KDP Hardcover vs Paperback Calculator
Enter a page count and list price to see the printing cost and royalty for both formats side by side, using Amazon's own published cost formula. Figures are for the US marketplace (amazon.com), regular trim.
Royalty = list price × rate (60% at or above $9.99, 50% below) minus printing cost. Hardcover has its own page limits: 75-550 pages, versus paperback's 24-828 for black ink. This calculator doesn't check your minimum list price for you, KDP won't let you set a price below what covers the printing cost.
Common questions
How much more does hardcover cost to print than paperback?
The fixed cost per book is higher for hardcover, roughly $5.65-$6.80 on amazon.com versus $1.00-$2.30 for paperback, and for longer books there's also a higher per-page rate on top.
What's the minimum page count for a hardcover?
75 pages, compared to 24 for paperback. The maximum is also lower, 550 pages versus 828 for paperback black ink.
Does hardcover use the same royalty rate as paperback?
Yes, the same 60%/50% split based on list price. Hardcover just isn't eligible for Expanded Distribution the way paperback is.
What's the maximum list price for a hardcover?
$250 on amazon.com. There's no hard maximum for paperback in the same way, only a minimum tied to covering the printing cost.
Why this matters
Hardcover isn't just paperback with a stiffer cover, it has its own page count limits, its own cost structure, and its own royalty math. The most common surprise is the page minimum: a 60-page book that works fine as paperback simply isn't eligible for hardcover at all until it hits 75 pages.
If you're deciding whether hardcover is worth offering alongside paperback, the real question is whether your royalty per copy still holds up once the higher printing cost is subtracted, not just whether the list price looks reasonable next to your paperback edition.
Try the free tool →