Free tool
Print royalty calculator
Print-on-demand takes the printing cost out of every sale before you see anything. What is left is usually less than authors expect, and for long books at an ordinary price it is sometimes nothing.
This works out what one copy earns, and — more usefully — the price below which each copy loses you money.
What one copy earns
$4.54 per copy
30.3% of the $14.99 cover price, on 300 pages
- Printing cost
- $4.45
- Break-even price
- $7.42
- Copies to earn $1,000
- —
Every copy earns more than it costs to print. Below $7.42 it would not.
Each printer's published US formula, and close enough to decide a price with. It excludes VAT, expanded distribution, marketplace-specific pricing and currency conversion — confirm against the printer's own calculator before you publish.
The two payment models
Amazon KDP
A fixed 60% of the list price, minus the printing cost. Simple, and the printing cost is the whole variable: it scales with page count, so a long book earns considerably less per copy than a short one at the same price.
Short books are the exception in the other direction. KDP charges a flat minimum for black-and-white paperbacks under 110 pages rather than the per-page rate, so a 60-page book is not cheap to print and a novella priced like a novella can struggle to clear it.
IngramSpark
Sells to retailers at a wholesale discount — 40% by default — and pays you the remainder minus the printing cost. The discount is something you set, and it is a real trade: a lower discount earns more per copy and makes bookshops less willing to stock the book, because it leaves them less margin.
The same book at the same price earns differently through each, and which is better depends on the discount and the page count rather than on the platform. Run both.
Using the number
- Check the break-even first. If it is above what your genre's paperbacks sell for, the book is too long, too colourful, or both — and no amount of pricing fixes it.
- Then check the trim size. Page count drives printing cost, and trim size drives page count. Moving from 5.5" × 8.5" to 6" × 9" can take fifty pages out of a novel and a real amount off the unit cost.
- Price to the genre, not to the margin. Readers have firm expectations about what a paperback costs. Pricing above them loses more in sales than it gains in margin.
- Treat print as the format that earns least per copy. For most indie authors the ebook is where the money is, and the paperback is what makes the book real — for gifts, for signings, for readers who will not read on a screen. That is worth having at a thin margin, provided the margin is not negative.
Questions, answered
How much does an author earn per paperback?
On KDP, 60% of the list price minus the printing cost. A 300-page black-and-white paperback costs about $4.45 to print, so at $14.99 the author keeps roughly $4.54 — about 30% of the cover price. Shorter books earn proportionally more; long or colour books can earn nothing at all at an ordinary price.
Why is my royalty so much lower than the ebook one?
Because a physical book has to be manufactured. Ebook royalties are 70% of list with no unit cost; print is 60% of list with a printing charge deducted from it. The printing charge scales with page count, which is why a long novel earns less per copy than a short one at the same price.
What is the break-even price?
The list price at which your royalty is exactly zero. Below it you lose money on every copy sold. Most authors have never calculated it, and it is the single most useful number here — particularly for long books and anything with colour interiors.
Why do KDP and IngramSpark pay differently?
Different models. KDP pays a fixed 60% of list minus print cost. IngramSpark sells to retailers at a wholesale discount — 40% by default — and pays you the rest minus print cost. At the same price and page count the two produce different numbers, and which is better depends on the discount you set.
Are these figures exact?
No, and they are not meant to be. They implement each printer's published US formula, so they are close — but they exclude VAT, expanded distribution, marketplace-specific pricing and currency conversion. Use them to decide whether a price is viable, then confirm with the printer's own calculator before publishing.
Should I price higher to earn more?
Up to a point. Genre readers have firm expectations about what a paperback costs, and pricing above them reduces sales faster than the extra margin makes up for. The more effective lever is usually page count — trim size changes how many pages the same manuscript makes, and page count is what drives the printing cost.
See the real page count before you price
Alhora lays the book out, so it knows the actual page count — and it estimates printing cost and royalty from it as you change the trim size or the type.
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