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Royalty Calculator

U.S. only tools

A royalty is one rate times the price for each copy sold, and the rate differs wildly by format — an ebook typically pays 70% of list price, print often 10%. The same rate printed on list price or on net receipts pays very different money, so the base matters as much as the percentage.

Royalty Calculator - Danfio

https://danfio.com/tools/royalty-calculator/ - printed from this page

Currency: USD ($) - display only, nothing was converted

$

The list price a reader pays for the digital edition, before any retailer discount.

Digital list-price royalties are high — 70% at many retailers, 35% elsewhere.

Copies sold in the statement period you are working from, not lifetime.

$

The cover price of the paperback or hardback edition.

Print royalties are lower — commonly 10% of list price for a trade deal.

Physical copies sold in the same period, across every print channel.

$

Money the publisher paid up front; royalties do not pay out until this is earned back.

Results update as you type. Nothing leaves your device.

Currency symbol

Symbol only - nothing is converted and no exchange rate is used. Figures quoted in the explanation text stay as the sources publish them.

Royalties after the advance

$2,267.80

300 ebooks × $6.99 + 100 print × $1.70

Gross royalties
$2,267.80
Advance to recover
$0.00

Royalties, format by format

FormatPriceRateUnitsRoyalty
Ebook$9.9970%300$2,097.90
Print$16.9910%100$169.90
Total$2,267.80
No advance
$0.00

Per-unit royalty is the price times the rate, so the format with the higher list price and higher rate dominates: that is why self-published ebook income often overtakes print despite fewer units.

With no advance, $2,267.80 of royalties is payable to you on your statement.

This calculator multiplies each format by its own per-unit royalty, sums them and subtracts any advance, so you see what you actually get paid — and how many sales it takes to earn a real income.

About this royalty calculator

Royalties arrive in a fixed order: sales first, then the advance being earned back, and only then a check. Because an ebook rate and a print rate are wildly different, the page prices each format separately and subtracts what has already been paid, so the money owed is never confused with the money received.

Each format is priced as units times price times its own rate, and the total is reduced by any advance before payout. The list-price versus net-receipts distinction is carried by whatever base you type, and the whole sum runs in your browser, so no contract or sales figure is uploaded.

It is an estimate, not a guarantee of what any publisher or store will pay: audio rights, subsidiary rights and foreign editions all sit outside the model. Read the figure as the arithmetic on the rates and units you entered, and check your own contract for which base the percentage is actually charged on.

How this royalty calculator works

Each format has its own royalty

The page prices two formats, each with its own price, rate and unit count. An ebook at $9.99 and 70% pays $6.99 a copy; a print book at $16.99 and 10% pays $1.70. Multiply each by its units - 300 ebooks and 100 print copies at the defaults - and the two royalties are $2,097.90 and $169.90, for $2,267.80 of gross royalties.

That is why a modest ebook list can out-earn a larger print list: the high rate sits on the higher-priced digital format and multiplies harder. The print edition has to sell roughly four copies to match one ebook at these defaults, which is the trade-off a publisher is making when it prices a digital edition low to move units.

Each row is independent, so a change in one format does not touch the other. The table prints price, rate, units and the resulting royalty side by side, and the total line adds them without any weighting or averaging that would obscure which format is doing the work.

The advance comes out first

An advance is money paid up front that the book has to earn back through royalties before a check arrives. The page subtracts the advance you received from gross royalties and floors the result at zero, so the hero never shows a negative payout.

When gross royalties fall short, the difference is unearned advance - $2,732.20 on the default sales against a $5,000 advance - and the table footer labels it "advance remaining". You do not owe that money back; it is recovered by future royalties, which is exactly why the first statement after a launch can show sales and no payment.

When the advance is covered, the footer switches to "advance earned back, next check" and the hero shows the amount payable on top. With no advance entered, the footer reads "no advance" beside $0.00, which is a label for an absence rather than a recovery balance.

List price versus net price

Percentage royalties are usually charged on list price or on net receipts, and the difference is not small. Seventy percent of a $9.99 list price is $6.99; seventy percent of a $3.99 net receipt is $2.79, on the same book at the same rate.

The page has no base selector because the base is carried by the price you type. Enter the list price if your contract charges on list, or the net receipt if it charges on net - and read the contract rather than assuming, because the same percentage printed either way produces very different money.

It also does not know about per-unit costs. A net-receipts deal often deducts printing before applying the rate, which would need to be reflected in the price field; an audio edition, a subsidiary-rights deal or a foreign edition sits outside the two rows entirely.

A long tail of sales still compounds

Royalties are paid per unit whenever the book sells, so a title that moves a little every month for years can out-earn a launch-week spike of a similar size. The unit fields are for the statement period you are working from, not lifetime sales, which is what makes them reusable month after month.

The counterweight is rate times price. A low percentage on a low list price pays very little even with strong volume, so price and rate set the ceiling and units only decide how fast you approach it. Doubling the default volume doubles the gross royalty to $4,535.60 before any advance, which is the cleanest illustration of how linear the model is.

What the page will not tell you is whether the deal is good. It prints the arithmetic on the rates, prices and units you entered, subtracts the advance, and stops there; the contract terms, the marketing spend and the rights you gave up are the parts that decide whether the royalty is fair. An estimate, not a return, and not tax advice.

Worked examples

Each example below was run through the calculator on this page when the site was built, so the numbers match what you see when you enter the same inputs.

300 ebooks and 100 print copies

Ebook price: $9.99 · Ebook royalty rate: 70% · Ebook units: 300 · Print price: $16.99 · Print royalty rate: 10% · Print units: 100 · Advance already received: $0.00

Royalties after the advance

$2,267.80

300 ebooks × $6.99 + 100 print × $1.70

Gross royalties: $2,267.80 · Advance to recover: $0.00

About $2,268 in gross royalties — the default case, no advance.

The same sales after a $5,000 advance

Ebook price: $9.99 · Ebook royalty rate: 70% · Ebook units: 300 · Print price: $16.99 · Print royalty rate: 10% · Print units: 100 · Advance already received: $5,000.00

Royalties after the advance

$0.00

300 ebooks × $6.99 + 100 print × $1.70

Gross royalties: $2,267.80 · Advance to recover: $5,000.00

Gross royalties fall short of the advance, so nothing more is paid out yet.

A small publisher-style split

Ebook price: $7.99 · Ebook royalty rate: 35% · Ebook units: 2,000 · Print price: $14.99 · Print royalty rate: 8% · Print units: 400 · Advance already received: $1,000.00

Royalties after the advance

$5,072.68

2,000 ebooks × $2.80 + 400 print × $1.20

Gross royalties: $6,072.68 · Advance to recover: $1,000.00

Lower rates but more units gross roughly $6,100 — the per-unit rates and volume trade off.

Doubling the volume against an advance

Ebook price: $9.99 · Ebook royalty rate: 70% · Ebook units: 600 · Print price: $16.99 · Print royalty rate: 10% · Print units: 200 · Advance already received: $1,000.00

Royalties after the advance

$3,535.60

600 ebooks × $6.99 + 200 print × $1.70

Gross royalties: $4,535.60 · Advance to recover: $1,000.00

Roughly $4,536 in gross royalties leaves $3,536 to collect after the $1,000 advance.

Frequently asked questions

How do I calculate royalties?

Multiply each copy sold by its price and that format's royalty rate, adding the results per format, then subtract any advance already paid out. The remainder is what you are owed.

Why are ebook royalties higher than print?

There is no printing cost for a digital file, so publishers afford a much higher list-price percentage — 70% is common, against roughly 10% for a printed book.

When do I get paid after an advance?

Only once cumulative royalties exceed the advance. Until then the advances recover what was already paid; the first check lands on the statement after that point.

What does "net receipts" mean?

It means the royalty is a percentage of the money the publisher actually receives after its discount to the retailer, not the full list price. A 70% list-price royalty and a 70% net-receipts royalty pay very differently.

Can I ever owe money back if sales fall short of the advance?

Almost never. Unearned advance is money already paid that future royalties recover before the next check, and in standard publishing contracts it is not repayable — the risk sits with the publisher, not the author.

Assumptions and sources

  • Ebook royalties of 70% of list price and trade print royalties near 10% are the conventional published ranges across major retailers and publishers (reviewed 2026-09-28; rates can change).
  • The advance-earning mechanic is standard publishing practice; unearned advance is not repayable but delays royalty payout.
  • Not modelled: audio rights, subsidiary rights, foreign editions and per-unit printing-cost deductions in net-price deals.
  • The result is arithmetic on the list price, rate and units you enter — not a guarantee of what any publisher or store will pay.

Last reviewed 2026-09-28. Business arithmetic — not accounting, tax or legal advice. Read the full disclaimer.

Where a figure on this page comes from an official agency — HUD, IRS, FICO or a state body — the site keeps a dated snapshot of the source page in its sources library, and a scheduled job re-checks that snapshot, so the number can be traced back to the document it came from.

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