Amazon provided their monthly discretionary boost to the KDP fund that tells self-published authors — retroactively — how much they will be paid for ebooks borrowed through Kindle Unlimited. For April accounting, the pool totals $9.8 million, the highest monthly amount yet. But the fee per book borrowed through KU remains in the relatively low range, at $1.355 per read. (That translates into roughly 7.232 million borrows for the month.) For the 10 months since KU began, through April, Amazon has paid out approximately $67.3 million so far.
Self-publishing
Malcolm X Estate to Self-Publish eBooks
The Malcolm X Estate will issue an ebook edition of The Autobiography of Malcolm X on their own in May, rather than work with longtime print publishing partner Ballantine, the AP reports. L. Londell McMillan, an attorney for the estate, notes that “Malcolm X was a fervent advocate for self-help, self-reliance and self-respect.” He added, “Today’s technology allows for innovative means to share content and add to it for educational, cultural and commercial purposes. Malcolm X did not grant all rights to a publisher in perpetuity. The works and rights of Malcolm X belong to his children and the community, not a […]
Kindle Unlimited Pool Is Bigger In Dollars, Lower Per Book
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 […]
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 […]