Tag: Kindle Unlimited

I’m Throwing My Eggs Into One Big Amazon Basket

amazon affiliate basket eggs-791463_960_720I’ve seen all of you authors struggling with the basketing of eggs question. Go exclusive with Amazon, join Kindle Unlimited, and maybe, possibly, at least that one guy is convinced, it will give you more visibility in the Amazon store. At least a few of your peers have said it worked for them, plus they picked up a few dollars they’d have never seen from borrows. Others report they’re doing great elsewhere, a few even selling more eBooks through Apple, Kobo, or Barnes & Noble.

I have a situation that is different. And yet maybe not. In any case I think explaining it will provide some insight into the indie book world that could be valuable for indie authors, especially when they’re wearing their marketing hat. Continue reading “I’m Throwing My Eggs Into One Big Amazon Basket”

How to Opt Out of KDP Select in Light of New Payout Rules

Kindle Unlimited discontentThe indie author world was aflutter with talk June 15 when Amazon announced it was changing the way it paid authors who joined the Kindle Direct Publishing Select Program. The changes (which involve compensating authors based on the number of pages a reader completes) left some saying they wanted out of the program. Continue reading “How to Opt Out of KDP Select in Light of New Payout Rules”

Kindle Unlimited’s New Wrinkle: Pay by Pages Read

Kindle Unlimited BooksIndie-author-land has been agog this week over Amazon’s latest changes to its payment system for borrowed books. In case you’ve been living under a rock (or don’t have any books in KDP Select), here’s what’s going down.

In the past, Amazon has paid authors on books borrowed from either of its lending programs, Kindle Unlimited and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, only when a reader reached a certain percentage of the book. The amount the author was paid varied from month to month, depending on the size of the global fund that Amazon designated for these payouts. In other words, you wouldn’t know what you were earning on your borrows in June until mid-July, when the Zon announced the per-book royalty it would pay authors for qualifying borrows. Continue reading “Kindle Unlimited’s New Wrinkle: Pay by Pages Read”

The Season of Kindle Unlimited Discontent

Kindle Unlimited discontentI believe there are three possible scenarios that can take place when you release a book. Firstly, (and I hope this happens to you), you do very little to promote your book yet based on the phenomenal content – and readers spreading the word – your book hits the upper plateaus of the bestseller rankings. And, it stays there for a considerable amount of time. Yes, this does happen. Consider Andy Weir’s (originally self-published) The Martian, Hugh Howey’s Wool, etc.

The second scenario is that you release your book; it takes an initial sales spike to those same envied upper plateaus and then settles into the 8,000 to 20,000 overall (using Amazon’s charts for this example) rankings. And again, it stays there. This happens occasionally.

My books fall into the third scenario. When I release a new book I have a following of readers who purchase my work, but from that point on I have to find ways to connect with new readers. Every month I run some sort of promotion. Fortunately, because of the promotional opportunities KDP Select provides, I always manage to sell some books.

Those of you who have read my articles know I’m a proponent of Select. I was on the initial Select train at the beginning of 2012 and took advantage of the program that helped many of us sell books faster than we ever thought possible. When Amazon added the benefits of Kindle Unlimited (KU) borrows to Select I got excited, and I hoped that a little bit of that initial magic might be duplicated. Continue reading “The Season of Kindle Unlimited Discontent”