeven price?
Your breakeven price is the lowest list price at which your royalty isn't negative — the point where (list price × royalty rate) finally covers KDP's printing cost. Price below it and Amazon still sells the book, but you pay the difference. On the chart it's where the curve crosses the zero line.
Why does the royalty curve jump at one specific price?
KDP pays a 50% royalty below a marketplace-specific threshold and 60% at or above it — $9.99 on Amazon.com, £7.99 on Amazon.co.uk, and so on. That's a genuine step, not a gradual slope: one cent of extra list price can be worth well over a dollar of extra royalty. This chart draws it as a step because that's what it is.
How is printing cost calculated?
KDP uses fixed cost + (page count × per-page cost). Both rates depend on your format, ink and paper type, trim size, and the marketplace the order comes from. Your royalty is then (list price × royalty rate) − printing cost.
Why does the chart show negative royalty?
Because it's real. Below your breakeven price the royalty formula produces a negative number, and hiding that behind a flat line at zero would misrepresent the one thing a breakeven explorer exists to show. The shaded band under the zero line is the range where the book loses money on every sale.
Where do the competitor prices come from?
From you. Look up a few books competing for your reader on Amazon and type their prices in — this tool doesn't fetch or scrape anything. Each price you enter is drawn as a vertical line up to the royalty curve, so you can read directly what you'd earn if you matched it.
Are these Amazon's official numbers?
The printing-cost and royalty formulas are transcribed from KDP's own public help pages and dated in the calculator, but they are our transcription, not a live feed from Amazon. KDP updates its rates periodically. Check the linked source pages before making a high-stakes pricing decision.
Does this include VAT or taxes?
No. Figures here exclude VAT and any taxes KDP deducts before paying out, which vary by marketplace. Your KDP dashboard shows your exact after-tax payout.
Why do some combinations say 'unavailable' instead of showing a number?
KDP doesn't offer every format in every marketplace — hardcover isn't sold in Japan, Canada, or Australia, for example, and Expanded Distribution is paperback-only. Rather than guess at a number, the calculator tells you the combination isn't published and why.
What's the highest price I can charge?
Each marketplace has a maximum list price ($250 on Amazon.com for paperback, for instance). Prices beyond it are drawn as a dashed section of the curve and flagged, because KDP won't let you publish at them.
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