With the continuing rollout of Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited subscription program to additional territories, the total payout to participating authors continues to grow, even as the per-borrow payment remains near its lowest levels. Every month on or about the 15th, Amazon tells authors how much they will be paid on a retroactive basis, still terming the payment a “bonus” rather than something they earned and are entitled to receive. For January borrows, Amazon said they are adding $5.5 million to the payout pool, for a total fund of $8.5 million. That works out to just under $1.38 a book (covering approximately 6.175 […]
Self-publishing
KU Payouts Increase Again
The monthly pool of money allocated retroactively to self-published authors whose work is offered through Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited subscription plan rose again for December — both in the closely-watched per book payout, which was $1.43 per borrow/read, and in overall dollars, with Amazon allocating a $4.25 million “bonus,” making the total pool for the month $7.25 million. Per book payments hit a low for the year of $1.33 in October, then rose to $1.39 in November. The December unit fee is still lower than the August and September payouts. The December pool accounts for roughly 5.07 million borrows in all. […]
KDP Fund Nudges Up Again
After growing public disappointment from at least some authors with the effect of the Kindle Unlimited subscription program on the marketplace for self-published books, Amazon provided authors with a slight improvement on the economics for November. They added a “bonus” of $3.5 million to fund that self-published authors share, for a total of $6.5 million for the month (on approximately 4.68 million borrows). That makes the payment for each “borrow” $1.39, up 6 cents from October — when the $1.33 payout was the lowest since the more limited KOLL initiative began back in 2011. Those October fees remain below the $1.52 per borrow for […]
Bestselling Author H.M. Ward Says “KU Crushed My Sales,” and More Things Kindle
Amazon’s real-time experiment with the livelihoods they have provided to their exclusive self-published KDP authors through Kindle Unlimited (KU) continues to draw concern on online forums. The most recent scrutiny stems from a post by bestselling author Holly (H.M.) Ward on Kindle Boards from the Friday after Thanksgiving, which continues to draw follow-up remarks. Ward said that her Amazon income dropped substantially when she participated in Kindle Unlimited: “[I] had my serials in it for 60 days and lost approx 75% of my income [from KDP]. Thats counting borrows and bonuses. My sales dropped like a stone. The number of borrows was […]
Growing Subscription Reads Drive KDP Select Payments Down
Amazon made their monthly report to KDP Select publishers over the weekend, electing to add $2.5 million to the compensation pool for October reads/borrows through Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owner’s Lending Library. But the most closely watched number by authors — the amount paid per read — declined again, to $1.33. That’s the lowest amount paid per read since KOLL began in late 2011. Authors were paid $1.52 per read for September (on 3.29 million reads), and $1.54 per read for August, the first full month of the Kindle Unlimited subscription program. As usual, authors’ opinions are mixed on Amazon’s forum and Kindle […]
Barnes & Noble Launches Bundling Promo (“Sync Up”), and Adds POD to Nook Press
After a number of quiet experiments over the years bundling print books and ebooks together, Barnes & Noble has launched an extensive holiday bundling promotion under the banner “Sync Up,” letting in-store customers add an ebook version of eligible titles for $4.99 when purchasing the print editions. Seventy “select paperbacks” are eligible, including Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep, Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, Christina Baker Kline’s Orphan Train and Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. The savings on the bundle vary by title — with the King ebook selling regularly for $14.99, while the Kline and Gabaldon ebooks already sell for […]