Support for Indie Authors discussion

I haven't used kindle select. Do pages read in the LITB contribute to KENP, as well as borrowed books?

How many pages read would equate to something like $1.00?

Thanks in advance

it varies monthly. Amazon released details (after a month, so january is released february) that says how much pages will be worth. It was running about .005 cents per page, but now its about .004.

Essentially, every 2 pages used to be a penny, so a 200 page book was about a dollar. now its about 250 pages per dollar, and if trending is consistent that value will keep going down. It is only pages when people click on borrow the kindle for free as a kindle unlimited subscriber that pages count.

So thorough ***** - thanks Lincoln

January showed a sharp drop compared to previous months. The value was $0.0041149/KENP read.

It's worth considering that when KU switched to the KENP system, a 300-page print novel had a KENP of (depending on a number of factors) around roughly 600 or so. If that novel was priced at $3.99, at 70%, the author made $2.79 on a sale. But if someone borrowed the book and read the whole thing, the author made $3.00 ($0.005/KENP read).

So the author was paid a premium if their whole book was read. Given that Amazon's income for KU is based on a $10 monthly membership, not a portion of the value of a book that is borrowed, but their outlay to authors is based on how much of a book a borrower reads, it's not surprising that Amazon would not continue to pay a premium to authors in KU.

Therefore, I assess is that this is not yet a trend. Amazon will continue to hunt for a reasonably balanced level of compensation, according to the success of KU. KU does seem to be growing in popularity, as last June Amazon's payout was around $11 million, and the last month they announced was $15 million (as I recall).

I think we can expect more fluctuations as the market evolves.

Thanks Owen *****
Hard to get this info elsewhere, it's been difficult to get my head around and still need to interest borrowers.

Andrew wrote: "Thanks Owen *****
Hard to get this info elsewhere, it's been difficult to get my head around and still need to interest borrowers."

Given that KU is a big experiment in new way to "sell" books and reward authors, getting one's head around it is not easy. Speaking only for myself, I love it as both an author and a reader. It's allowed me to check out a large number of books -- far, far more than I would consider buying -- and while most of these turn out not to be my cup of tea, I have the satisfaction that the author got paid something, even when I only read a portion of their book. And occasionally I find a gem I would have missed otherwise. So I'm putting money into the pockets of authors at no additional cost to myself and I have the freedom to explore widely. That makes me happy.

I like your consideration approach.

For any writer trying to find readers, KU is perfectly fine. Andrew is correct in that it's a reader-centric program, not author-centric. There's no real money here for authors, but there are readers. See it as a marketing tool, not a revenue driver...all-you-can-eat content buffets are a mixed bag for content companies, but generally have been a loser for content creators.

Keith wrote: "For any writer trying to find readers, KU is perfectly fine. Andrew is correct in that it's a reader-centric program, not author-centric. There's no real money here for authors, but there are reade..."

That all depends. Some authors do have good success with KU. In our case, our income nearly tripled due to KU. It is true that KU is geared to serve readers (as we author's also are), but it can also serve authors quite well. On the whole, the question of how KU compares to sale as a revenue driver is something I don't believe Amazon has revealed, but the general numbers suggest the gap is not terribly wide.

I've just enrolled a book in Kindle Select. Is there a way to tell what Amazon has calculated as the number of pages? I can't seem to find anything that tells you how that is calculated.

Lisa wrote: "I've just enrolled a book in Kindle Select. Is there a way to tell what Amazon has calculated as the number of pages? I can't seem to find anything that tells you how that is calculated."

They won't tell you how, but if you click on the promote & advertise button for your book on the Bookshelf section of your dashboard, it will show you the count.

Christina wrote: "They won't tell you how, but if you click on the promote & advertise button for your book on the Bookshelf section of your dashboard, it will show you the count. "

Thanks!

It's a strange new world. I'm making some $ on these pages read, and it still baffles me. But this was a helpful discussion. Thanks **Owen** for that perspective. Had been feeling ambivalent, but that makes me feel better.

If for some readers it's not "buy or rent," it's "rent or not," then I'm glad they've chosen to at least sample some of my work!

It also takes the guilt out, as a reader, to download free kindles.

Has anyone seen a place to post or learn about free kindles? Now I'm more curious!!

My take on KU:

1) In one month, a boxed set one of my books is part of had over a million KU pages read. That adds up, even when you divide by 4.

2) I hope to build a career (if I can keep up the pace and cost of several releases a year), and consider KU an investment to get more readers familiar with my work.

3) I just got a BookBub for my first book, which was free 3/1-5. I'd hoped to get some KU pages in addition to downloads. Already my March KU pages are more than 4 times February's total (though they weren't that high in February....).

4) It's been my experience that, because there are so many free and discounted books available, getting sales at even $2.99 will be a challenge for many of us. So KU at least makes your books an option for subscribers.

What are your goals are in publishing/self-publishing? How can you stand out in such a crowded marketplace?

I appreciate your comments. They all give a better picture of how this functions, results, and how it can be used.