The KDP delivery fee is $0.15 per megabyte on Amazon.com, charged on every sale under the 70% royalty option and never under 35%. I measured 13 real ebooks: as plain text, every one weighs under 0.7 MB and costs 10 cents or less to deliver. With their illustrations left in, the same books cost up to $7.08 per sale.
So for a text novel, the fee is noise. For anything with pictures, it can quietly eat your royalty, and past a certain file size the “worse” 35% option pays you more. Here’s the exact math, the break-even file size for your price, and what it means for a growing catalog.
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TL;DR
- Amazon.com charges $0.15 per MB on each 70% sale (min $0.01). The 35% option has no delivery fee.
- Each MB costs you 10.5 cents of royalty per sale (0.70 x $0.15). KDP’s average fee is $0.06, about a 0.4 MB file.
- 13 real books as text-only EPUBs: 0.13 to 0.69 MB, 10 cents or less per sale. Illustrated: up to $7.08.
- Break-even file size is 3.33 x your list price in MB: 10.0 MB at $2.99, 16.6 MB at $4.99, 33.3 MB at $9.99.
- Napkin math (assumption: 20 books x 100 sales at $4.99): $56 a month in fees as text, $1,050 a month at 5 MB per book.
How the KDP delivery fee works
Amazon’s Digital Book Pricing Page (last updated April 21, 2026) spells out the formula for the 70% option:
Royalty = 70% x (list price minus VAT minus delivery costs)
Delivery costs equal the file size Amazon measures after conversion, times a per-megabyte rate. On Amazon.com that rate is $0.15/MB, with a minimum of $0.01 per sale. Amazon rounds file sizes up to the nearest kilobyte. Under the 35% option, Amazon doesn’t deduct delivery costs at all.
KDP’s eBook Royalties help page says the average delivery cost is $0.06 per unit sold. At $0.15/MB, that’s an average file of about 0.4 MB. Most Kindle books are small.
Because the fee sits inside the 70% bracket, every megabyte costs you 10.5 cents of royalty per sale (0.70 x $0.15), not the full 15 cents.
I measured 13 real books: text vs. illustrated
Amazon only shows your exact delivery cost after you upload, on the Pricing tab. To see how file size behaves in practice, I pulled the file sizes of 13 public-domain classics from Project Gutenberg on November 12, 2026, each in two versions: a text-only EPUB and a Kindle (KF8) file with the original illustrations.
One caveat: Amazon converts your upload, so its measured size won’t match these files byte for byte. Treat them as realistic ranges, not your quote. And public-domain books only qualify for 35% on KDP anyway; I’m using them purely as file-size samples.
| Book | Words (approx.) | Text-only MB | Fee | Illustrated MB | Fee | 70% royalty at $4.99, illustrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alice in Wonderland | 26,525 | 0.13 | $0.02 | 0.24 | $0.04 | $3.47 |
| The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | 39,649 | 0.17 | $0.03 | 0.41 | $0.06 | $3.45 |
| Peter Pan | 47,268 | 0.37 | $0.06 | 0.46 | $0.07 | $3.44 |
| The Great Gatsby | 48,208 | 0.17 | $0.03 | 0.45 | $0.07 | $3.44 |
| The war of the worlds | 60,075 | 0.23 | $0.03 | 0.37 | $0.06 | $3.45 |
| Treasure Island | 68,637 | 0.26 | $0.04 | 47.22 | $7.08 | $-1.46 |
| Frankenstein | 75,042 | 0.28 | $0.04 | 0.52 | $0.08 | $3.44 |
| The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes | 104,506 | 0.30 | $0.04 | 0.52 | $0.08 | $3.44 |
| Pride and Prejudice | 127,360 | 0.58 | $0.09 | 25.20 | $3.78 | $0.85 |
| Dracula | 161,321 | 0.41 | $0.06 | 0.78 | $0.12 | $3.41 |
| The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book | 182,942 | 0.58 | $0.09 | 21.58 | $3.24 | $1.23 |
| Jane Eyre | 185,390 | 0.58 | $0.09 | 3.19 | $0.48 | $3.16 |
| Moby Dick | 212,796 | 0.69 | $0.10 | 1.45 | $0.22 | $3.34 |
The pattern is stark. Word count barely matters: Moby Dick has about eight times the words of Alice in Wonderland and still costs just $0.10 as text. Images are what move the needle. The illustrated Pride and Prejudice is 25.2 MB, which costs $3.78 to deliver. The illustrated Treasure Island is 47.22 MB, so its $7.08 fee is more than a $4.99 list price.
The break-even file size: when 35% beats 70%
Set the two options equal and solve for file size:
0.70 x (P minus 0.15 x MB) = 0.35 x P, so MB = 0.35 x P / 0.105 = 3.33 x P
At a $4.99 list price, the break-even file is 16.6 MB. Below it, 70% wins. Above it, 35% pays more, because 35% has no delivery fee.
| List price | Break-even size | 35% royalty | 70% at 0.3 MB | 70% at 5 MB | 70% at 20 MB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $2.99 | 10.0 MB | $1.05 | $2.07 | $1.57 | $-0.01 |
| $3.99 | 13.3 MB | $1.40 | $2.77 | $2.27 | $0.69 |
| $4.99 | 16.6 MB | $1.75 | $3.47 | $2.97 | $1.39 |
| $6.99 | 23.3 MB | $2.45 | $4.87 | $4.37 | $2.79 |
| $9.99 | 33.3 MB | $3.50 | $6.97 | $6.47 | $4.89 |
| $12.99 | 43.3 MB | $4.55 | $9.07 | $8.57 | $6.99 |
That’s why a 0.3 MB romance novel at $4.99 earns about $3.47 per sale at 70%, almost double the $1.75 at 35%. The illustrated Pride and Prejudice at $4.99 would earn just $0.85 at 70%, less than half of what 35% pays.
The IYB Medium story At $2.99, a 10 MB Kindle file makes 70% royalty pay about the same as 35% walks through the $2.99 case. The table above extends it to every common price.
Delivery fees outside Amazon.com
Each marketplace has its own rate, set in local currency. This matters if a lot of your sales come from the UK or Germany.
| Marketplace | Delivery cost | Break-even file size |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon.com, .ca, .com.au | 0.15 per MB (US$, C$, A$) | 10.0 MB at 2.99 |
| Amazon.co.uk | £0.10 per MB | 14.95 MB at £2.99 |
| Amazon.de, .fr, .es, .it, .nl | €0.12 per MB | 12.46 MB at €2.99 |
| Amazon.com.br | R$0.30 per MB | 9.98 MB at R$5.99 (70% minimum) |
| Amazon.in | ₹7 per MB | 7.07 MB at ₹99 (70% minimum) |
| Amazon.com.mx | MX$1 per MB | depends on price |
| Amazon.co.jp | ¥1 per MB | no fee at 10 MB or more |
Two quirks worth knowing. Amazon.co.uk charges the lowest per-MB rate (£0.10), so a £2.99 book only breaks even at 14.95 MB. And on Amazon.co.jp, KDP doesn’t deduct any delivery cost for books of 10 MB or more, the only marketplace with that rule.
The 35% option has file-size price floors
If you switch a heavy book to 35%, there’s one more rule. On Amazon.com, the List Price Requirements set the 35% minimum by file size:
- Under 3 MB: $0.99 minimum
- 3 MB to under 10 MB: $1.99 minimum
- 10 MB or more: $2.99 minimum
The 70% option requires $2.99 to $12.99 on Amazon.com regardless of size. So a $0.99 price only works for files under 3 MB, and a big illustrated book can’t go below $2.99 at all.
KDP delivery fee calculator
Portfolio napkin math: why lean files compound
Here’s where it matters for a catalog business. Assumption, clearly labeled: 20 books, 100 sales per book per month, $4.99 each, Amazon.com.
- Text-only files (0.3 MB, the median of my 13 samples): $0.04 fee per sale costs you about $56 a month in royalty across the catalog.
- 5 MB per book (for example, maps, chapter art or uncompressed images): a $0.75 fee per sale costs about $1,050 a month.
That’s roughly $12,000 a year for 5 MB of pictures per book. Even at 5 MB, 70% still pays $2.97 per sale vs. $1.75 at 35%, about $2,440 a month more across the catalog, so don’t switch options. Just compress the images or cut the ones readers don’t need.
Don’t switch to 35% just because you see a delivery fee. At $4.99, 70% keeps paying more until the file hits 16.6 MB. A 5 MB book still earns $2.97 at 70% vs $1.75 at 35%.
How to lower your KDP delivery fee
- Check the number before you publish. On the KDP Pricing tab, the royalty preview shows the delivery cost for your converted file. If it’s more than a few cents on a novel, something heavy is in the file.
- Compress or resize images. A full-page photo straight from a camera can weigh megabytes on its own. Kindle screens don’t need print resolution.
- Drop decorative images. Scene-break ornaments and chapter-header art add weight to every sale. A simple text ornament costs nothing.
- Keep the cover separate. You upload the ebook cover as its own file in KDP, so you don’t need to embed a high-resolution copy inside the manuscript.
- Price heavy books higher or use 35%. If a cookbook or photo-heavy guide is over 3.33 x its price in MB, run the numbers for 35% or raise the price.
For related math, see the KDP royalty calculator, how to price a KDP ebook, KDP vs Barnes and Noble Press, and the full cost to self-publish on KDP.
| Question | Number | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon.com delivery fee | $0.15 per MB, min $0.01 | Only applies to the 70% option |
| Royalty cost per MB | 10.5 cents per sale | Multiply your file size by this |
| Text-only novel | 0.13 to 0.69 MB, 10 cents or less | Ignore the fee, stay at 70% |
| Heavily illustrated edition | 21.58 to 47.22 MB, $3.24 to $7.08 | Compress images or price higher |
| Break-even size | 3.33 x list price in MB | Above it, compare 35% honestly |
| 35% price floors (Amazon.com) | $0.99 / $1.99 / $2.99 at 3 MB and 10 MB | Keep promo books under 3 MB |
FAQ
How much is the KDP delivery fee?
On Amazon.com it is $0.15 per megabyte of your converted file, with a minimum of $0.01 per sale. Amazon.co.uk charges £0.10 per MB and the EU stores €0.12 per MB.
Does the 35% royalty option have a delivery fee?
No. KDP deducts delivery costs only under the 70% royalty option. The 35% option pays 35% of the list price without VAT, whatever the file size.
How big is a typical Kindle novel file?
Small. In 13 books I measured, text-only EPUBs were 0.13 to 0.69 MB. KDP says the average delivery cost is $0.06 per unit, which implies about 0.4 MB.
When does 35% pay more than 70% on KDP?
When your file size in MB is above 3.33 times your list price on Amazon.com. That is 10.0 MB at $2.99, 16.6 MB at $4.99 and 33.3 MB at $9.99.
How can I reduce my KDP delivery fee?
Compress or resize images, remove decorative art, and don't embed a high-resolution cover inside the manuscript. The KDP Pricing tab shows the delivery cost for your converted file before you publish.
Does Japan charge a delivery fee on KDP?
Amazon.co.jp charges ¥1 per MB, but KDP deducts no delivery cost there for books of 10 MB or greater.
The takeaway
For a text novel, the KDP delivery fee is a rounding error: under 11 cents a sale in every book I measured. It only becomes a real cost when images inflate the file, and the line to watch is 3.33 x your list price in megabytes. So the cheapest way to keep 70% working for you is a catalog of lean, well-written text books. If drafting is what slows that catalog down, ImagineYourBook turns your outline into a full draft with a cover that you then revise in your own voice. The trial is $0 today with a card required and includes one complete 10,000-word book; the first $24.99 charge happens after 7 days unless you cancel before day 8.
Sources (checked November 12, 2026): KDP Digital Book Pricing Page · KDP Help: eBook Royalties · KDP Help: List Price Requirements · Project Gutenberg (file sizes of 13 books) · awesome-ai-tools (lists ImagineYourBook) · ImagineYourBook pricing. Assumptions: 20 books x 100 sales per book per month at $4.99 in the napkin math; Gutenberg file sizes stand in for Amazon’s converted sizes, which differ. Prices before VAT.