Amazon has introduced their version of the “All You Can Eat Buffet” for readers with Kindle Unlimited. What some are calling Netflix for Books, provides subscribers with unlimited access to eligible books for $9.99 per month, with a free trial for the first 30 days.
I’ve subscribed, and there are hundreds of books available that I’m immediately interested in reading, if only there were enough time.
From an author perspective, books currently enrolled in KDP are immediately available in Kindle Unlimited. Payment details were just emailed to authors.
Today we are excited to introduce Kindle Unlimited-–a new subscription service for readers in the U.S. and a new revenue opportunity for authors enrolled in KDP Select. Customers will be able to read as many books as they want from a library of over 600,000 titles while subscribed to Kindle Unlimited. All books enrolled in KDP Select with U.S. rights will be automatically included in Kindle Unlimited.
KDP Select authors and publishers will earn a share of the KDP Select global fund each time a customer accesses their book from Kindle Unlimited and reads more than 10% of their book-–about the length of reading the free sample available in Kindle books-–as opposed to a payout when the book is simply downloaded. Only the first time a customer reads a book past 10% will be counted.
KDP Select books will also continue to be enrolled in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (KOLL) available to Amazon Prime customers in the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, and Japan where authors will continue to earn a share of the KDP Select global fund when their book is borrowed. KOLL borrows will continue to be counted when a book is initially downloaded.
I’m surprised the limit to reach the payment threshold is only 10%, which is essentially the free download available to any digital book reader. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
“Borrows” under the KDP Amazon Prime program have averaged around $2.00, but it’s unclear to me, whether ‘reads’ under the unlimited program will payout at the same level.
One thing’s certain, though. It just got a lot more rewarding to have your books in the Kindle KDP program.
Before getting into the business of writing I spent twenty-five years in the technology business as a financial guy, and then as a serial entrepreneur. I know what it takes to start and run a successful business.