Kindle Unlimited... Authors in trouble?

[Selfy]

So my borrows is spiking. Previous record was 1borrow/day now hovering at 11borrow/day.

Is this a good thing? Do I get paid for this? Or will I only get paid if they read more than 10% -- something -- ?

 

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[ChickenHawk]

Or will I only get paid if they read more than 10% -- something -- ?

I'm guessing that if something shows up on your dashboard, it's a sale/borrow/whatever. Probably, anything less than 10% wouldn't even show up.

About borrows, I've heard that after a free run, borrows in general will rise. I don't know if you've run a free promo lately. But if so, that might explain the spike in borrowing.

 

[Selfy]

No free promos at my end.

Would a borrow even affect sales-ranking? I'm guessing not, but that would be exploitable. Such a dramatic rise in borrows, it's getting exciting how this would pan out.

Must write faster! GET THE BALL!!

 

[ChickenHawk]

Would a borrow even affect sales-ranking? I'm guessing not, but that would be exploitable.

What I've heard (via self-pubbing podcasts) is that a borrow counts at approximately 1/10 of a sale. Apparently, it helps your rankings, but not quite as much as a buy. But of course, Amazon's algos are always changing, so you never know...

Either way, a boost in numbers is always exciting!

 

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[Lex DeVille]

I saw my first KU/KOLL borrow last night and my first thought was "wtf get out now!" My second thought was "Wait a minute, there's opportunity here." I actually clicked on COSenior's link and hovered over the unsubscribe button for several seconds before changing my mind.
With this service I'll now have a way to get more books in front of people and still earn a small amount.

Writing isn't my ultimate Fastlane plan anyway, it's just the first step in creating something much larger and unlike novelettes and other traditional books, this will likely bring a large increase in the number of people who see my creations. So, a change I can see myself making is to continue creating quality books, but keep them short and simple like my first two books. This will quickly grow into a large library on Amazon and help establish my company name. The second step will be to focus on funneling these readers to my website through a number of promos, discounts, giveaways etc. inside the books. On the site I'll post the good stuff. Longer, better books. Audio books. Publishing services etc. All of which will be under my control, and at a price I choose.

For picture books this seems like a good thing because right now my best two books are HUGE files and barely net any profit unless I price them at $3.99. If I can funnel customers to my site then these can be priced lower while earning more money. I can also price "the good stuff" higher on the site since they won't be available anywhere else. This will of course require a combination of tactics to get people to my site (not just filtering from Amazon.)

I see borrows increasing with this service and that's a good thing because now your books are essentially landing pages. They can tease your reader at the things to come should they choose to visit your site and pick up your other stuff.

Time to adapt and overcome.

 

[Lex DeVille]

This setup seems like it could benefit / encourage shorter books.

I can't see people binge downloading super long novels on a daily basis.

But downloads of short reads that can be read in an hour or a day may increase substantially.

People won't be losing anything by borrowing these since it doesn't appear to waste much of their money or time.

 

[Faithlaine]

[HASHTAG]#TMF [/HASHTAG] = The Millionaire Fastlane .

Thanks, i will remember it.

 

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[cautiouscapy]

This service will be awesome for people who have had to budget their purchases, but would read voraciously if it weren't too expensive. More readers reading more books = more potential eyeballs on your book.

I think I'd try more books myself - like when I go to the public library, I'll pick up stuff at random (almost) because it's FREE - I've found several authors I really like like this, then I may even PAY for one of their books.

My second thought was "Wait a minute, there's opportunity here."

This is how to think about it

 

[Lex DeVille]

Does anyone know if these downloads will increase sales ranking?

I assume they will and downloaded a couple of my own books to test on my android app.

I wonder if they will be changing the entire algorithm for sales ranking.

 

[Selfy]

Does anyone know if these downloads will increase sales ranking?

According to a podcast that @ChickenHawk listened to, it increases by 10% of a buy. So you'll need 10 borrows to get the same effect as 1 buy.

 

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[RahKnee]

Has this gone live? I've seen a spike in borrows of my titles over the last day or two. From what I've seen the kindle fund for this month is around 2 million or so. Depending on how many people sign up and how many books they actually read you could wind up with a few dollars per borrow or a few cents per borrow. But something is better than nothing, right?

 

[Lex DeVille]

Its live. I signed up for the trial and downloaded a bunch of books.

 

[COSenior]

Has this gone live? I've seen a spike in borrows of my titles over the last day or two. From what I've seen the kindle fund for this month is around 2 million or so. Depending on how many people sign up and how many books they actually read you could wind up with a few dollars per borrow or a few cents per borrow. But something is better than nothing, right?

There are quite a few threads discussing this on the KDP Select community. One that has some speculation based on numbers of borrows is https://kdp.amazon.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=753888&#753888.

I think if the royalty for borrows (which is where they're lumping KOLL and KU together) goes much below what it has averaged lately, Amazon will see authors bailing out of the KDP Select program in greater and greater numbers. My guess is that Amazon will increase the Global Fund to keep the royalties reasonable. However, as (if) I gain traction and raise the prices of my books, I'm not going to be satisfied with a $2 royalty for a $5.99 or $6.99 book. In the end, it's going to be individually-determined success or disaster, rather than being good for all indies or bad for all indies.

I can't see that the average # of borrows per day for our thrillers has been much affected, but I don't have access to the reports for the romances, so I can't say about those.

I do have a question about how they're going to determine percentage read for the no doubt thousands of Kindles that have stopped recognizing wi-fi, as mine has. I download books by USB, and my progress is impossible to determine by Amazon. So I imagine we may lose out on the royalties for those.

 

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[webcomber]

I do have a question about how they're going to determine percentage read for the no doubt thousands of Kindles that have stopped recognizing wi-fi, as mine has. I download books by USB, and my progress is impossible to determine by Amazon. So I imagine we may lose out on the royalties for those.

The agreement states. "Only the first time a customer reads a book past 10% will be counted." So if someone starts the book and does not get to the 10% the first time, it won't count? That is how it seems to read. The first time in one sitting. Or is Amazon making the point that if a readers starts the book over, the second time won't count, which seems so obvious that it would not need to be mentioned. It seems the reader must get past 10% the first time in one sitting. I sometimes start a book and doze off after 5% like Homer Simpson, and then start another book, and get back to the other in small increments.

The thread also indicates that this is a good time to break books into shorter works, or just take them off KDP select. Just when I was getting notes asking why I release short books instead of long ones, and I am convinced to write full length, this may be an argument against it. Not only will it take longer to read the first 10% in one sitting, but it will also be only one payment instead of the number of books broken into a series.

 

[EPerceptions]

As an avid reader, I am not a fan of the Kindle method some authors seem to take, where they chop up a perfectly good book into pieces so that they can publish it as multiple "books" instead of one. With that said, the business side of me definitely agrees that this library approach will cause shorter books and stories to be released. Unfortunately, some types may even try releasing ridiculous one or two page "books" in an effort to game the system.

Non fiction Kindle books/tutorials have been a cash flow source for me for many years. The earnings ebb and flow but keep going. This new option will initially cause a huge surge in downloads. Great for anyone wanting to establish a readership and also great for anyone who wants to add a few more dollars to the stream. Whether it trickles off in time I think depends a lot on what ends up available there. If legitimate, good quality content is removed because the revenue is too low and/or the scammers flood the system with short content pieces in the name of making a buck, then it will struggle hard. Amazon is good at catching on to and adjusting for these types of problems though, so I suspect it's definitely here to stay.

 

[COSenior]

It seems the reader must get past 10% the first time in one sitting.

I didn't get that from it at all. If your Kindle is connected to the internet, it keeps track of your progress in the Cloud. So the first time the reader gets past 10% triggers the royalty, no matter how long it takes to do that. In fact, the KDP Select announcement in the Community forum there states that directly.

I wouldn't change my writing strategy based on this. It's only for books enrolled in KDP Select, and IMHO, people have individual preferences as to the length of a title. Some prefer short stories, others novels, others sagas. Some like all of the above. Write what you like to write, and find that audience. Or, find the audience and write what they want, either way.

Amazon is good at catching on to and adjusting for these types of problems though, so I suspect it's definitely here to stay.

I suspect that if they haven't already foreseen all of this and have an answer for it, we won't see it lasting very long. In other words, I agree with your post.

 

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[webcomber]

I didn't get that from it at all. If your Kindle is connected to the internet, it keeps track of your progress in the Cloud. So the first time the reader gets past 10% triggers the royalty, no matter how long it takes to do that. In fact, the KDP Select announcement in the Community forum there states that directly.

Looks like that is the case. If it takes six months to reach 10% in small increments, it will be paid in that time.

https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=AI3QMVN4FMTXJ

 

[Selfy]

I tried searching for this information, but got more confused.

When does borrows update as dollar-sales in kdp?

Revenue from borrows, unlike purchases, does not show on KDP as sales in "real-time" correct? A lot of this is just speculation until the numbers are settled.

This is the closest I got.

There is a fund each month, and the amount in the fund is set by Amazon. When the month is through, the company divides the number of borrows used, from ALL books in Select, into the fund amount, which determines how much each borrow is worth. This figure is not announced in the 6 week reports. You won't see it until roughly the 15th of each month, when the reports for the last month are released. It's a mystery until then, but it is typically around $2 per borrow. You will not know exactly how much until the full month's report is released. Hope that helps.

So assuming the above is correct and the new borrowing scheme started on 16th of July, then we'll have numerical evidence on borrow-revenue on August 15th.

 

[jimr]

Another lesson in the lack of control commandment..

The comment is spot on, but also highlights that this move by Amazon should mean little to us as self-publishers. We're not here to feed Amazon; we're here to feed our fans and customers. The end plan is to move away from reliance on any one, or number of publishers, to a point where we have control. In the meantime, we just roll with whatever the publishers do until we're in a position to say they've become a very small part of our sales and we can safely ignore their next 'great idea'.

 

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[Selfy]

Released book, got 7 borrows in less than one hour. No sales.

It's going to be real interesting how Kindle unlimited affects things.

 

[RahKnee]

I get the impression that the borrows you see are when the book was borrowed, but only if they reached the 10% threshold to get paid. I think this because I am seeing retroactive changes to my borrows numbers on my sales dashboard. The numbers are going up for borrows several days ago. That leads me to the above conclusion. Might be wrong though. Who knows?

 

[Selfy]

I get the impression that the borrows you see are when the book was borrowed, but only if they reached the 10% threshold to get paid. I think this because I am seeing retroactive changes to my borrows numbers on my sales dashboard. The numbers are going up for borrows several days ago. That leads me to the above conclusion. Might be wrong though. Who knows?

If that was the case, then there wouldn't be any effect on sales ranking.

My books takes approx six minutes for an average reader to blast through 10% btw. (I can do it easy 3min)

This could be bad for indie. Could be good. Who knows? As long as sales are not drying up, I continue to write.

 

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[Selfy]

I even get borrows from tomorrow's date. Then it reflects to the correct day, a day after. Maybe that was what you were referring to?

ie. Just checked. And I have five borrows already on tomorrow's date. lol this is so fun.. mayn.

 

[Selfy]

With my foray into erotica, I released a book with no sales, and only borrows.

Was surprised to know that there was a royalty paid to them!! Which is amazing. Something like $2 for a 2.99 book.

But then I looked at my other books in different categories, and found different rates of royalty for the borrows. So I'm guessing royalties are different per category?

 

[Lauryn]

Don't like it? Don't make your book KDP select...


ETA: Once someone reads more than 10% of your book, you're getting paid.

If you don't want to be part of Kindle Unlimited, don't give Amazon exclusive rights, don't enroll in KDP Select and customers have to buy your book in order to get anything more than what's given in the 10 percent preview.

When you overlook and refuse to participate in the program with certain titles, customers are forced to purchase or go elsewhere.

I see this as a boon, and some authors will get purchases in addition to royalties because loyal customers want to support what they're doing and own the book forever. You can only download 10 books at a time with Kindle Unlimited - and this is great for those reads or stories you know you'll only read once and go about your life without reading again...

I choose to see it as an opportunity despite some clear risks. And publishing is dope but definitely not the only vehicle in my plans just a part of the foundation.

 

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[COSenior]

I am seeing retroactive changes to my borrows numbers on my sales dashboard. The numbers are going up for borrows several days ago.

Same here. Hard to say, though, what the numbers in that graph mean. KDP sent an email that the KOLL and KU borrows were lumped together, and with the former, royalty is earned on download. Also that they were paying for all 'opens' in July, regardless of reading progress. So the 10% qualifying for royalty starts with August borrows. I got the impression it was because they felt the reports were confusing. As far as I'm concerned, the email was confusing and the sales dashboard graphs are still baffling. Instead of staring at them in the hope that they will suddenly reveal all, I choose to spend my time writing more books.

People with lower-priced books got a huge bonus, because the borrow royalty is the same whether your book is 99 cents or $9.99. For my price, the borrow royalty isn't as much as a sale, but then maybe, probably, people who borrowed wouldn't have bought anyway. Lauryn is right. If you see it as a bad thing, don't participate. If you see it as an opportunity, do. Only time will tell which is the correct way to look at it, and even then it may be different for different circumstances.

 

[COSenior]

Just checked. And I have five borrows already on tomorrow's date.

Maybe you have readers in Australia? lol

But then I looked at my other books in different categories, and found different rates of royalty for the borrows. So I'm guessing royalties are different per category?

I don't think so. But that is puzzling.

 

[Selfy]

Maybe you have readers in Australia? lol

I don't think so. But that is puzzling.

I've made 20 aussie dollars in this endeavor. But I don't think that's it. Maybe bc my time is USA time, and a big chunk of my readers are from the UK. But there's always a borrow (or sometimes a sale) from tomorrow.

So it's either KDP is lagging or it's the British buyers. I love you British people! Thanks for buying/borrowing my book!

I heart this borrow program!!

 

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[ChickenHawk]

I've noticed something fairly interesting. Before switching to adult books, I published four kids' books. Of those four, one particular book has always done better than the other three. Just by pure coincidence, this better-selling book was the only one I pulled out of Kindle Select a few months ago. Now, this better-selling book is doing worse than the other three. Where it used to be the highest ranking book, now it's second from the bottom. Also, when you combine sales with borrows, it has "sold" fewer copies this month, relatively speaking.

Granted, these aren't huge numbers (only a handful of sales each copy), but it does make me think. What I'm hearing is that books outside select are having trouble getting traction and visibility. My own small results with the kids books would seem to validate this.

If anyone would like to chime in, it would be interesting to hear your ratios of sales versus borrows. As for me, of my books in Kindle Select, the sales and borrows are exactly equal -- meaning for every sale, I have one corresponding borrow.

As an experiment, I'm tempted to pull my latest book into Select. But dang, that could be risky! Hmmm...

 

[COSenior]

What I'm hearing is that books outside select are having trouble getting traction and visibility.

What's to keep you from starting them in KDPS and then, once you've already gained your traction and visibility, pulling them out at the end of the first 90 days and publishing elsewhere? If I ever gain any of either of those things, that's what I'll do.