Today I rambled on about the subscription model of Kindle Unlimited … among other things.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
-
Find me: Updated Links
Recent Comments
- ROBERT EVANS on Day 2754: Day Not Found
- ROBERT EVANS on Day 2753: Untitled For Some Reason
- Nate on Day 2752: Was A Sunny Day
- Robert Willey on Day 2752: Was A Sunny Day
- Robert Evans on Day 2745: Busy Day
I recently discovered and subscribed to “Kindle Unlimited” a few weeks ago. So far it has been working well for me as a consumer. During the last two years I have read (or listened to) on average about two small-to-medium books per week. I primarily read science fiction and Kindle Unlimited has a reasonable selection in this genre (25,000+ titles listed).
That being said, I am concerned about the impact this subscription model may have on authors. Many of the more recent Kindle Science Fiction books I have been reading cost between 1-3 dollars each. I have often found genre collections that have 6-8 books in them for $.99. We are also an Amazon Prime member which so we receive emails from Amazon with Kindle books on sale for free or $.99 (that’s how I discovered Quarter Share!). I am not sure how much authors can be paid per book on a subscription model but I suspect it is not much. I don’t like hearing the Amazon requirement that works on Kindle Unlimited must be exclusive to Amazon. Amazon’s dominance, power and influence in the book and ebook marketplace is kind of scary. I don’t want to see books devalued to the point of being untenable to authors. My fear is that this is/has already happened….
The marketplace for books is robust and it’s entirely possible to make a comfortable living from writing books. The reality is that a 99 cent book pays the author about 30 cents. A *good* 99 cent book can sell a few thousand copies. If it sells just a bit over 3000 copies, that’s a $1000.
The KU terms and conditions are not working in my favor, so I won’t be enrolling any time soon. The reality is that – of the 25,000 titles listed – how many of those particular books do you want to read? I can go through the top 100 SF list and find no books that I want. I’ve either already got them and read them, or they’re a sub genre I don’t care for, or written by an author I don’t care for, or the fifth book in a series thad I’ve not read the first four of, or something.
I suspect the early adopters in the KU pool are people a) tossing titles they don’t care about in there to test the waters and/or b) people who are having trouble getting traction in the marketplace. I know of four decent authors who’ve decided to test the waters that way and I know a whole lot more who are sitting back and waiting to see what this is going to look like.
If the exclusivity clause stays as a condition of being in KU, then I’m really going to have a hard time until/unless Nook and Kobo both fold – even then the rule is I can’t even sell it on my own website. That’s too far.
Hmm… 30 cents a book. That seems like you would need to sell a lot of books to make a living at that rate.
I will let you know how I fare with finding decent SF books on KU. I am only eight books (novellas) in so far.
I think the KU exclusivity clause is way out of line. I wish Amazon had some serious competition.
That’s why most serious writers are pricing in the 3.99 to 6.99 range. My books are all 4.95. I get about 70% of that with each sale…something over $3. How many books do I have to sell to make a living wage? A grand a week is 52k a year…about twice the poverty level. I need to sell 333 books a week – on average – to make that. What’s that? Forty-five a day across nine titles?
There are two key elements in there. I write novels. I don’t read short so I don’t write short. So my titles have more heft in the market than somebody who grinds out novellas or short stories. While I have a 99 cent novella that sells a hundred units a month consistently, it’s really not the bread and butter of my work.
Ravenwood is in a boxed set with six other “first in the series” fantasy works. It’s sold over 30,000 units at 99cents. I only make about three cents on those sales, but the follow on sales from some significant fraction of those 30,000 readers is pretty decent.
That’s how serious authors are making a living. And it’s not at 9.99 a unit.
That all makes much more sense. And from personal experience, I have purchased many of the entire run of sequels after reading the “first in the series” in those boxed sets I enjoy so much. Thank you for the insight.
One of my faves is a series from the 80s. It’s not on KU and is $10.99 per book. I have hardcovers from the Science Fiction Book Club, but I would like them on Kindle. They’re by a well known author, But $10.99 for 30+ year old books?
Thanks for helping redefine publishing.
A million dollars from one person – or a dollar each from a million people. You still end up with a million dollars, but which is more likely to happen? And ok, while going for the dollar each from a million people, you don’t make it – you only make $30,000. That’s $30,000 more than you had.
And of course, as a business, you’re actually trying to maximize how much you are going to get, in the long run, so you find the balance between the two extremes. The problem is that Hachett and the other mainstream publishers are seeing the e-book money as “found money”, and not as part of the balance. For Dr. Lowell, the paper copies are the “found money”.
Just like the music industry, the publishers will have to adapt to the new reality….
I’m sure the cats were quite happy to help clean up the cream cheese and salmon.