# How to price a short ebook on KDP, Gumroad and your own site

Work back from what one sale leaves on each channel. KDP pays 70% less delivery from $2.99 to $12.99 and 35% outside that. Gumroad takes 10% + $0.50 on a direct sale, plus card processing. Your own site pays card fees and handles the tax. Then check what books like yours cost, and choose. No price can promise a sale, so treat every number here as arithmetic.

Last reviewed 30 October 2026. Web page: https://chapbook.ink/guides/how-to-price-a-short-ebook/

## What one sale leaves

These are worked examples at three prices for a 2 MB file of text, before tax. They aren’t suggested prices, and they say nothing about how many copies anyone will sell.

| List price | KDP at 70% | KDP at 35% | Gumroad, direct sale | Your site, card fee only |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $2.99 | $1.88 | $1.05 | $1.80 | $2.60 |
| $4.99 | $3.28 | $1.75 | $3.55 | $4.55 |
| $9.99 | $6.78 | $3.50 | $7.90 | $9.40 |

The columns don’t compare like with like, and the gaps between them aren’t the whole story. KDP and Gumroad handle the checkout and deliver the file; your own site does neither by itself, and the last column leaves out hosting, delivery and tax. The Gumroad column takes its 10% + $0.50 fee and 2.9% + $0.30 card processing; a PayPal sale has PayPal’s fees instead.

The table does show one thing plainly. Flat fees weigh most on cheap books. The fixed part of Gumroad’s fee, and of a card fee, is a larger share of a $2.99 sale than of a $9.99 one.

## On KDP: two bands and their edges

The band a price falls in matters more than small moves inside it.

- **Below the floor.** At $2.98 a sale pays 35%, or $1.04. One cent more, at $2.99, it pays $1.88.
- **Above the ceiling.** At $12.99 a sale pays $8.88. At $13.99 it drops to 35% and pays $4.90, so a higher price can leave less.
- **Large files.** Delivery costs $0.15 per MB in the 70% band. A 20 MB book at $4.99 pays $3.00 for delivery, leaving $1.39, where 35% would pay $1.75.
- **The 35% floor rises with the file:** $0.99 under 3 MB, $1.99 under 10 MB and $2.99 from 10 MB up.
- **A print edition sets a limit.** For 70%, the ebook’s price must be at least 20% below the list price on Amazon of any physical edition.

KDP sets other conditions too. The 70% rate covers listed sales territories, and for sales in Brazil, Japan, Mexico and India it needs KDP Select. Books that are mainly public-domain content get 35%. Read its [pricing page](https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200634500) before you settle on a number. The [royalty calculator](/tools/kdp-royalty-calculator/) runs your own price and file size.

Amazon can also change what a reader pays. It may lower your price to match another seller’s, and pays 70% of that lower price, less delivery, in the 70% territories. If the match takes the price below the 70% band’s minimum, you earn 35%. If your book is free somewhere else, it may match that too, and pays nothing during the match. That matters if the same book doubles as a giveaway.

## On Gumroad

Gumroad charges 10% + $0.50 per transaction on sales through your profile or a direct link, and that doesn’t include card processing at 2.9% + $0.30 or PayPal’s fees. When a new customer finds you through its Discover marketplace, it takes a flat 30%, processing included. Since 1 January 2025 it describes itself as merchant of record, collecting and remitting sales tax where it has the obligation, though it notes some creators may already have returns of their own to file.

The flat parts make a cheap book’s direct sale the dearer one: at $2.99, a direct sale gives up $1.19 and a Discover sale $0.90. At $9.99 it reverses, $2.09 against $3.00. You don’t choose between them for each sale, since it depends on how the customer found you.

## On your own site

Stripe’s standard online rate for a domestic US card was 2.9% + 30¢ on 30 October 2026; other countries differ. You keep the most of each sale and you hold the customer’s address, but you take on the rest: delivering the file, refunds and tax.

Tax is the part people miss. In the EU, VAT on electronic services sold to consumers is due where the customer lives. The European Commission’s One Stop Shop lets sellers declare it in one place, and sellers outside the EU can use it. Ask an accountant before you sell across borders. A merchant of record such as Gumroad takes this on in exchange for its larger fee.

## How to choose the number

The sums tell you where the edges are, not where to stand. Look at what similar books charge, and choose a price you could explain to a reader. A guide that solves one expensive problem can reasonably cost more than a longer book on a general topic, so don’t price by the page alone.

## Where Chapbook fits

Chapbook doesn’t sell your book or process payments. Its KDP listing view shows what a sale earns in each band at the price you set, using the same arithmetic as the calculator, and offers a starting price by length. That starting price is a rule of thumb, not market data.

## What to do

1. **Find your file size.** Upload to KDP’s preview or check the size of your EPUB. A book of text is small. A book full of pictures can cost more in delivery than the 70% band is worth.
2. **Run the numbers for your price.** Put your price and file size through the royalty calculator, then work out the Gumroad and card fees beside it. Do it at two or three prices, not only the one you first thought of.
3. **Look at ten books like yours.** Same topic, same length, same store. Note their prices and how long they run. This tells you what readers there are used to paying, which your own costs can’t.
4. **Decide on exclusivity before you price.** KDP Select requires the ebook to be exclusive to Kindle for its 90 days, so you can’t also sell it on Gumroad or your own site during that time. Choose first.
5. **Keep your prices close across channels.** Amazon can lower your price to match a cheaper edition elsewhere. If you want a lower price on your own site, know that the Kindle price may follow it.
6. **Change one thing and write down why.** If you try a new price, change only the price, and note the date. Without a record you won’t be able to tell what a change did.

## Made with Chapbook: The Pricing Playbook

The Pricing Playbook: How founders set a price they can defend, by Jane Founder. Nonfiction book, 9,862 words, 43 pages. A sample generated from one brief and exported unedited; it is not a customer's book. Read every page: https://chapbook.ink/examples/nonfiction/

The brief:

> A repeatable method for pricing software: customer interviews, a value metric, tiering, and setting numbers you can defend. Promise: A repeatable method for setting a price you can defend to customers, investors and yourself, validated by ten customer interviews in a week. Reader: A founder who priced by guessing or by copying a competitor and now has to defend or change the number. Voice: Direct second person with occasional first person; worked examples with fictional companies; tables where they clarify; no invented statistics or named studies: reason from mechanics and examples.

The outline the planner proposed:

1. Introduction (620 words)
2. Why Guessing Fails (1,014 words)
3. What You Are Actually Selling (1,004 words)
4. Interview Ten Customers (1,088 words)
5. Choose the Value Metric (979 words)
6. Draft Three Tiers (1,076 words)
7. Set the Numbers (1,130 words)
8. Say the Price Out Loud (1,063 words)
9. Revisit Every Quarter (994 words)
10. Conclusion (384 words)
11. Appendix: The Interview Script (475 words)

## Questions

### What is the lowest price for the 70% KDP royalty?

$2.99 on Amazon.com. The band runs up to $12.99, as checked against KDP’s list price requirements on 29 October 2026.

### Why does the 35% royalty sometimes pay more than 70%?

The 70% band charges $0.15 per MB for delivery and the 35% band doesn’t. On a large file at a low price, the delivery cost can outweigh the higher rate.

### What does Gumroad charge on an ebook sale?

10% + $0.50 per transaction on a direct sale, plus 2.9% + $0.30 card processing, or a flat 30% through its Discover marketplace, processing included, per its fees page as checked on 30 October 2026.

### Can I sell my ebook on my own site and on KDP?

Yes, unless it is in KDP Select, which requires the ebook to be exclusive to the Kindle Store during the 90-day enrollment. Print editions can still be sold elsewhere.

### What happens if my ebook is cheaper elsewhere than on Amazon?

KDP says it may sell your book at a lower price to match another seller’s. If it matches a free edition, your royalty during that promotion is zero, per its pricing page as checked on 30 October 2026.

### How much will I make from my ebook?

Nobody can tell you that, and this guide doesn’t try. It shows what one sale leaves at a given price. How many copies sell depends on the book and on how readers find it.

## Sources

- [Amazon KDP, eBook list price requirements](https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200634560)
- [Amazon KDP, “Digital Book Pricing Page” (updated 21 April 2026)](https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200634500)
- [Amazon KDP, “eBook Royalties”](https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200644210)
- [Amazon KDP, “KDP Select Enrollment”](https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GD9PMU58BV24QFZ7)
- [Gumroad, “Gumroad’s fees” (checked 30 October 2026)](https://gumroad.com/help/article/66-gumroads-fees)
- [Gumroad, “Pricing” (checked 30 October 2026)](https://gumroad.com/pricing)
- [Stripe, “Pricing & fees” (checked 30 October 2026)](https://stripe.com/pricing)
- [European Commission, “One Stop Shop”](https://vat-one-stop-shop.ec.europa.eu/one-stop-shop_en)