It’s June 2015 and about a year after the Kindle Unlimited program was introduced. When it was introduced it caused quite a stir among authors selling on Amazon – some in favor, and others strongly opposed.
Numerous updates have been made to the program in the past year, including opening Kindle Unlimited in the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Brazil, France, Mexico, Canada, and Germany. With the rapid growth of the KU program, the amount paid into the “fund” that pays authors royalties on their books borrowed through the program has increased from $2M per month to over $10M per month. Obviously, it’s been successful!
Large and small publishers railed against it when it was introduced and most have continued to opt out of the program. However, independent authors have embraced it and continued to renew their books in the KDP Select program (95% renewal rate, according to Amazon) in order to remain eligible for the Kindle Unlimited program.
However, like almost every other income opportunity, some marketers have jumped on the opportunity and promoted “shortcuts” to making more from the Kindle Unlimited program. After all, an author earns the same amount for a KU 20-page book as for a 200-page book.
For example, since authors are paid when a reader reads 10% of the book, some have recommended stuffing the front pages with images, offers, and generally light information so that readers need to read past the first 10% to get the beginning information they wanted. That triggers payment for the author.
Others have recommended churning out a series of “short” books of 10-15 pages, so that readers will read the required 10% within a page or two.
Both tactics have worked until now, earning the same amount as a New York Times 500-page bestseller offered under the Kindle Unlimited program.
However, Amazon is very smart when it comes to these work-arounds. As of July 1, they are changing the way that the Kindle Unlimited bonuses are paid. Like any other change, it’s good for some and not so good for others.
Winners and Losers
The Change: Authors will now be paid on the basis of the number of pages that consumers read. This is measured through the Kindle reading apps, available on all platforms.
With the start of the changes, each of your Kindle books will show a new number – the Kindle Edition Normalized Page Count (KENPC). This is the basis for the count of the number of pages read. However, this number will only appear on your Bookshelf in your KDP account, not on the book’s sales page. Non-text items, such as images, charts, and graphs will count toward a book’s KENPC.
As an author, you will also be able to see the pages read in your Sales Dashboard report – by marketplace and by title.
Likewise, authors will be paid on a percentage of total pages read across all Amazon books enrolled in the KU program. As an author, you have no way of knowing what that number is, so you must rely on Amazon’s calculations.
Winners: Authors with quality books that readers actually read all the way through.
Winners: Authors with longer books that keep readers moving forward through the book. This will be particularly good for those who write series of books.
Losers: Authors with poor quality books that readers may start but never finish.
Losers: Authors who write shorter books. It will take a larger number of books offered to maintain earnings at current rates.
Examples
Here are a couple of examples, based on rounded, easily understood numbers. For these examples, let’s assume that under the current program, an author is paid $1 per borrow (it’s actually more). Let’s also assume there were 100 million total pages read in the month, with a payout of $10 million.
Short Book Author – 20 page book
Current program: 500 qualified borrows (read 10% or more)
Current payout: $500
New program: 20 page book x 500 borrows = 10,000 pages read
New payout: (10,000/100 million) * $10 million = $1000
Note that this depends on someone reading ALL of the book, not just 10%.
Long Book Author – 500 page book
Current program: 500 qualified borrows (read 10% or more)
Current payout: $500
New program: 500 page book x 500 borrows (all pages read)
New payout: (250,000/100 million) * $10 million = $25,000
Clearly the longer book author stands to profit in a big way under the new program – as long as readers read the entire book!
What You Need To Do Now
Keep writing! If you don’t write and publish your book, none of this matters to you. So your first step is to keep writing.
If you have one book, write another.
If you are writing quality books that garner good reviews, then keep doing what you’ve been doing. Just write ANOTHER book to offer your readers.
If you’ve been “shortcuting” the process by some of the tricks that have been introduced, be prepared for a potential drop in your income. Now is a good time to improve the quality of your books and introduce new editions for your readers.
The wonderful thing about writing books is that you control the quality, length and number of books you offer. You are truly in control. Everything else is a bonus!
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