Publishing calculators for indie authors.
Royalties, print costs, page counts, trim sizes, and profit — a growing set of focused publishing calculators, no signup, no dashboard to learn.
The five most-used calculators, and nothing you don't need to get started.
Each calculator does one job well. They're built to be used together — start anywhere and the site links you to the next number you'll need. There are ten in total; the rest live on the full tools page.
Royalty calculator
Estimate per-sale, monthly, and yearly royalties for ebook, paperback, and hardcover.
02Print cost calculator
See what a paperback or hardcover copy likely costs to print, by page count and ink type.
03Word count → page count
Turn a manuscript word count into a realistic printed page range for your trim size.
04Spine width calculator
Get an estimated spine width in inches and mm, plus full cover width guidance.
05Book profit projection
Model monthly and annual profit across a catalogue, with cautious, realistic, and optimistic scenarios.
+5 moreBreak-even, KENP, trim size & more
Break-even pricing, pricing scenarios, KENP earnings, trim size guide, and cover dimensions. See the full tools page →
What PublishCalc helps you calculate.
Ten tools, organized into three groups so you can go straight to the kind of decision you're making.
Print & production
Print cost, trim size guide, spine width, cover dimensions.
Start with print costManuscript planning & profit
Word count to page count, and book profit projection across your catalogue.
Start with word countPublishing math follows a natural order.
Most authors move through these questions in roughly this sequence — each tool links to the next one.
Built for the ten minutes before you hit publish.
Most self-publishing decisions come down to a handful of numbers: what a book should cost, what it will actually earn, and whether the economics hold up across a catalogue. PublishCalc exists to answer those questions quickly, without an account or a walkthrough.
- No signup, runs in your browser. Every calculation happens on the page. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
- Estimates, labelled as estimates. We show the assumptions behind every number so you know exactly what's modeled.
- A growing set of tools, tightly linked. Your word count feeds page count, page count feeds spine width and print cost, and royalty feeds profit projection.
Transparent formulas, editable assumptions.
Each calculator uses a documented formula built from publicly discussed publishing-industry planning figures — royalty percentage bands, per-page print cost, and pages-per-inch for spine width. None of it is pulled live from a publishing platform, and we say so on every results page.
Rates and print costs are set by the platform you actually publish through, and they change over time. Treat every number on this site as a planning estimate to sanity-check your pricing, not a guarantee of what you'll be paid.
Read the full FAQA few things worth knowing before you rely on these numbers.
Are these royalty numbers exact?
No. They're modeled estimates built from publicly discussed royalty percentage bands and a print-cost formula. Your publishing platform's live rates are the source of truth — use these numbers for planning, then confirm final pricing on the platform itself.
Why does print cost change by marketplace?
Printing happens at regional print facilities, and both base cost and per-page cost differ by currency and region. That's why every print-related calculator on this site asks which marketplace you're pricing for.
Is a spine width estimate final before formatting?
No — spine width depends on your final formatted page count, paper type, and binding, so treat the estimate as a planning figure for cover design, then confirm it once your interior file is finished.
More calculators are on the way.
We're keeping the launch set narrow on purpose. If you'd like a note when new planning tools ship, there's no list to join yet — just bookmark the site.