Learn / Royalties
Royalties, explained without the spin.
Every retailer pays differently. Here's the actual maths — what you keep, what they keep, and why the same book sold three different ways earns three different royalties.
Amazon KDP eBook royalties (70% and 35%)
On Kindle eBooks priced between $2.99 and $9.99, KDP pays 70% royalty net of a small delivery fee (₹0.07–₹0.15 per MB).
On eBooks outside that price band, KDP pays 35%.
Worked example: A $4.99 eBook (5MB file) earns roughly $3.40 in royalty per sale at the 70% tier.
Amazon KDP paperback royalties
KDP paperback pays 60% royalty on list price minus print cost.
Print cost is $0.85 (fixed) plus $0.012 per page for black-and-white, or higher for colour. For a 300-page paperback at $12.99: print cost ≈ $4.45; royalty ≈ ($12.99 × 0.6) - $4.45 = $3.34.
IngramSpark royalties
IngramSpark pays the author the full list price minus the wholesale discount (typically 55%) and the print cost.
On the same 300-page paperback at $12.99 list with a 55% wholesale discount: author receives $12.99 × 45% - print cost ≈ $5.84 - $4.50 = $1.34 per copy. Lower per-copy than Amazon, but the same book is now in bookstores and libraries.
Apple Books and Kobo
Apple Books pays 70% across the board (no price-band restriction like Amazon).
Kobo pays 70% on eBooks priced $2.99+ and 45% on lower-priced titles. Kobo Plus subscription reads pay per-page-read.
Audible / ACX (audiobooks)
Exclusive ACX distribution pays the author 40% of list price.
Non-exclusive distribution pays 25% but lets you sell the same audiobook elsewhere (Apple Books, Spotify, etc.).
What it adds up to
A self-published author selling 1,000 paperbacks and 2,000 eBooks via Amazon at $12.99 / $4.99 earns roughly $10,140 in royalties (₹8.4 lakh).
The same 3,000-copy sale through a traditional publisher with a 10% royalty would earn the author roughly $3,000 (₹2.5 lakh) — and they wouldn't see most of it for 12–18 months after the sale due to publisher reporting cycles.
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