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KINDLE UNLIMITED UPDATE
Amazon announced that the KDP Select global fund for November, 2015 will be at least $12M.
It has consistently been $11M or more since May, 2015.
So this shows some nice stability.
Under the original Kindle Unlimited scheme, critics used to comment on how Amazon would low-ball the KDP Select global fund, promising around $3M at the beginning of the month, and then providing a much larger fund after the month’s end. Some tried to argue that Amazon was taking a loss because they raised the fund much higher than their initial projection.
When the new Kindle Unlimited unrolled this summer, critics revised their argument, saying that just because Amazon is offering $11M or more up front doesn’t mean they will continue to do this. Maybe it would drop down much lower later on, or maybe after a brief welcoming period, they would revert back to their old habits.
Yet from May thru November, the KDP Select global fund has held steady from $11M to $12M.
This stability is nice, and I haven’t heard such arguments from the critics recently.
Maybe the proponents for the new Kindle Unlimited who argued that the new system is more viable than the old system were right. Maybe it is more viable for Amazon financially, maybe it has added stability.
Whatever the reason, the global fund has held steady for 7 straight months.
The payment for pages read has dropped to just over $0.005 per page. There was a significant drop after the first month of the new Kindle Unlimited program, but that last two months held steady.
A new variable to the KDP Select global fund and to the KENP pages read is the added marketplaces offering Kindle Unlimited.
For example, Kindle Unlimited recently launched to India.
Whereas it costs $9.99 per month to subscribe to Kindle Unlimited in the US, the local India subscription price is the equivalent of $3.00.
This could significantly impact the payment for KENP pages read, and it probably will for October, 2015.
However, Amazon announced that they would revise their one-size-fits-all plan for pages read beginning in November, 2015.
The payments for pages read in each marketplace will take into account differences in local marketplaces. This should help to stabilize the payment per page.
However, there may be a drop for October, 2015 (we’ll find out on November 15), where this wasn’t yet factored into the payment for pages read.
The best news to me was this statement from Amazon KDP:
“Our long-term goal, as always, is to build a service that rewards authors for their valuable work, attracts readers around the world, and encourages them to read more and more often.”
Of course, it’s difficult to balance the rewards for authors with the other goals of attracting readers and getting them to read more.
But I believe this is a great long-term goal, and I do feel that in a number of ways Kindle Unlimited has helped with this goals.
Write happy, be happy. 🙂
Chris McMullen
Copyright © 2015
Chris McMullen, Author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers
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chrismcmullen 
Agreed that things seem to be stabilizing, but you have to wonder what the critics will latch onto next. As for the other marketplaces, like India: I think this is both because of India’s economy, and it’s a way they are hoping to stop eBook reader farms, where you pay someone 20cents to read through your 250pg KU book, earning you $1.25 from Amazon. It’s simple ROI, and I think Amazon is trying to nip it in the bud before it gets any real momentum.
Great points. Thank you. 🙂
I love that the KENP is on one of your book’s pages. No guessing or estimating: once it’s uploaded, they calculate the number, and give it to you.
Pride’s Children’s is NINE HUNDRED and NINETY KEN Pages. That’s awesome. It’s more than I expected from your rough estimate of 200 words per page. I’ll take it.
I’m glad that worked out well for you, and hope you get many pages read. 🙂
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Just got one this morning. It makes me smile to see 105 pages read on Saturday, and 867 on a Monday morning. I KNOW I hooked someone – and they couldn’t stop reading.
It will take me a while to find my tribe – it’s a long book – but I love having these statistics show up. Everyone has to start somewhere. I don’t just want the book BOUGHT – I want it READ.
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Thank you. 🙂