Do you want to beat Amazon at its own game? You can … make sure you attend the Sunrise Workshop on Saturday, May 9th at the Extravaganza on How to Beat Amazon at its Own Game. Only TWO days to go!
e Book News alert: Kindle Unlimited adoption continued to grow last month, but unfortunately it grew faster than Amazon’s willingness to fund it.
Earlier this month, Amazon released the latest statistics on KDP Select, the program used to fund indie author and publisher participation in Kindle Unlimited. You may recall all the hype around the launch of Kindle Unlimited in July of 2014–that it would be like a revenue stream a la Netflix. There were plenty of us doubting Thomas’ and Thomasinas out here.
Amazon reported that the pool for KDP Select for March 2015 had been increased to $9.5 million. Now that sounds hot … yet with the other announcement tongue, it reported separately that the payout for each time an ebook was read had dropped to $1.33.
Does that mean that readers have dropped too? Nope, they’ve actually increased–since January, the number is up another million to just over seven million reads. So what’s up with less payments ?
It’s in the math … the number of readers have grown–good news; but the moneys in the kitty to be shared by all the publishers/authors in the program hasn’t increased in the same proportion. That means that there is less moneys to pay out from Amazon’s kitty pool to the publisher/author pool.
Recommendation: take a pass. The Kindle Unlimited is better for Amazon than the author–it’s not fantabulous for you. If you list your eBook in the $2.99 to $9.99 range, Kindle pays out 70 percent … that means $2.09 to $6.99 for each eBook that is sold.
Do the math–and get out and market your eBook. Better yet, participate in Amazon’s Matchbook program–a combo of print book and eBook.
Judith Briles is a book publishing expert and coach. She empowers authors and is the Founder of Author U, a membership organization created for the serious author who wants to be seriously successful. She’s been writing about and conducting workshops on publishing since the 80s. Judith is the author of 33 books including Author YOU: Creating and Building Your Author and Book Platforms (ForeWord IndieFab Book of the Year), Snappy Sassy Salty: Wise Words for Authors and Writers and a speaker at publishing conferences. Book #33 will be published in June: The CrowdFunding Guide for Authors and Writers.
Become part of her inner circle by joining the Author’s Ark and exclusive monthly webinar and coaching event. Each summer, she holds Judith Briles Book Publishing Unplugged, a three day intensive limited to a small group of authors who want to be seriously successful. In 2015, the dates are August 27-29th. Her audio and workbook series, Creating Your Book and Author Platform is now available. Join Judith live on Thursdays at 6 p.m. EST for Author U – Your Guide to Book Publishing on the Toginet Network at bit.ly/PublishingShow .
Follow @AuthorU and @MyBookShepherd on Twitter and do a “Like” at AuthorU and Judith Briles – TheBookShepherd on Facebook. If you want to create a book that has no regrets, contact Judith at Judith@Briles.com.
Author U is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to the author who wants to be seriously successful. Monthly education programs delivered face-to-face and online, The Author Resource ezine, BookCamps and the annual Author U Extravaganza are tools designed for authors pre, during and post publishing of their books. Join AuthorU.org today.
If you are looking for FREE author and book coaching … call in to Judith’s Author Monday Morningsat NOON Eastern each Monday. The number is 218-632-9854; Access Code 1239874444 … have your questions ready–there’s a full hour to ask and listen.