Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program is a monthly (sometimes yearly if you get a deal) subscription that makes it possible to read any book in the program every month you’re in the subscription.
What you pay for…
Many readers think that when they first buy a book and then see it available in KU that they can then download it through KU and scroll through the book to make the author a little more money because they already enjoyed the book. While that is a sweet thought, here’s a little something you might not know: Amazon tracks your reading speed. That means that if you go from reading a single page in 2 minutes to flipping through a whole book in 5 minutes, they know you’re not reading it and WILL NOT pay the author for those pages. In fact, they may decide that the author is responsible for what they may call fraud and close the author’s account (while also withholding the past two months’ royalties which they will then proceed to keep).
Screw the man… or us?
I recently saw a video on Instagram where this woman said that to screw Jeff Bezos over if you have a KU subscription, you should read as much as possible because then you would be costing Amazon money but not the authors because they still have to pay per page read. That is NOT TRUE. Amazon does not pay a predetermined amount per page read. They pay out of the money earned on their subscriptions each month. That means that the more you read while still only paying 11.99 USD per month, the total payment per page that authors receive gets less and less. In fact, historically that number per page read has sadly gone way down over the past few years while the number of subscriptions has gone up.
So what’s the stitch?
Another thing to note about KU is that the actual word count per book is determined by Amazon and not how many pages or words a book actually has. For example, my book Saint is 62K words long and the paperback is 227 pages. In KU pages it is 330. Now you may think that’s a lot, right? My ebooks are for sale at 5.99 USD which I think is a fair price. In fact, it might be a bit less than they’re worth considering the time that has gone into writing them, but I digress.
In January 2024 the Global Fund e.g. the amount of money Amazon got in from their KU subscriptions was 52M USD and every author got paid 0.0040 USD per page. Now, what do I make on Saint for a full read in KU? From front cover to the very last page? 1.34 USD. I, for one, would think my full-length book is worth more than that.
The Global Fund in January 2024 is the highest it has ever been and yet the payout is some of the lowest. In comparison, the Global Fund in November 2018 was 23,6M USD and the pay per page was 0.0052 USD.
Here’s a little comparison for you:
Make of this what you will, but please consider how you buy and read books. It’s also worth mentioning that most authors make more from putting their ebooks in libraries than they do in KU, so if you’re using the subscription because you’re saving money (honestly in this economy, who isn’t?) then know that libraries are a valid and often more profitable option for reading books from your favorite authors.
But why stay in Kindle Unlimited?
I know you may be asking why I have my books in KU and the simplest answer to that is that Amazon owns the monopoly on selling books. The program is flawed and one major thing is the lack of transparency, especially to readers. Most readers don’t know that authors may get penalized for something they’ve done to be nice (or to stick it to the man). They don’t know that authors only get paid for the first time they read a book. Yes, the second read is free, which is why a lot of the readers who know this will also buy the ebook or paperback if they loved the book so much that they know they’ll do a re-read.
I do applaud those readers and I know that many of the informed readers spread that information every chance they get. I really want to thank those of you out there that do this or have done this before. It really means a lot to us authors!
But KU is also an easier way for especially new(er) authors to get their books in front of an audience. Most people would rather read a new-to-them author’s book on KU because they feel they wouldn’t be wasting their money if they don’t like it and that is completely valid and fair. That is also a major reason why my books are in KU. I may have over twenty books but I know there are plenty of people who’ve never even heard my name or read a single one of my books.
This is how my earnings from ebooks and Kindle Unlimited are distributed. I earn 69% from KU and 31% from ebook sales.
Am I leaving or not?
If you’ve had a look at my shop on this website you may have already noticed that I have a bunch of my books for sale here. Most of them are paperbacks as they aren’t exclusive to Amazon, unlike any ebooks in Kindle Unlimited. If they’re in the program, they cannot be for sale anywhere else, and despite how, for many, the only place someone could steal your work from IS Amazon, they are very strict with this exclusivity which means that if your book is stolen and pirated, Amazon may shut down your account. Having your books in KU these days feels like a major gamble, but for most KU authors, they can’t afford to pull their books out of the program either.
It’s a tough choice for most writers. As are all the decisions you have to make for your business. My plans for the future is to have as many of my books available for sale on my website but the ones that do really well in KU will get to stay. For now, at least.
Thank you for reading!
I hope it gave you a better understanding of Kindle Unlimited and what you can do to make it less of a struggle for your favorite authors while still enjoying your favorite books and characters!
If you have any comments or questions, please share your thoughts on this topic in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you all!
Thanks for the info. I will be buying more books then I have before. I feel the author should get more then .0040 per page .
Happy to hear it, Sue! I appreciate your support. So much goes into creating a book that I too feel like authors should get more than that!
Well after 8 yrs of KU I just canceled mu subscription. I will be buying my books the old fashion way so the authors can get paid what they deserve! Thank you for this information. I read a book every night or two! 8 years…… darn it! Sorry to all the authors that I have read who didn’t get what they earned!
Thank you for being so considerate, Linda! I’m sure those authors will still be very happy that you read their books. I know I would be!
It truly is a double-edged sword with KU. On one hand, a lot of authors make most of their earnings through KU, and it’s great for new authors to get their books in the hands of people that might not have read them otherwise. On the other hand, the KU payouts are getting smaller and smaller, and that constant threat of Amazon closing your account if someone pirates your book isn’t exactly fun..
This was really helpful as I was trying to see if it’s worth it for me…I think I’ll buy ebooks, only if I’m strapped for cash will I go another route.
I’m glad you found it helpful, Katie!
I will read a book by an author I’ve never read before to see if something I would like. If it is, then I’ll buy the e-book or the real book. One of my favorite authors, T.M. Cromer, helped to educate me on KU, audible books and how authors really got paid. You’re doing the same. Thank you
Thank you for being considerate with how you read your books, Michelle! There’s not a lot of transparency from Amazon, so I’m glad more authors out there let their readers know how KU really works!
Thank you for this information- all news to me! I think most readers think authors should be fairly compensated for their work, dang shame this isn’t always the case.
I appreciate the info about libraries. Checking out ebooks from a library is a great way to check out a new author and decide if I want to buy more books in a series, etc. If there’s an option I will now prioritize borrowing from a library versus KU.
Wishing you all the best.
Thank you, Cecile! Most readers probably think authors ARE fairly compensated, but most often we aren’t.
Another reason using the library for ebooks is great is that authors will get paid for each borrow by one person and not just the first read like in KU.
I wish you all the best, too!
Thank you so much for enlightening me!! I had no idea!! Question? If I leave KU will I loose my free books? Bought books?
Thanks in advance for your reply.
I don’t understand how much time I have to read the books that I have selected through Kindle Unlimited. It appears that I can download some? Am I just borrowing the books until I have read them? I don’t really understand if I own the book or if I’m borrowing it. I’m not sure that I should have even tried the 3-month trial of Kindle Unlimited. What advantage do any of us have when we have Kindle Unlimited? I’m not sure I really even understand the advantages to having it. Your explanation of how it works did not help me to understand it. Sorry!
Hi Sara. I hope I can make it a bit clearer for you. Even if you buy an ebook on Amazon, you don’t actually own it. You’re technically buying the license to read it and if Amazon deletes your account, you’ll lose the book.
As for Kindle Unlimited, you can download 20 books at a time. As long as they’re downloaded, you can keep them for as long as you have Kindle Unlimited. You’ll have to return a book in order to download a new book (only the ones in the Kindle Unlimited program).
I would say that the advantage is that you can read a lot of book for almost no money, and you can try out new books without having to buy them.
If you’re still unsure how it works, asking Amazon customer service us probably your best option.
Hi Julianne. I apologize for the late answer. Your comment got caught in the blog’s spam filter somehow..
You will only lose the books you’ve downloaded through Kindle Unlimited. Any ebooks you’ve bought including the ones that were free won’t go anywhere. If you’re unsure which books are bought and which are Kindle Unlimited, you can go to your digital orders on Amazon and see all the ones you’ve bought (including the free ones).
So what if you lose your page sometimes, so you flip through to find it. I go between my Kindle, the Kindle app and audible, and sometime the sync just doesn’t want to sync. So I have to flip through till I find where I left off.
Flipping through what you’ve already read is just fine. Authors only get paid the first time you read a Kindle Unlimited book and their system knows exactly where you’ve read to. They know you’re flipping through what you’ve already read, so there shouldn’t be a problem.
How do we get these books at our libraries ? I’m a recent KU subscriber because I’ve gone through most of the offerings at my county library (and two neighboring counties) honestly I’d rather borrow from the library especially if the author gets more and it increases the usage of libraries too.
Hi Amaya,
It will depend on which country you’re in, but you can try looking at the library app Libby (https://www.overdrive.com/apps/libby).
You can also check to see if your local library has ebooks. If there are books they don’t have, they should have an option where you can suggest they get those books.