Who's in here enroll in Kindle Unlimited ($480 million payout in 2017)?

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Who's in here enroll in Kindle Unlimited ($480 million payout in 2017)?

What is your reason for enrolling in KU? how many books do you have in KU?

and do you make more money from KU or from sales of the KU enrolled novel? A lot of posters on kboards say they make about 50% from KU and 50% from sales from books that they enrolled. Is your experience similar?
 

SeattleSounders

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KU is about 60% of my ebook income. Sales is about 40%.

I'm in KU because I couldn't get any traction from the other stores.
 

Daffyjkl

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I assume when you say KU you are talking about the KENP (pages read of the borrowed book). I think I am about 65% sales and 35% KU, although KU is growing faster than sales. KU is good because people are reading my books everyday. I only have two books in KU. I think if I had more books the numbers of sales and KENP would rise. Writing more is what I need to do.
 

TStarnes

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A lot of that is on the back of the scammers on KU. Look at the top books listed as top performers and you will find some really questionable material. Some of it just other authors work run through a program to substitute words so it passes plagurisum/copy checks.
 

rwm4768

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I'm going to be in Kindle Unlimited with my first book. I don't know if I'll always go that route. It will depend on a lot of factors.
 

Dennis E. Taylor

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Right now, KU is matching sales revenue, more or less, on my books. But at some point, sales and KU will drop off, and I might take the books wide at that point.
 

WriterBN

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A lot of that is on the back of the scammers on KU. Look at the top books listed as top performers and you will find some really questionable material. Some of it just other authors work run through a program to substitute words so it passes plagurisum/copy checks.

Yes, that's one of the biggest problems with KU. I have some books in it, but most are wide, and sales on the other platforms more than compensate for any potential loss of revenue from not being in KU.

However, my experience isn't typical--most authors seem to do better in KU than out of it. The only way to find out is to try.
 

Daffyjkl

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Hi WriterBN. What other platforms do you use? And can you rank them in order of sales? Thanks in advance.
 

ASeiple

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About two to three fifths of my royalty income is from KU. Eventually it might be worth it to go wide, but that time has not yet come.
 

WriterBN

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Hi WriterBN. What other platforms do you use? And can you rank them in order of sales? Thanks in advance.

Just looking at last month's numbers:

1. Amazon
2. Google Play (very close behind Amazon)
3. iBooks
4. Nook
5. Smashwords Direct
6. Kobo

The rest are insignificant (Tolino, Inktera, etc.).
 

Daffyjkl

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Thanks WriterBN. Do you think that sales are better going that route than being specifically Amazon KU?
 

WriterBN

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Thanks WriterBN. Do you think that sales are better going that route than being specifically Amazon KU?

You won't know until you try. It works for me (for a couple of pen names), but my experience may not be typical. Also, it takes a long time to build a platform on the other channels (almost a year, in my case). It's important to keep that in mind, because I've seen many authors pull books out of Select, give up after 3 months of low sales on the other channels, and go right back into Select again.

You also have to work harder at promoting your books on the other channels, because they don't get the visibility that they do on KDP.
 

Mondo

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I have thirteen books in KENP. Like the others I pull more money from pages read than actual sales.

I've used it since they switched from borrowed books to pages read. It's a good deal given the state of the market these days.
 

Mondo

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That depends on the market. For one of my pen names, most of the KENP read come from India, which makes them close to worthless.

Yeah, I've sold some in India, but not enough to warrant a check.

Still, the life of an indie author is akin to the wandering monks of the Middle Ages, disdaining material compensation as they strive simply to be heard. ;)
 

SeattleSounders

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I have thirteen books in KENP. Like the others I pull more money from pages read than actual sales.

I've used it since they switched from borrowed books to pages read. It's a good deal given the state of the market these days.

I'm using it as a marketing tool also. KU subscribers are more likely to check out my books since it's "free." They already paid the $10 subscription so KU books seem free to them.
 

Al X.

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Just be aware, if you even have moderate success under the KU program, you may be targeted in Amazon's scammer witch hunt, even if you done nothing wrong. I cannot over emphasize the toxicity of this program. And Amazon itself.
 

Dennis E. Taylor

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Just be aware, if you even have moderate success under the KU program, you may be targeted in Amazon's scammer witch hunt, even if you done nothing wrong. I cannot over emphasize the toxicity of this program. And Amazon itself.

I would guess, just based on logic, that they would have some ratio of sales to borrows that is considered non-suspicious. Maybe it varies by genre. My revenue is roughly about 50/50 sales and borrows, and I'd guess that's in the safe zone.
 

Al X.

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I would guess, just based on logic, that they would have some ratio of sales to borrows that is considered non-suspicious. Maybe it varies by genre. My revenue is roughly about 50/50 sales and borrows, and I'd guess that's in the safe zone.

You're probably okay, but if you try to promote to KU specific audiences, that's where you are likely to get in to trouble.

That said, Amazon has been acting a fool even for non-KU sales. There is another thread floating around here where a successful author, in sales, not page reads, was accused of "rank manipulation" through illicit sales.

"Illicit sales?" WTF?
 

SeattleSounders

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I would guess, just based on logic, that they would have some ratio of sales to borrows that is considered non-suspicious. Maybe it varies by genre. My revenue is roughly about 50/50 sales and borrows, and I'd guess that's in the safe zone.

Amazon is going after scammers.

Normal authors should be fine. If normal authors are caught up on it, there would be a huge uproar on Kboards but there isn't any of the kind.

1 biggest red flags of scammers is the very large amount of KU reading to very little sales (95% is KU to 5% sales)

For example, someone who is making $1000 a month and $950 of that is from KU and only $50 from sales. That's a big red flag and Amazon will check on that account.

At least that is what I would do.
 

Al X.

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Amazon is going after scammers.

Normal authors should be fine. If normal authors are caught up on it, there would be a huge uproar on Kboards but there isn't any of the kind.

1 biggest red flags of scammers is the very large amount of KU reading to very little sales (95% is KU to 5% sales)

For example, someone who is making $1000 a month and $950 of that is from KU and only $50 from sales. That's a big red flag and Amazon will check on that account.

At least that is what I would do.

Nor is there an uproar on Kindle's own KDP forums. Complaints conveniently disappear. Kboards may not be owned by Amazon, but they have a vested interest in keeping this issue on the D&L.
 

cutecontinent

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Regarding scammers, I wonder if my account was "flagged" in this way? I've had pretty good success with Amazon self-publishing and lately it has been hard for me to get anything through the review process. The current MS I just uploaded has been "frozen" and they're requesting documentation which I cannot provide. It is horrifying to think that one's career as a self-published Amazon author can vanish just like that on a whim.