Last updated: August 24, 2026
That “70% royalty” banner is a lighthouse—bright, reassuring, and not actually where the ship needs to go. Writers pick a platform on that single number all the time.
Then the bank deposit looks nothing like the math they did. The percentage isn’t the problem. What happens after it is.
One question about the best platform to sell ebooks: what lands in your account per copy. Three prices, every fee counted, every figure sourced.
The answer surprised me. It runs against what almost every roundup tells you.
In This Article
- Why 70% Isn’t 70%: Amazon’s per-megabyte delivery charge comes off the top before the split, so the advertised rate and the royalty rate into a much smaller deposit never match.
- What Apple Pays vs Amazon: A flat 70% with no delivery fee quietly beats the biggest store in the world at every single price point tested.
- Where the Winner Flips: The crossover between marketplace royalties and direct selling sits at 88 cents — below Amazon’s own minimum list price, which changes the entire decision.
- How Many Copies Justify a Monthly Plan: Your recent sales history — not your royalty preference — decides between percentage, flat-monthly, and one-time-fee selling tools.
- The Number That Actually Decides It: Comparing headline rates instead of actual take-home dollars hides the real trade, which was never about fees at all.
Why the “70% Royalty” Number Is Not What You Take Home
Every platform quotes its rate in its own units. That is why the numbers refuse to line up.
Amazon’s 70% option is not 70% of your list price. Its official formula subtracts a delivery charge first, then splits what’s left. That charge runs $0.15 per megabyte on Amazon.com.
A 1 MB guide priced at $2.99 earns you $1.99, not the $2.09 the rate implies. Our KDP royalty calculator runs the same formula across every format.
Direct platforms hide a different deduction. Their advertised cut sits on top of the payment processor.
Stripe charges 2.9% + 30¢ per successful card charge, and that 30¢ is fixed no matter what you price at.
One number scales with your price. The other doesn’t.
Rates are marketing. Dollars are what land in your account — compare those instead.
One more thing changed recently, and most published comparisons haven’t caught up. Amazon widened its 70% band.
Publishing analyst Jane Friedman reported it plainly: “the 70 percent royalty rate can be earned for all ebooks priced up to $12.99.”
Anything over $9.99 used to earn 35%. The $9.99 ceiling had stood since 2007. Amazon’s list price requirements now run $2.99 to $12.99 for the 70% tier.
If a comparison you’re reading still says $9.99, it was written before July 2026.
How I Compared These Platforms
No testing claims here, and no invented sales figures. This is arithmetic run against published terms.
Every royalty rate, fee and threshold below comes from the platform’s own documentation, read in August 2026 and linked at the point it’s used.
Where a platform publishes a formula, I applied that formula rather than the marketing percentage.
The model assumes a US sale, a 1 MB file, 0% VAT, and card payment through Stripe at standard rates.
Two things I deliberately excluded. Refunds, and currency conversion. Refund rates vary too widely to model honestly, and conversion only applies outside your home marketplace.
One figure I could not source, and I’m saying so rather than guessing: Amazon publishes no per-page rate for Kindle Unlimited anywhere in its documentation.
What Each Platform Actually Pays You Per Copy
One table, one currency, four prices. Every figure calculated from the platform’s published terms.
Marketplace Royalties After the Delivery Fee
The marketplaces are closer to each other than their marketing suggests. One of them quietly beats Amazon.
Amazon KDP pays 70% between $2.99 and $12.99, minus $0.15 per megabyte. Outside that band it drops to 35%, which is punishing at any price.
Apple Books skips the deductions. Its publishing terms promise “70% royalties on every ebook, regardless of price” and “no file delivery fees”.
Same $9.99 title. Amazon nets you $6.89, Apple nets you $6.99.
Ten cents sounds trivial. Across a thousand copies it’s a hundred dollars, running opposite to what everyone assumes.
Kobo Writing Life matches Apple above $2.99 and drops to 45% below it. No delivery fee either.
Google Play Books is the one most guides get wrong. Its split is not price-based at all.
Google’s partner documentation pays 70% in most supported countries to publishers who accepted its 2019 terms, and 52% to those who didn’t.
Asked directly whether price affects the split, Google answers “No” — the old price bands were removed.
Direct Platforms After Payment Processing
Now the side everyone assumes is more expensive.
Direct platforms stack two charges: their own cut, then Stripe’s 2.9% + 30¢. That sounds worse than a clean 70% split until you do the subtraction.
PayHip is the cleanest way to see it.
Its published plans run free with a 5% fee, $29/month with 2%, or $99/month with none. Processor fees apply on all three.
On the free tier, a $9.99 ebook nets $8.90.
That is two dollars more than Amazon pays on the same sale. On the worst direct plan available.
The Price Point Where the Winner Flips
There is a price where the fixed 30¢ finally outweighs a 30% cut. I went looking for it expecting to find it somewhere around four dollars.
It sits at 88 cents.
Set Amazon’s formula against a direct sale and solve for the point where they pay the same. Below 88 cents the marketplace wins. Above it, direct selling wins and never gives the lead back.
Amazon’s own minimum list price is $0.99. Its 70% tier doesn’t even start until $2.99.
The crossover is real, and you cannot legally reach it.
There is no price a marketplace pays you more per copy than selling direct. Not one.
That finding reframes the whole question. If direct always pays more per copy, the fee comparison every roundup runs is not the decision.
The 30% a marketplace keeps was never really a fee.
It’s what Amazon charges to find you a buyer. The only question that matters is whether you can find that buyer for less.
If you want the cheapest way to test that, Systeme.io charges 0% platform fee on every tier including free, so a low-priced ebook pays processing only.
Work Out Your Own Net Per Copy
Your price is probably not one of my four. Put your own numbers in above.
The last line is the one to read twice. It tells you what direct is worth per month, which is your marketing budget ceiling.
Spend less than that finding buyers and going direct wins. Spend more and the marketplace was cheaper all along.
The Monthly Volume That Changes the Answer
Net per copy is only half the answer. The other half is how many copies you move.
Fee models cross over at specific volumes, and most guides wave at this with “cheaper at scale” without naming the number.
When a Percentage Fee Wins
Below the crossover a percentage is simply cheaper, and it scales down with you in a quiet month.
- Under 97 copies a month at $9.99, a 5% cut beats a $29 plan
- Testing a new title: find your price before you commit to fixed overhead
- Uneven sales: a percentage costs nothing in a month you sell nothing
When a Flat Monthly Plan Wins
This is the threshold the roundups skip. PayHip’s $29 Plus plan cuts the fee from 5% to 2%.
That three-point saving is worth 30¢ a copy at $9.99, so it clears the subscription at 97 copies a month.
The $99 Pro plan removes the fee entirely and needs 198 copies to beat the free tier.
Check your last 90 days before you subscribe to either. The same volume logic drives every digital download you sell, not just ebooks.
When a One-Time Purchase Wins
ThriveCart is the extreme case — buy the licence once, and it never takes a cut of a sale again.
Against PayHip’s free 5% tier at $9.99, the $495 licence clears its own cost at roughly 991 copies.
That is a terrible deal at ten copies a month and an obvious one at five hundred. It’s the same product either way — only your volume changed.
Pricing verified August 2026 against each platform’s official pages: PayHip plans, Systeme.io pricing, Shopify plans and Kit pricing.
The Traffic Problem Nobody Prices In
Every number in that table assumes a buyer already exists. That assumption is doing all the work.
A marketplace sends you shoppers. A direct platform sends you a checkout page and nothing else.
So the 30% Amazon keeps buys something real. Once you go direct, that job becomes yours and the cost moves rather than disappearing.
Here is where the calculator earns its keep. At $9.99 and 50 copies a month, direct selling is worth about $126 more than Amazon’s royalty.
That is your entire monthly budget for finding those fifty buyers. Beat it and you win, miss it and Amazon was cheaper.
An email list is the usual answer, and it is not free either.
Klaviyo’s 2026 benchmarks put campaign click rates at 1.69% against 5.58% for flows.
Click rates are not sales. But they set the ceiling.
A list of 500 people is not fifty buyers a month, and pretending otherwise is how people end up disappointed by direct selling.
Kit keeps the list and the checkout in one place, which at least stops you paying two platforms to solve one problem.
Reach or margin. Your list size decides which one you are actually choosing between.
What KDP Select Exclusivity Costs You
KDP Select solves the traffic problem a different way. Instead of building a list, you hand Amazon exclusivity and let Kindle Unlimited readers find you.
It is a 90-day commitment, and during it you cannot sell that file anywhere else — including your own site.
Pricing the trade honestly is harder than most guides admit. Amazon does not publish a per-page rate.
Its Kindle Unlimited terms explain that a global fund is divided by total pages read each month, capped at 3,000 pages per title per customer, and warn that “actual payouts may vary”.
Any blog quoting an exact cent-per-page figure is quoting a community estimate. What you can price is the other side of the trade.
At $9.99 and fifty copies a month, ninety days of direct sales is about $1,335. That is revenue you agree not to earn.
Kindle Unlimited has to beat that number, and it can. Amazon reported $67.0 million in KDP Select author earnings for June 2026 alone.
With no list and no traffic, exclusivity usually wins. With an audience already reading you, it rarely does.
The Test I Use Before Selling Anything Online
I closed a storefront once, and it taught me the only test I now apply before selling anything.
The products were good. I used them, I stood behind them, and anyone who bought one got real value.
Amazon carried the same items at the same price and delivered next day. Mine took two to three weeks.
So the store gave readers nothing they couldn’t get better elsewhere. I shut it down.
The test that came out of it is two questions. Can the reader get this cheaper somewhere else, and can they get it faster?
Ebooks pass both. Delivery is instant, and no warehouse can undercut you on either.
To be straight with you: I have not sold an ebook.
I built four digital guides and gave them away rather than charging for them, and the paid product I am working on now is not ready.
What I have done is close a channel that failed this test, which is why I trust it.
Choosing Your Platform in the Right Order
No single platform wins at every price and every volume.
So pick in sequence rather than ranking twelve options side by side. Three answers you already have decide it.
Already selling something else? Add the ebook to what you have. If you run a store on Shopify or WooCommerce, you are paying for the checkout already.
No list, no traffic? Start on a marketplace.
Let Amazon or Apple find your first readers while you build an audience. Then move.
The marketplace is a customer-acquisition channel, not a permanent home, and the income models that actually scale all end up owning the customer relationship.
List already reading you? Go direct on day one. Every copy pays more, and you keep the buyer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I Need an ISBN to Sell an Ebook Online?
No. Every major platform assigns its own identifier automatically.
- KDP generates a free ASIN the moment you publish
- Apple Books and Kobo both assign internal identifiers
- Direct platforms like PayHip require no identifier at all
Amazon’s ISBN guidance confirms one is optional for Kindle ebooks.
You’d only buy one for wide distribution under your own imprint, or for library catalogues.
Can I Sell the Same Ebook on Multiple Platforms at Once?
Yes, and given what the numbers say, you probably should.
Nothing stops you listing on KDP, Apple Books, Kobo and your own site simultaneously. There is no general exclusivity requirement.
The single exception is KDP Select, which locks that file to Amazon for 90 days.
Skip Select and you can run both routes at once — marketplace listings for discovery, your own checkout for the readers who already know you.
How Do Refunds Affect My Net Earnings per Copy?
A refund costs you more than the sale was worth.
Stripe’s published terms confirm the processing fee is not returned on a refund.
So a refunded $9.99 sale doesn’t break even. You are out the 59¢ you already paid to take the money.
Marketplaces claw the royalty back at the point of refund and don’t return the delivery cost either. Matching your sales page to the actual contents is the only real fix.
Do I Owe Sales Tax on Direct Ebook Sales Myself?
It depends entirely on who is the merchant of record.
Marketplaces handle it for you. KDP and Apple Books collect and remit on your behalf as part of the deal.
Direct platforms vary. PayHip handles EU and UK VAT automatically, while a self-hosted store leaves the obligation with you.
If you sell internationally from your own site, sort a tax tool out before your first sale rather than after it.
What File Format Should I Use for Ebook Delivery?
PDF when the layout matters. EPUB when the text needs to reflow to any screen.
Selling direct, give buyers both. It costs you nothing and removes the most common support email you’ll get.
File size matters more than people expect on Amazon, because the delivery fee is charged per megabyte. A heavily illustrated 10 MB guide gives up $1.50 a copy before the royalty split.
Compress your images. It is the cheapest raise you will ever give yourself.
Conclusion
The fee comparison everyone runs turns out to be the wrong comparison. Direct selling pays more per copy at every price you can legally charge.
The crossover sits at 88 cents, below Amazon’s own floor, so there is no version of this where the marketplace wins on fees.
What a marketplace actually sells you is the buyer. So the real decision was never the platform.
It’s whether you can find that reader for less than 30%. Go back to the calculator and put in your own price and monthly copies.
The figure it gives you is your marketing budget. Spend under it and direct wins. Spend over it and you belong on a marketplace.
Then comes the real work: building the traffic that feeds it. That is what decides whether the higher royalty is ever worth collecting.
