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!
Jeanette, as always thank you so much for breaking down the Kindle Unlimited system so that I finally understand it. What’s most important is that you have a way to simplify rather than complicate.
You rock dear one!
I’ve been wrapped up stalled by the perfectionism gene. Even tho’ I know that the book cover needs to show out crystal clear, and that it’s important to keep the reader, well, reading and wanting more, I get it.
Getting my head back in the game and determined to write more and edit less. The more it flows the easier it will be for readers to stick with it.
A Big Girl hug!
Donna Blevins
Glad I could help your understanding, Donna! And yes, you are correct – you MUST overcome that perfectionism. One of the things I love about Kindle publishing is that you upload a corrected or updated version any time you like. So even if you find a typo after you publish or think of a better way to explain something, your readers can be reading it within hours. Get that book out there! You have too much to share to wait.
Jeanette,
I just LOVE the way you write! Additionally, the way you break down the complicated, into bite size chunks of insightful understanding is awesome. But as you say, if you don’t write it doesn’t matter, but if you do write, KEEP WRITING!!! Thanks for the share!
Thank you, Robby! You know I love to teach and writing is one of my favorite ways of doing that. Appreciate your comment!
Thanks so much for explaining this. Yes, indeed, you are a great teacher!
I have another question: When I used IngramSpark’s calculator for costs for printing, shipping, and handling, the total was about $12. I wanted to put the print version on Amazon for $9.99. Does this mean I will be paying people to buy the print version? Do I have to raise my price to $15 to make ends meet?
I was hoping to upload the e-version on Kindle next week for $2.99. Any advice on pricing a well-edited, 60-page non-fiction book?
Thanks so much!
Thank you, Janet, for your kind comments.
I use CreateSpace for all of my print books. For a book less than 100 pages, it costs about $3.84 to produce, so it leaves plenty of space for profit.
I noticed in a Facebook comment that you said you prefer the quality of the books produced by IngramSpark. While I respect your preference, you have to ask yourself – what do your READERS prefer? Do they know the difference in where your book is produced? Do they care? Are they willing to pay the extra amount to have the higher level of production?
For me, quality is important in a textbook or a book that people will read and reread. But for most of the books I buy nowadays, production quality doesn’t matter. I want the information and I want it now. Chances are that information will be out of date or at least feel dated within a year.
$2.99 seems to be the going price for non-fiction Kindle these days, so you’re right on target. Get that book published!
Hi Jeanette,
Thanks for your response. My books are “textbooks” or books that will be used in courses and possibly be used as reference. I did decide to use IngramSpark and price the kindle at $4.99. I may eventually have to lower it.
Now I am making lessons for the webinars with content for my next 2 Dream Digging Guides. I have been advised 3 times to teach it before I finish the books. I listened to your advice on making webinars with D’vorah’s Reach More Readers… Since I am/was a teacher, I agree with all your advice on content and sequence. I will be contacting you for help with the technology.
Thanks,
Jan
Hey Jeanette,
I think the new system is fairer to authors who produce high quality and lengthier books. All things being equal, it takes more effort to produce longer books therefore, those books should get rewarded more.
I think in general, fiction books will win out over non fiction books in this new scenario as many people (including myself) use KU as a means of doing research. So I won’t necessarily read the entire non fiction book. Under the current system, I do tend to read 10% so the author is still getting compensated.
With fiction books, if the story is compelling enough, reading it through to the end is inherent for this type of book.
Thanks for your post. It explains the new program well.
Best Regards,
Jim
Thanks for your comments, James. Personally, I’m torn. While I understand the value of well-written books and always strive to produce them, I also know that shorter books sell better, particularly in the non-fiction realm. In fact, Amazon even has special categories for shorter books with their 30-minute and 1-hour reads. So it would appear they support the idea of short books. So this seems contradictory.
I agree. This seems to favor fiction books, particularly well-written fiction. But as you said. Non-fiction, we tend to dip in, get what we need, then move on. I rarely read a non-fiction book cover-to-cover. Instead, I pick and choose the sections that I need right now. I may come back to it months later. But all of that will provide a very uneven profit picture for non-fiction authors in particular.
In the long run, I believe Amazon will lose some authors who have been loyal to the KDP Select program. Personally, I will consider pulling some of my books from the program in order to publish on alternative platforms if I don’t see the income holding under the new system.
What formatting company do you use for your ebooks? I love your books and the way it’s looks! I brought the series of three!