Vagrant Press · Original data
The Kindle Report
We've analysed the buying and discount patterns across 13,978 Kindle books and 16.8 million tracked data points going back to 2011.
Everything we found is laid out below. Readers can use it to pay less for their books. Authors can use it to work out when books actually sell.
Live data · last refreshed 12 July 2026
Kindle prices never sit still.
We track the price of 13,978 Kindle books. Every move gets recorded, and by now that's 16.8 million data points stretching back years.
Watch for long enough and patterns show up, the same ones every year.
Most of them will save you money. One of them we still can't explain.
That's the one we'll start with.
Finding 1
The fewest discounts land in the biggest buying month
- ...Readers buy the most Kindle books in February.
- ...February to April has the fewest discounts of the year.
- ...Discounts peak in June.
- ...June is an average month for books sold.
The month readers buy the most Kindle books
February
How far below average discount activity falls that same month
−12%
| Month | Books sold (index) | Discounts (index) |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 103 | 103 |
| Feb | 105 | 88 |
| Mar | 105 | 86 |
| Apr | 105 | 88 |
| May | 101 | 114 |
| Jun | 100 | 118 |
| Jul | 101 | 111 |
| Aug | 102 | 90 |
| Sep | 104 | 93 |
| Oct | 100 | 105 |
| Nov | 97 | 93 |
| Dec | 99 | 110 |
Both lines are indexed to their own yearly average (100). Books sold is estimated from Amazon sales rank movement across a 4,000-book sample. Discounts counted from 130,000+ recorded price drops, 2011 to now.
Discounts follow a calendar. They pile up in June and stay heavy all summer. Christmas brings another burst.
Then they thin right out. From February to April, discounts are scarcer than at any other point in 15 years of price history.
Buying runs on a different calendar. Kindle books sell hardest from January to April, and February is the strongest month of the year.
Put the two calendars side by side and you get the oddest fact in this report.
Discounts are scarcest at the exact moment buying peaks.
If you've ever waited all spring for a price drop that never came, this is why. Almost nothing drops in spring.
The takeaway
Readers buy the most Kindle books in February. It's also one of the quietest months for discounts, 12% below average.
Discounts peak in June, when buying is only average. Numbers correct as of July 2026.
Finding 2
Mid-range discounts are the worst on the store
- ...Books discounted under 25% sold 52% better the week after.
- ...Books discounted 25% to 75% improved by less than 50%.
- ...Books discounted over 75% improved by 77%, the best of any band.
| Discount depth | Deals measured | Median improvement |
|---|---|---|
| 0-25% | 254 | 52% |
| 25-50% | 232 | 38% |
| 50-75% | 149 | 51% |
| 75-100% | 460 | 77% |
Median sales improvement, 7 days after the discount started vs 7 days before, measured from Amazon sales rank across 1,095 recent discounts.
We split every recent discount into four bands by how far the price fell, then watched each book's sales for a week. We expected a straight line, the deeper the cut the bigger the bump. That's not what came back.
Both ends of the discount range beat the middle.
We also ran the same split inside each big genre, and deep beats mid in every one of them. The only wrinkle is Romance, where small discounts underperform as well.
The takeaway
Discounts under 25% and over 75% both outperform everything between them. The middle of the range is the dead zone. Numbers correct as of July 2026.
Finding 3
3 in 4 books sell more the week a discount lands
- ...76% of discounted books sold more in the 7 days after the price dropped.
- ...The typical improvement was 55%.
- ...Measured across 787 recent discounts.
+55%
The typical jump in estimated daily sales. The teal share of the ring is the books that sold more.
| Outcome | Share |
|---|---|
| Sold more within 7 days | 76% |
| Sold the same or less | 24% |
| Typical improvement | +55% |
This one is less strange, but it's the number everything else in this report hangs off. When a Kindle book's price drops, its sales usually jump inside the week, and not by a little.
For the typical book, a discount adds half again to estimated daily sales in week one.
The takeaway
Discounts work. 3 in 4 books sell measurably more within 7 days of a price drop, and the typical book sells 55% more. Numbers correct as of July 2026.
Get the next edition
The report updates itself daily, and we add new findings as the data grows. Drop your email and we'll send you next month's numbers when they land.
Finding 4
Most Kindle deals land at $2.99 or less
- ...71% of the paid deals live today are priced at $2.99 or less.
- ...Across all 13,978 books we track, $2.99 is the most common price. 2,285 books sit there today.
- ...34% of tracked books have sold for under $1 at some point. 12% have been completely free.
| Price | Books |
|---|---|
| $2.99 | 2,285 |
| $1.99 | 1,890 |
| $0.99 | 1,311 |
| $3.99 | 903 |
| $4.99 | 650 |
| $11.99 | 613 |
| $2.49 | 611 |
| $9.99 | 570 |
Current prices. We track books that discount, so this shows where deal-prone books price, not all of Kindle publishing.
A third of the books we track have sold for under a dollar at some point. 12% have been completely free. Deep drops are common, they just do not hang around. You can watch any book on the site and get an email when its price falls.
The books that are free today are on our free books page, refreshed every morning.
The takeaway
Most deals land at $2.99 or under, and a third of tracked books have been under $1 at least once. Numbers correct as of July 2026.
Finding 5
June is discount season
- ...More discounts start in June than any other month.
- ...May, July, and December aren't far behind.
- ...Within the week, Tuesdays and Thursdays see the most discounts start. Mondays see the fewest.
| Month | Price drops |
|---|---|
| Jan | 11,804 |
| Feb | 10,138 |
| Mar | 9,881 |
| Apr | 10,153 |
| May | 13,079 |
| Jun | 13,499 |
| Jul | 12,789 |
| Aug | 10,321 |
| Sep | 10,630 |
| Oct | 12,074 |
| Nov | 10,712 |
| Dec | 12,615 |
Darker means more discounts. 130,000+ recorded price drops, 2011 to now.
| Day | Discounts |
|---|---|
| Mon | 987 |
| Tue | 1,320 |
| Wed | 1,161 |
| Thu | 1,279 |
| Fri | 1,158 |
| Sat | 1,136 |
| Sun | 1,308 |
Discounts found on each weekday since the site began tracking daily. Attribution is accurate to about a day either side.
We counted when every one of those price drops landed. The same rhythm keeps turning up, and once you know it, you can time your wishlist against it.
If you're waiting on a price drop, June is when the odds tip your way.
Today's crop is on our deals page.
The takeaway
June has the most discounts and February to April the fewest. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the busiest days for new deals. Numbers correct as of July 2026.
Finding 6
Cookbooks fall furthest when they discount
- ...When cookbooks discount, they fall 78% from their usual price on average, among the deepest of any genre.
- ...Nonfiction genres discount deeper than fiction ones almost across the board.
- ...Fantasy falls least, at 72%.
| Genre | Average discount | Deals |
|---|---|---|
| Cookbooks | 78% | 73 |
| Biography Memoir | 78% | 114 |
| Literary Fiction | 74% | 111 |
| Nonfiction | 74% | 290 |
| Memoir | 74% | 154 |
| Science Fiction | 74% | 65 |
| Mystery Thriller | 73% | 96 |
| Contemporary Fiction | 73% | 107 |
| Business | 73% | 115 |
| Historical Fiction | 72% | 138 |
| Self Help | 72% | 235 |
| Fantasy | 72% | 73 |
Average fall from a book's usual price when a discount lands, live deals, July 2026. Genres with 20+ current deals.
Browse any of these on our genre pages, or jump straight to fantasy, romance or romantasy deals.
The takeaway
Cookbooks fall 78% from their usual price when they discount, top of the table. Fantasy falls least at 72%. Numbers correct as of July 2026.
Finding 7
Romance readers are the toughest raters
- ...Manga readers give the highest average rating, 4.71 stars.
- ...Romance readers give the lowest of the big genres, 4.40.
- ...Measured across 1.1 million rating snapshots going back to 2017.
| Genre | Average rating | Books |
|---|---|---|
| Manga | 4.71 | 316 |
| Religion Spirituality | 4.64 | 618 |
| Self Help | 4.57 | 1785 |
| Cookbooks | 4.56 | 688 |
| Young Adult | 4.53 | 472 |
| Business | 4.50 | 685 |
| Science Fiction Fantasy | 4.49 | 382 |
| Memoir | 4.49 | 1071 |
| Fantasy | 4.48 | 1172 |
| Nonfiction | 4.47 | 2464 |
| Biography Memoir | 4.46 | 853 |
| Romance | 4.40 | 2388 |
Average Amazon star rating, genres with 200+ tracked books. The scale starts at 4.3 because nearly everything we track sits between 4 and 5 stars. We screen out low-rated books, so this reflects the quality end of the store.
One more from the ratings archive. Following the same books over time, ratings drift down slightly as reviews pile up. Early reviewers run about a tenth of a star kinder than the crowd that follows them.
The takeaway
Nearly everything we track sits between 4 and 5 stars, because we screen out the rest. Where a genre lands inside that band is remarkably stable though. Manga sits top at 4.71, Romance bottom of the big genres at 4.40. Numbers correct as of July 2026.
Finding 8
The typical Kindle deal lasts about a week
- ...Across 36,451 tracked price drops, the median deal ended after 6.5 days.
- ...98% of deals ended. Prices almost always go back up.
- ...The median gap before the same book discounts again is 44 days.
| Milestone | Day (median) |
|---|---|
| Price drops | 0 |
| Deal ends | 6.5 |
| Next deal on the same book | 44 |
Medians from 36,451 price drops of 40% or more with at least 3 months of following history. Half of deals end between day 2 and day 13.
This is the lifecycle the numbers draw. A price drops, sits low for somewhere between 2 and 13 days, then climbs back to where it was. Six weeks or so later, odds are decent it happens again.
A Kindle deal is a window, and the window closes in about a week.
The takeaway
The median Kindle deal lasts 6.5 days, and 98% end with the price going back up. The median wait before the same book discounts again is 44 days. Numbers correct as of July 2026.
Finding 9
Kindle books get cheaper as they age
- ...The typical book gets its first big discount about 10 months after publication.
- ...Half of first discounts land between month 4 and month 15.
- ...The same 5,694 books we tracked in 2021 cost 38% less on average today.
Median wait from publication to a book's first discount of 40% or more
10 months
1,127 books with birth-to-now history
Median price of the same 5,694 books, 2021 vs today
$8.49 → $4.85
None of this says the Kindle market is getting cheaper. It says individual books ride a curve. Launch price, a first discount somewhere inside the first year, then a long slow drift down.
Age is the biggest discount there is.
The takeaway
The typical Kindle book sees its first big discount around 10 months after publication, and books we tracked in 2021 cost 38% less on average today. Numbers correct as of July 2026.
Finding 10
Dark Romance is the cheapest reading per page
- ...Dark Romance costs 1.58 cents a page today, the lowest of any big genre.
- ...Romantasy is next at 1.67 cents.
- ...Contemporary Fictions cost 2.28 cents a page, more than double the romance shelves.
| Genre | Cents per page | Books |
|---|---|---|
| Dark Romance | 1.58 | 228 |
| Romantasy | 1.67 | 187 |
| Thriller | 2.03 | 619 |
| Fantasy | 2.04 | 486 |
| Romance | 2.08 | 798 |
| Mystery Thriller | 2.11 | 694 |
| Science Fiction Fantasy | 2.16 | 154 |
| Historical Fiction | 2.25 | 733 |
| Contemporary Fiction | 2.28 | 875 |
Current price divided by page count, paid books of 100+ pages, genres with 100+ qualifying books, July 2026.
Price per page sounds like a daft metric until you remember who reads what. The romance and romantasy shelves have the heaviest readers on the store, people getting through a book every few days, and those are exactly the shelves charging the least per page.
The heavier the reading habit, the cheaper the page.
The takeaway
Dark Romance is the cheapest Kindle reading at 1.58 cents a page. Contemporary Fictions are the dearest of the big genres at 2.28 cents. Numbers correct as of July 2026.
One more for the road. 37% of everything we track is in Kindle Unlimited. KU books rate identically to the rest of the store (4.44 stars vs 4.43) and cost a third as much to buy outright. The pick of them is on our Kindle Unlimited page.
Where these numbers come from
Vagrant Press is a book deals site. To find deals we track prices, and after a few years of tracking, the archive got interesting enough to publish. Everything above comes from 13,978 Kindle books, 16.8 million recorded data points, and history back to 2011 for much of the catalogue.
- ...Amazon never publishes sales numbers. Anything called books sold here is estimated from Amazon's sales rank, the best public signal there is.
- ...Every number here comes from our own tracking database, not Amazon's full catalogue. Our books lean toward ones that discount and pass a quality bar, because finding good deals is the job. These are accurate trends across thousands of tracked books, not a census of the Kindle store.
- ...Headline findings run on thousands of books. The narrowest genre cuts run on dozens, and every table view shows its counts, so weigh the small samples accordingly.
- ...Seasonal comparisons measure each book against its own average, so changes in our catalogue can't masquerade as market trends.
- ...All prices are from the US Kindle store (amazon.com), in US dollars, and change constantly. Check any price before relying on it.
- ...Vagrant Press earns from qualifying purchases as an Amazon Associate. That funds the tracking. It has no bearing on what the numbers say.
Quote anything on this page with a link back. Every chart has copy, download, and embed buttons, and the numbers refresh daily. Dated claims stay true as written.