Where does the $9.99 go? (Royalty breakdown)

Let me walk you through exactly where your money goes, because the headline royalty rates that platforms advertise are not the whole story.

Ebook at $9.99 on Amazon (70% royalty tier): Amazon takes 30%, which is $3.00. There is also a small "delivery fee" based on file size (usually $0.05 to $0.15 for a standard text ebook). Your net: approximately $6.85 to $6.95. If you are selling through KDP Select and a reader borrows your book through Kindle Unlimited instead of buying it, you get paid per page read from the KU fund, which currently averages around $0.004 to $0.005 per page. A 300-page book fully read earns you roughly $1.20 to $1.50. Paperback at $14.99 on Amazon (KDP Print): Amazon takes a printing cost that varies by page count and trim size. For a 250-page book at 5.5 x 8.5 with cream paper, the print cost is approximately $4.15. Amazon then takes 40% of the list price for distribution: $6.00. Your net: approximately $4.84. Paperback at $14.99 through IngramSpark: You set a wholesale discount, typically 55% for bookstore distribution. That is $8.24 going to the retailer. IngramSpark's print cost for the same book is approximately $4.50. Your net: approximately $2.25. Lower than KDP, but this is the cost of getting into bookstores and libraries worldwide. Audiobook at $14.99 on Audible (via ACX exclusive): Audible's pricing is complex. They often discount your audiobook or include it in subscription credits. Your 40% royalty is calculated on the sale price Audible actually charges, which may be less than your list price. Realistic per-unit earnings range from $3 to $7 depending on how the listener acquired the book. Audiobook via Findaway Voices: You keep 80% of net revenue. Actual payment per listen varies dramatically by platform. Spotify pays per-hour-listened from a pool. Apple pays a percentage of purchase price. Libraries pay a per-borrow rate. Aggregate per-unit earnings are often comparable to or better than ACX exclusive once you factor in the volume from multiple platforms. Direct sales through your own website (Shopify/Payhip): You keep 95% or more. On a $9.99 ebook sold through Payhip, your net is approximately $9.49 after payment processing. On a $14.99 paperback shipped via print-on-demand, your margin depends on your fulfillment setup, but it is typically $7 to $10.

The takeaway: a single book sale is not going to make you rich on any platform. The path to sustainable income is volume (more books in your catalog), diversification (selling on multiple platforms), and amplification (using each book sale to drive higher-value actions like email signups, course sales, and direct relationships).

Look at those numbers again. Your best margin by far is direct sales. At $9.49 net on a $9.99 ebook sold through your own site versus $6.85 through Amazon, you are earning 38% more per sale. For print, the gap is even wider if you use a fulfillment service that ships on demand. This is why I keep pushing direct sales throughout this book. Amazon gives you discoverability. Your own site gives you margin and data.

This is why I keep hammering the funnel concept throughout this book. A $9.99 book that leads a reader to a $99 course that leads them to a $500 coaching session is a $609 customer. A $9.99 book that leads nowhere is $6.85.

I want you to save these numbers somewhere you will see them regularly. Not because they are depressing (though they can be), but because they are clarifying. Once you understand that a single book sale on Amazon nets you between $2.25 and $7.00 depending on format and platform, you stop expecting book sales alone to pay your mortgage. You start thinking in terms of systems: how does this book connect to my email list? How does my email list connect to my premium offers? How do my premium offers fund the next book? That systems-level thinking is what separates the authors who earn a living from the ones who earn a hobby check.

One more thing: track your actual royalties by platform every month. KDP, IngramSpark, D2D, and your audiobook distributor all have dashboards. Export the data into a simple spreadsheet. After six months, you will see patterns: which platforms are growing, which are stagnant, and where your marketing effort is actually producing returns. Do not guess. Measure.

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