Pricing and royalties

Rough numbers and where they come from. The exact percentage you keep depends on the retailer, the price you set, the country the reader lives in, and (sometimes) the country the payment is taxed in. Treat this page as a starting map.

The $2.99 to $9.99 sweet spot

Most retailers pay 70% of list price when the price is between $2.99 and $9.99 USD. Below or above that band, the rate drops (often to 35% or 40%). This is why so many indie ebooks land at $4.99, $5.99, or $6.99 — that’s where the math works best.

A first novel by a new writer often launches at $2.99 to $4.99 to invite trial. A book in a long series, or by a known name, can hold $7.99 or more. Box sets and full series collections can climb above $9.99 (and the royalty drops, but the absolute dollar amount per sale still goes up).

Free as a launch tactic

Most retailers let you list a book for free. Amazon doesn’t accept $0.00 directly — you set $0.99 and they may price-match to free if your book is free elsewhere. Free is a promotional move, not a permanent strategy. The most common pattern: free book one to hook readers into a series.

Library and subscription rates

Library systems (OverDrive, cloudLibrary, Hoopla) pay differently than retail. Some buy “one copy, one user” (they pay you for the copy, and one reader at a time can borrow it. Others pay per checkout. Subscription services (Kindle Unlimited, Kobo Plus, Scribd) pay you per page read or per time-on-page rather than per sale.

Library and subscription readers are real audiences. They discover authors there and buy follow-up books at retail. Rough math suggests library income is 5-15% of total revenue for most indie writers, which is meaningful.

What you actually keep on a $4.99 ebook

Quick napkin math for the most common price point:

  • Amazon KDP direct: 70% of $4.99 minus a small per-MB delivery fee = roughly $3.40.
  • Apple Books direct: 70% of $4.99 = ~$3.49.
  • Through D2D to most stores: 70% of $4.99 minus D2D’s ~10% commission = ~$3.10.

The aggregator math is “you keep slightly less per sale, but you reach far more retailers without the management overhead.” For most writers that trade is worth it.

When you actually get paid

Each retailer pays on its own schedule. Common pattern: the retailer pays the platform 30-60 days after end of month, the platform pays you the next month. So a sale on January 1st might hit your bank account around March 15th. You learn the rhythm fast once you start selling.