It’s early days for Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited subscription program — day four to be exact — but there is already plenty to note among some of the unusual consequences of the program. For Self-Published Authors, The Deal Just Changed, To…? First and foremost is at least some misgivings among self-published authors about what KU will do to their incomes. As Michael Sullivan commented on Kindle Boards, our Publishers Lunch post, and elsewhere: “I’m really surprised at the ‘Two-tier’ system that Amazon has implemented. Traditional published titles are paid as if they were bought — such that these titles get full […]
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Google Play Grows Again
Google reported second quarter earnings after the close of the market Thursday. The segment in which they report Google Play sales — “other revenues” — was up 53 percent compared to a year ago, and up 3 percent from the previous quarter. It comprised $1.6 billion for the quarter. The company said “digital sales of apps and content in our Play Store drove the year-over-year growth.” In the investors conference call, the company added that “Google Play continues to grow at breakneck speed across all types of digital content, helping developers and content partners reach users around the world.” At their IO […]
Kindle Unlimited Officially Launches; KDP Select Authors to Share Another $800,000 for July
Amazon officially announced and made live its Kindle Unlimited subscription program, which was previewed earlier this week and which we have written about extensively already. Notably, the announcement does not specify which publishers have opted in by specific agreement (as opposed to having Amazon include some of their books without direct consent; we already reported on the example of Scholastic’s Hunger Games series). Like competing services, Amazon is offering a 30-day trial period (which will likely be a more expensive promotion for Amazon than their smaller competitors. A KU subscription also includes up to three free months of an Audible subscription. Participants […]
This Is Not A Test: More on Kindle Unlimited
Somehow the idea that Amazon is “testing” Kindle Unlimited got inserted into early stories yesterday, and has been repeated through much follow-on coverage. This is not a test, people. A proper test would be a live, actual offer to a selected group of people, or for a clearly limited period of time. We still don’t know whether yesterday’s offering page that went live and then was pulled down was a glitch or an intentional glimpse, but it was not a test. We have reported multiple times, starting in early May, on discussions Amazon has had with publishers about their ebook subscription plans. […]
Amazon Prepares Kindle Unlimited Subscription Offer Launch
As we have reported previously on multiple occasions, Amazon has been talking to publishers about an ebook subscription offering for some time now — and a cached version of a page that was put up recently and then taken down confirms the basic details. “Kindle Unlimited” is the name of the program, which promises “unlimited access to over 600,000 titles and thousands of audiobooks…for just $9.99 a month.” That cached page prominently promotes big series — Lord of the Rings; Harry Potter; and The Hunger Games. Amazon already had a big, direct license for Harry Potter for Kindle Owner’s Lending […]
What Moonves Actually Said
A short WSJ piece about an on-stage interview between CBS ceo Leslie Moonves and — ironically, a Fortune reporter at a Fortune forum in Aspen, CO — has traveled far and wide, and been stretched far and wide as it traveled. As we reported previously, Amazon is known to have been in discussions with other publishers besides Hachette Book Group about significantly revised selling terms, particularly for ebooks. Here is the precise discussion, in toto, between Fortune’s Adam Lashinsky and Moonves. You can watch the video, beginning at about 14:53, to confirm. Moonves: [Completing a long answer about all kinds of competitors who are […]