How much does it cost to publish a book with KDP Publishing?

KDP Publishing is an incredibly popular choice for so many authors, and this is for a couple of very good reasons, firstly, their distribution is very large and part of the Amazon group, secondly, it’s free to set up your book and they make the process very simple too. Add to this the option of printing in paperback, hardback and of course eBook, and you’ll see why it’s so popular.

But how much does it cost to actually print your self-published book, because although it’s free to set up, KDP will make their money back with taking a portion from each book that you sell.

Well, this depends on several things, where the book is being printed, the page count and the print options you choose for the book (however, the trim size, bleed setting, and cover finish don’t affect the price).

To be able to calculate the costs for your book, KDP uses the following formula:
FIXED COSTS + (PAGE COUNT x PER PAGE COST) = PRINTING COST

So, in order to work this out, you need to know what their fixed costs are and the cost per page, if you look at the data below, you’ll be able to see how much the fixed book cost and the additional per page cost, this will differ depending upon the page count and interior printing (i.e.: Black & white or color, with color having several different options).

Costs for B&W Books

Costs for Color Books

As an example, you can calculate the cost of a book as follows:

Printing a 350-page B&W book via Amazon.com

Has a fixed cost of 0.85 USD + (0.012 USD per page cost x 350 pages)
= $5.05 Printing cost per book
 
If you now look at a premium color book, again, via Amazon.com and this
time with a page count of 300 pages

Has a fixed cost of 0.85 USD = (0.07 USD x 300 pages)
= $21.85Printing cost per book

Some of the smaller page counts for both B&W and Premier Color don’t have an additional per page cost, however, you’ll notice that their fixed cost per book is higher instead.
 
The cost of your book does have an effect on the minimum price you can set.

This minimum price is calculated from your book’s printing costs divided by your royalties (60%), so if we use the example of the 300-page B&W book above, you can work out the minimum price as follows:

$5.05 printing cost per book / (60/100) = $8.42 Minimum Price

Along with a minimum price, KDP publishing also has a maximum price you can set for each marketplace too, these are as follows:

You can find out more about KDP publishing with our other articles, how to upload your book, KDP Select, and also choosing keywords for Amazon publishing.