Exclusive adds KENP to Kindle; wide adds Apple and Kobo to Kindle
KDP Select pays two royalties for one upload: Kindle sales at 70% inside $2.99 to $9.99 (35% outside) plus KENP pages read at the monthly fund rate, recently about $0.0040 per KENP. A book with 120 Kindle sales at $4.99 70% $3.49 per sale earns $418 from Kindle plus 45,000 KENP at $0.0040 is $180, total $599 exclusive. The same 120 Kindle sales as wide at $4.99 70% plus 18 wide sales at Apple and Kobo at the same royalty is 138 × $3.49 = $482, total $482 wide. Exclusive wins by $117 at that Kindle, KENP, and wide. At 120 Kindle 20,000 KENP $80 is $498 exclusive vs wide 120 plus 40 wide is 160 × $3.49 = $559 wide, wide wins by $39. The gap is not the price; it is KENP versus wide sales at the same royalty.
The checker asks Kindle sales per month at the price that sets royalty, KENP pages read per month from Reports, expected wide extra sales per month at a comparable price, and the Kindle price itself. The price window matters because $4.99 70% $3.49 is $3.49 per sale while $1.99 35% $0.70 is $0.70, but Select versus wide at the same price uses the same royalty for the Kindle side; the difference is KENP on the exclusive side. Wide does not lose Kindle; wide means Kindle is still there plus Apple, Kobo, and Google at typically 70% where the price is $2.99 to $9.99. You leave Select, not Kindle, when you go wide.
Series Pages build wide too when the series phrase is consistent; Select is not a Series condition. A nonfiction series at $9.99 non-Select can link the same as a thriller Select series. The pair that links is field plus phrase plus order, not the fund rate. The $0.0040 that makes 45,000 KENP $180 is fund, not trim, and the KDP save limit of about 4,000 characters for descriptions is hard cap, not KENP.
How the monthly is built — Kindle royalty, KENP payout, wide extra
Kindle sales is sales per month at the price that sets royalty. At $4.99 70% $3.49 per sale 120 is $418, 60 is $209, 300 is $1,047. At $2.49 35% $0.87 per sale 120 is $104, 60 is $52. The same rank that makes a book starved for promotions does not move KENP directly; it moves Kindle sales that KENP scales with. A starved rank that is 120,000 with 18 reviews and a 3-book series free still pays KENP when those free readers borrow.
KENP is pages read in Reports, not KENP normalized pages from the eBook file at a standard font and leading. The book at 273 pages at 5.5×8.5 white 50# can be 300 KENP; the Reports KENP that pays is the sum of pages read that month, not the book's KENP. At 45,000 KENP $180 is $0.0040 times, at 20,000 is $80, at 90,000 is $360. The same 120 Kindle sales with 90,000 KENP is $418 + $360 = $778 exclusive versus wide 120 plus 18 wide is $482, exclusive wins by $296. The KENP lever is the gap wide must close.
Wide extra is expected Apple/Kobo/Google sales at a comparable price and royalty. At 18 wide at $4.99 70% $3.49 that is 18 × $3.49 = $62.82 extra on top of Kindle $418 is $482 wide total shown as (kindle+wide) × royalty. At 40 wide $139.60 extra is $558 wide total. At 60 wide $209 extra is $627 wide total. Wide at the same price uses the same royalty as Kindle; the royalty is the price window, not Select.
Exclusive total is Kindle royalty plus KENP royalty. At 120 $418 + $180 = $599, at 120 plus 40 wide $80 KENP is $498 exclusive versus wide $558, wide wins by $60? Actually $498 vs $558 wide wins $60? Wait 120 $418 + $80 = $498, wide (120+40)=160×$3.49=$558, wide wins $60. The diff is exclusive minus wide: $498 - $558 = -$60. The table at the bottom shows wide sales needed to tie exclusive at this Kindle plus KENP: at 60 Kindle 20k KENP $80 exclusive $290? Wait 60 $209 + $80 = $289, wide to tie needs ($289 ÷ $3.49 -60)=23 wide sales to tie, at 120 $498 needs 23? Actually $498 ÷$3.49=143, minus 120=23 wide to tie. The table shows Kindle 60, 120, 300 at the same 20k KENP with wide sales to tie as the computed need.
The verdict logic reads exclusive versus wide within $100. Exclusive more than $100 ahead is pass stay exclusive. Wide more than $100 ahead is warning go wide. Within $100 is warning near tie — choose by audience, not by $100. No KENP and no wide is info no lever. The warning near tie exists so $498 vs $482 at $16 gap does not read as strong pass for exclusive when the dollar gap is not the decision; the audience is.
The calculator is deterministic. The same Kindle, KENP, wide, and price always give the same exclusive and wide totals, because per-sale royalty and fund rate are fixed tables. Everything is calculated in your browser. There is no signup, and the arithmetic in the breakdown is the arithmetic that decided the verdict.
Reading the verdict — exclusive wins, wide wins, near tie, and the zero-lever info
Exclusive wins at more than $100 ahead. Headline reads "Stay exclusive — $599 beats wide $482 by $117." Body names the KENP $180 on top of Kindle $418 versus wide $62 extra. Exclusive wins by $117 where KENP is 43% of exclusive at 120 Kindle. Wide would need 23 wide sales to tie at this Kindle and KENP.
Wide wins at more than $100 ahead. Headline reads "Go wide — $559 beats exclusive $498 by $61" or similar. Body names wide extra at $139 versus KENP $80. At 120 Kindle 20k KENP $498 exclusive vs 160 wide $558, wide wins $60. KENP $80 is only 14% of wide total here — wide retail outweighs Unlimited.
Near tie within $100. Headline reads "Near tie — exclusive $498 vs wide $482 within $100." Body says within $100 is a tie — exclusive $498 vs wide $482 is a $16 gap. Choose by audience, not by $16. Exclusive keeps KENP 36% of exclusive total where small KENP is the tie signal.
Info zero lever at no KENP and no wide. Headline reads "No KENP and no wide — Kindle $209 is the only royalty." Body says at zero KENP and zero wide sales Kindle only compares; KENP is the Select lever, wide the wide lever.
Each result returns metrics for exclusive, wide, KENP payout, and diff, a breakdown of the six rows, tailored recommendations, the table of wide sales needed to tie at this Kindle plus KENP for 60, 120, 300 Kindle, and related links that remain inside distribution flow.
Why KENP pages read is not KENP per book and why price window matters
KENP pages read is the sum of pages read that month in Reports. KENP per book is the normalized pages KDP derives from your eBook file at a standard font and leading. The book at 273 pages at 5.5×8.5 white 50# can be 300 KENP per book; the Reports KENP that pays is the sum of pages read that month, not the book's KENP. At 45,000 pages read the payout is $180, not 300. The same 120 Kindle sales with 20,000 pages read is $80 exclusive KENP, not 300 per book.
Price window matters because $4.99 70% $3.49 is $3.49 per sale while $1.99 35% $0.70 is one-fifth. At 300 Kindle sales $3.49 is $1,047, $0.70 is $210, plus the same 45,000 KENP $180 is $1,227 vs $390. The price that moves the gap is the Kindle price, not the audio $19.99 exclusive $8.00 at 40 sales is $320 per month. The three monetizations — pages read, pages printed at $4.62 to print a 6×9 paperback at 75,000 words and 275 words per page, hours listened — live on different pages because the reader intent that brings a shopper to each page is different. The KENP rate $0.0040 belongs on the Select page and must not be repeated as filler elsewhere.
Select is not required for 70% royalty. Wide Kindle at $4.99 also pays 70%. Select adds KENP; 70% exists wide too on Kindle. Wide that is Kindle plus Apple plus Kobo at 70% where price is $2.99 to $9.99 out-earns Kindle 35% where price is below $2.99. Below $2.99 Kindle pays 35% royalty, not 70%, regardless of Select. A wide $4.99 70% plus Apple 40 wide $139 is $558, an exclusive $1.99 35% plus 90,000 KENP $360 is $570, close? Actually $1.99 35% at 120 is $84 plus $360 is $444, wide $1.99 at 160×$0.70? Wait $1.99 below $2.99 is 35% so wide $1.99 is also 35%, not 70. Keep price inside $2.99 to $9.99 to hold 70% on both sides for a clean compare.
Worked examples with the monthly shown, hypothetical and illustrative
Note: the following examples are hypothetical and illustrative rather than a sourced case study. Every monthly is produced by the same Kindle×royalty plus KENP×fund arithmetic the tool runs.
Example one is 120 Kindle, 45,000 KENP, 18 wide at $4.99. Kindle $418 plus KENP $180 is $599 exclusive. Wide (120+18)=138×$3.49=$482. Exclusive wins by $117. Wide would need 23 wide sales to tie at this Kindle and KENP ( $599 ÷$3.49=172 total minus 120 Kindle =52? Wait 599÷3.49=171.6 minus 120=51.6, not 23. Re-derive: $599 exclusive at $3.49 needs 172 wide sales total to tie, minus 120 Kindle =52 wide to tie. The table shows 23 at 20k KENP not 45k. Keep them separate.
Example two is 120 Kindle, 20,000 KENP, 40 wide at $4.99. Kindle $418 plus $80 $498 exclusive. Wide 160×$3.49=$558, wide wins $60. KENP $80 is only 14% of wide total — wide retail outweighs Unlimited.
Example three is 60 Kindle, 20,000 KENP, 0 wide — info tie. Kindle $209 plus $80 $289 exclusive. Wide 60×$3.49=$209, near tie $80 gap exclusive ahead, but with zero wide to compare the verdict is near tie within $100.
Where the numbers go next — beyond exclusive vs wide into series and length
Exclusive versus wide that wins by $117 is before series read-through and print cost. A three-book thriller series where book one at $3.99 with series linking drives read-through to book two at 60% and book three at 40% has a different translation ROI than the same three without linking where read-through loses the carousel. A 6×9 black-and-white paperback at 75,000 words and 275 words per page is about 273 pages and about $4.62 to print on white paper before retail share; a $16.99 paperback nets roughly $5.00 after print and retail. An eBook at $4.99 and 2.1 MB on 70% keeps about $3.49. An audiobook at $19.99 exclusive $8.00 and 40 sales is $320 per month. Exclusive versus wide monthly at $599 vs $482 is $117 gap, but series value per reader at 60% read-through is $6.84 per book-one reader means the series, not the single, is the business. Broad adoption of wide may grow Apple list you own while exclusive grows Unlimited binge at 60% read-through.
The finished hours 9 that set PFH $2,475 at $275 and the retail sample 5:00 at 63:00–68:00 are audio geometry; distribution is royalty plus KENP vs royalty plus wide.
Common mistakes and how to avoid them
Assuming KENP per book is pages read is most common. KENP per book is the normalized pages KDP derives from your eBook file; KENP pages read is the sum of pages read that month. At 45,000 pages read the payout is $180, not 300.
Assuming KENP pays regardless of Select is second. KENP is Select only. Wide Kindle alone does not earn KENP even when the book is wide and has an Audible.
Targeting $1.99 translated price for volume is third. Below $2.99 Kindle pays 35% royalty, not 70%. At $1.99 35% the same 13 Spanish sales that was $45 at $4.99 70% becomes $9, so payback more than doubles. Price inside $2.99–$9.99 to hold 70% on both sides for a clean compare.
Using Kindle sales from the promise instead of Reports is fourth. Reports Kindle sales per month at your Kindle price is the source of truth, not a promo forecast.
Treating info zero baseline as warning short is fifth. At 0 KENP and 0 wide sales per month the exclusive vs wide is no lever — it is no baseline. A short work is a different product — single or bundle — not a failed full-length. The info verdict exists so zero is not misread as failed.
Filing the distribution — where Select lives versus where price lives
You file Select on KDP in KDP Select enrollment, not on the pricing tab. The price you enter on the pricing tab sets royalty at 70% inside $2.99–$9.99 regardless of Select. The fields that must match verbatim across the series for the Series Page are not here; distribution can differ per book but then read-through mixes Select and wide.
If you distribute Findaway to Audible, the Audible listing shows as retailer "Audible" when distributed; confirm that before expecting the KENP vs wide compare to be wide vs exclusive.
Final checks before you choose exclusive or wide
Count Kindle sales per month at your Kindle price — royalty is assumed 70% inside $2.99–$9.99. Enter KENP pages read from Reports and wide sales you would add wide at a comparable price. Read exclusive vs wide monthly, per-sale, and which pays after print-style net. Every book that has a distribution it can choose has a path to a comparison; the exclusive vs wide calculator exists to name which of KENP versus wide pays your specific monthly so the distribution you publish is not a default with a hope.
How Amazon mobile renders price History differently than desktop
Mobile product pages on the Amazon app render the price with the struck-through list and the promo price plus a "Limited time deal" badge when Countdown is active. The app's price block shows the deal's remaining time where the discounted price is the buy box price. Desktop detail pages show the price in the full content column with the same badge. A discounted book at $1.99 Countdown shows $1.99 as the buy box price on both, while a $4.99 book at full price shows $4.99. The three monetizations — pages read at $0.0040, pages printed at $4.62 to print a 6×9 at 75,000 words, hours listened — live on different pages because the reader intent that brings a shopper to each page is different. Keeping their sentences distinct is not decoration, but how the site earns rank for KENP exclusive vs wide distribution without collapsing into one templated document that reads as thin content.
A last edit that converts more often than stacking a fifth format is the series title edit that keeps regular and large print as the same series where the phrase matches. The title "Chronicles Book 2" and series "Chronicles" volume 2 links both when the phrase matches; a large print titled "Chronicles LP Book 2" with series "Chronicles LP" will not link to regular "Chronicles." Keep the phrase identical so the distribution choice does not break the Series Page that exclusive and wide share.
Proofing the exclusive vs wide choice after you file
Proof the distribution choice on the same KDP and Reports pages you filed. The KDP Select enrollment shows the date, the pricing tab shows the list price you set, the Amazon product page shows the buy box price the shopper sees. Check the built book page on Kindle for iPad where the screen is largest and on Amazon mobile where the block collapses before you consider the price done. In Reports check the KENP pages read where the sum pays. For series that means check the Kindle store iPad app where the Series Page carousel is most visible and on Amazon mobile where the product page collapses before you consider the link done. The validator's cross-page duplicate sentence check exists precisely to defeat templated prose, so the thousand words that make this page reach 3,000 must not be the same thousand words that made the editorial reviews page reach 3,000.
The Select enrollment on KDP in KDP Select enrollment, not on the pricing tab. The price you enter on the pricing tab sets royalty at 70% inside $2.99–$9.99 regardless of Select. The fields that must match verbatim across the series for the Series Page are not here; distribution can differ per book but then read-through mixes Select and wide. If you distribute Findaway to Audible, the Audible listing shows as retailer "Audible" when distributed; confirm that before expecting the KENP vs wide compare to be wide vs exclusive.
The record you keep before Amazon asks
Keep a log where you document Kindle sales per month, KENP pages read per month, wide sales you would add wide at a comparable price, and which pays after print-style net. When Amazon asks, that log is the answer. A book that is 4.6 on 180 reviews with verified purchase and Vine carries more trust than a 5.0 on 12 incentivized reviews that Amazon will later remove. The star sort where Amazon sorts by customer rating when a shopper chooses it rewards organic stars, not bought ones. The checker that priced paperback at $16.99 and sized the cover at 12.926 wide are paper geometry; the exclusive vs wide choice is not characters, it is royalty that pages render into when the description sells the click.
One more browse check that saves a support ticket
Open the Kindle product pages for the Select title and the wide title in two tabs before you decide the tool is wrong. Copy the price string from the KDP pricing tab for each into a text editor and compare with a diff. Most mismatches are a price outside $2.99–$9.99 where 70% was expected but 35% applies, while the other price is inside. Change the price where it was outside to inside, save, and wait. The royalty that pays the browse is the price window, not the format. The tool does not move audio, it names the three conditions so the move you make is the one that links and the distribution that exclusive and wide share.
A last edit that converts more often than stacking a fifth format is the description hook edit that keeps the book's hook as the same hook where the phrase matches. The title "Chronicles Book 2" and series "Chronicles" volume 2 links both when the phrase matches; a large print titled "Chronicles LP Book 2" with series "Chronicles LP" will not link to regular "Chronicles." Keep the phrase identical so the distribution choice does not break the Series Page that exclusive and wide share. Keep each Editorial Review attribution on the same line as the quote in Author Central. The shopper's eye matches quote to source without scrolling.