Surprising royalties from Kindle's 2 lending programs

Laer Carroll · Sep 17, 2018

At the beginning of the year I gave up on selling my books on B&N, as I'd done already for Apple and Kobo. Their sales were tiny to non-existent compared to Amazon.

So I signed up for Kindle Select, which is available only if we're not selling to other markets. When I did I also automatically was signed up for two Kindle lending programs. For more info follow this link.

My latest book, uploaded in mid-July, almost immediately began selling, first OK, then better, then much better. (I was surprised. I broke several of the rules I'd always taken as universal and just wrote the book purely as indulgent fun. I wrote in white heat over five weeks, sparing time only for eating, sleeping, and spending time with my closest friends.)

When I downloaded the weekly sales reports I found something very important. I am actually making more money from the two lending programs combined than for selling the ebooks!

Something to keep in mind if you go Kindle-only via Kindle Select.

Old Hack · Sep 18, 2018

That's good news, Laer. I hope your royalties continue to increase.

Laer Carroll · Sep 18, 2018

Old Hack said:
That's good news, Laer. I hope your royalties continue to increase.

Any success of this book is partly due to the smart comments in AW from people like you for the several years I've been part of AW.

The sales leveled off a month ago and go up and down in small increments each day in no pattern I can see. I read all the low rating comments in Amazon and in Goodreads because the negative comments point up problems which I may need to correct in future books.

I've only read a few of the four- and five-star comments since they are well over a hundred. They are encouraging, of course. More importantly they help in that they point up some areas that the book does right, which I may need to double-down on. Most encouraging is the many comments wondering about a sequel. Which as it happens I've begun.

ASeiple · Sep 18, 2018

That's great news!

Definitely see about that sequel. Then another one after that, if you can. Ride this train and see where it takes you is my advice...

MaeZe · Sep 18, 2018

This is great to hear! :hooray:

Lady Fox · Sep 18, 2018

That's great news, and most helpful. I'm not far off self-pub myself and have been following these progress reports with interest. I too had decided to go the kindle select route so this information is very interesting.

Thank you for sharing and best of luck.

LF

Al X. · Sep 18, 2018

Be real careful. Last year Amazon went on a witch hunt for many authors that were successful in the KU program, due to scammers. This affected many legitimate authors, and not just the scammers. I don't know if they have fixed the root problem, but authors have received treatment ranging from threats, to royalty nonpayment, and even account termination and permanent ban.

Laer Carroll · Sep 19, 2018

ASeiple said:
Definitely see about that sequel. Then another one after that, if you can.

I'm unsure I can sustain the original inspiration that carried me effortlessly through the first Orphan book. It began one morning when I slowly came awake. There was this little sleeping girl being discovered in a park by the parking supervisor when he comes to work. I had to write her story, almost like a compulsion. The further I got into the story the more she took over and wrote her future the way she wanted, not any way I could have planned.

There is a natural progression which might help me. Early on she looks up at the night sky and thinks she came from there, and must return. So the first book became how she got into space. The next step is for her to spend time in nearby space: in orbit within the part protected from solar radiation by the inner magnetic shell (lowest approach to Earth at the 800-mile height). And on the Moon in underground bases/cities protected by a layer of earth. (Or should it be "moonth"?!)

After that would be space outside the Moon's orbit. Then a fourth book when she breaks out of the solar system. An ambitious task. Not sure I'm up to the challenge.

Lady Fox · Sep 19, 2018

Al X. said:
Be real careful. Last year Amazon went on a witch hunt for many authors that were successful in the KU program, due to scammers. This affected many legitimate authors, and not just the scammers. I don't know if they have fixed the root problem, but authors have received treatment ranging from threats, to royalty nonpayment, and even account termination and permanent ban.

Thanks AI X. I just read this advice on another thread you're on. Certainly something to bear in mind.

Laer Carroll · Sep 21, 2018

Al X. said:
Be real careful. Last year Amazon went on a witch hunt for many authors that were successful in the KU program, due to scammers.

I am baffled why you would think I or any AW author would try to scam Amazon. Or how we can "be careful." I for one behaved exactly the same with my seventh Amz book as the previous six.

On a happier note I'm several chapters into the sequel to Orphan, tentatively titled The Orphan in Near-Space. For a couple of weeks I struggled to find a story arc for the book but recently had an inspiration. Coming to me as I came awake from the previous night's sleep. This way of solving problems is getting to be a regular practice.

mrsmig · Sep 21, 2018

Laer Carroll said:
I am baffled why you would think I or any AW author would try to scam Amazon. Or how we can "be careful." I for one behaved exactly the same with my seventh Amz book as the previous six.

I don't think that's at all what Al X. was saying. Read it again (bolding mine):

Last year Amazon went on a witch hunt for many authors that were successful in the KU program, due to scammers. This affected many legitimate authors, and not just the scammers.

Laer Carroll · Sep 22, 2018

I'm skeptical that Amazon's handling of scammers affected legitimate authors. That sounds like an urban legend to me.

mrsmig · Sep 22, 2018

Laer Carroll said:
I'm skeptical that Amazon's handling of scammers affected legitimate authors. That sounds like an urban legend to me.

Actually, it's not.

Here's an article by David Gaughran that explains how it happened back in 2016: Amazon Takes Aim at Scammers But Hits Authors

And a more recent article, from May of this year: Kindle Unlimited Snafu: Scammers, Suspended Accounts and Page Read Reductions

If I'm not mistaken, there were a few AW authors whose Amazon accounts were affected by these across-the-board suspensions.

Polenth · Sep 29, 2018

Laer Carroll said:
I'm skeptical that Amazon's handling of scammers affected legitimate authors. That sounds like an urban legend to me.

The issue is you can't control who borrows the book. If someone borrows your book in an attempt to cover up a scheme where they're being paid to borrow books, Amazon will assume every author who had a book borrowed by that person was part of it. This tends to impact some genres more than others, which is most likely because they're popular genres with more people trying to play the system.

Everyone gets to decide if the risk is worth it or not, but you should know it could happen, as you might have to fight your case with Amazon if it does. It's better for it not to be a total surprise.

Al X. · Sep 30, 2018

mrsmig said:
I don't think that's at all what Al X. was saying. Read it again (bolding mine):

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Yes, thank you. No, I would never accuse an AW author of scamming.

Al X. · Sep 30, 2018

mrsmig said:
Actually, it's not.

Here's an article by David Gaughran that explains how it happened back in 2016: Amazon Takes Aim at Scammers But Hits Authors

And a more recent article, from May of this year: Kindle Unlimited Snafu: Scammers, Suspended Accounts and Page Read Reductions

If I'm not mistaken, there were a few AW authors whose Amazon accounts were affected by these across-the-board suspensions.

Right. I personally know authors affected by this, one of which is a fairly successful romance writer with a fairly large following, who remains successful, despite the termination of her Amazon account.

Laer Carroll · Oct 2, 2018

The links to the two articles was useful. I am not impressed by references to unnamed authors.

In any case, the number of authors effected was tiny compared to the number who were not. Those of us who are innocent can't do anything, so warning us does not help us. The only thing we can do is continue to act in good faith and WRITE THE NEXT BOOK.

Laer Carroll · Oct 2, 2018

I routinely check my bank account every day, just for a few minutes, to make sure there are no unpleasant surprises. Today there was a pleasant surprise: I got the first royalties from my latest book and they totaled twice as much as I'd guesstimated. (Amazon pays two months behind and it came out in July.)

So I ran several monthly reports, starring with July. The sales are broken down by channel: US, UK, Japan, etc. I noticed that my biggest earnings outside the US were respectively Canada, Australia, and the UK.

I also noticed that the latest short story I published, three weeks ago, had sold several dozen copies. I'd not expected to sell any. I just put it up there because it helps fill in the timeline of my Shapechanger Tales series. It came to only $23 but, hey, that's a pizza with a salad and a Coke!

I'd love to hear what others have experienced.

Polenth · Oct 2, 2018

Laer Carroll said:
The links to the two articles was useful. I am not impressed by references to unnamed authors.

In any case, the number of authors effected was tiny compared to the number who were not. Those of us who are innocent can't do anything, so warning us does not help us. The only thing we can do is continue to act in good faith and WRITE THE NEXT BOOK.

Everyone gets to decide if the earnings are worth the risk, but there's no reason to be rude and dismissive to people telling you about it.

As for my personal experience, people never borrowed my stuff anyway. But even if they did, it wouldn't be worth the risk of losing my whole Amazon account. This is also why I won't review books on Amazon, because I don't do anything that might break a rule (even if I don't know the author, Amazon might assume I do). I'm not famous enough to get people to buy books elsewhere and I'd lose access to Amazon adverts, which are more valuable to me than any of the services in Kindle Select. It's better to get less than I might than to get nothing.

Laer Carroll · Oct 5, 2018

Polenth said:
Everyone gets to decide if the earnings are worth the risk, but there's no reason to be rude and dismissive to people telling you about it.

If they seem to imply I would do something illegal I most certainly have the right to call them out about it.

Helix · Oct 5, 2018

Laer Carroll said:
If they seem to imply I would do something illegal I most certainly have the right to call them out about it.

But they didn't imply it; you inferred it.

This bit --> "This affected many legitimate authors..." <-- is pretty clear to me.

Al X. · Oct 6, 2018

Laer Carroll said:
If they seem to imply I would do something illegal I most certainly have the right to call them out about it.

How do you read that in to my post? I have done nothing of the sort.

Surprising royalties from Kindle's 2 lending programs

Laer Carroll

Aerospace engineer turned writer

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

Laer Carroll

Aerospace engineer turned writer

ASeiple

Livin' la vida biblia

MaeZe

Lady Fox

Al X.

Laer Carroll

Aerospace engineer turned writer

Lady Fox

Laer Carroll

Aerospace engineer turned writer

mrsmig

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.

Laer Carroll

Aerospace engineer turned writer

mrsmig

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.

Polenth

Mushroom

Al X.

Al X.

Laer Carroll

Aerospace engineer turned writer

Laer Carroll

Aerospace engineer turned writer

Polenth

Mushroom

Laer Carroll

Aerospace engineer turned writer

Helix

socially distancing

Al X.