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Kindle Unlimited: the scoop threads merged... :)

192K views 1K replies 206 participants last post by  Harmonious 
#1 ·
Looks like Amazon just started (at least I've never seen it before) Kindle Unlimited: $9.99 for unlimited access to Prime books?

Anyone know how we are going to get paid for these books? Is it just like another borrow? I can't imagine it would be, or they'd loose money on the deal?

(My Select title seem to be auto-enrolled)

UPDATE: The original link has been removed, so here's a cached copy (thanks to Julie):
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:6jL66Zad7zIJ:www.amazon.com/gp/kindle/ku/sign-up/ui/rw/about+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

UPDATE 2: Here's a link to the KindleUnlimited Youtube ad (thanks to Karen McQuestion):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnVNbYdo2FU

UPDATE 3: It looks like the service is really live now:
https://www.amazon.com/Kindle-eBooks/b/ref=ARRAY(0xa6e16ea0)?_encoding=UTF8&ie=UTF8&node=9578129011&pfShowFeatures=&ref_=ku_lp_rw_dp_pb&ref_=ku_lp_rw_dp_pb&tag=viglink20273-20
 
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#4 ·
#5 ·
OMG. The people at scribd and oyster just got reamed. It was always going to happen once the all you can read services got going, but I thought Amazon would just buy them out.

d*mn. I wonder if it's open to indies, and what the royalties are.

Can someone with books in prime see if their books are available through unlimited. Us non-US folk can't use it yet.
 
#9 ·
Currently, Scribd pay full purchase price for a read.  Amazon don't pay full purchase price for a borrow.  I'm surprised that they have auto-enrolled people without telling them the terms for this, unless they're planning to pay the same as they do for a borrow.  Though, how they figure that out if the way of calculating the pot split has changed, I don't know.

I'm up for multiple outlets, so if it were open to non-select authors then I'd sign up.  But since, to be honest, I can't think of subscription services without thinking of musicians being paid cents (or fractions of cents) per play, subscription makes me a little bit twitchy.  So, I'm definitely not going to go exclusive for it!*

I'll be watching this with interest though to see what it does to the market.

*To be honest, I would avoid exclusive like the plague anyway.  To give one company 100% of your business is to give them 100% control over what they decide to pay you!

 
#11 ·
Content removed due to TOS Changes in 2018. I do not agree to the terms.
 
#12 ·
a few questions...
Is this going to replace Prime?

Or be an additional service? ( I doubt a portion of even the most active readers will want to spring for an additional 9.99-- Netflix got stung a few years ago when they split up the DVD home delivery and the streaming services. Of course, they have since then recovered from that but it was ugly for a bit)

A number of readers still enjoy getting a portion of their books for free and throwing them on their To-Be-Read pile ( a number of them never get around to reading everything ON that pile but they enjoy the fact they were able to get a huge pile of freebies. I doubt they'd spring for 9.99 a month_)

I wonder if was born, developed and approved from the Hachette event?
 
#14 ·
Amazon will need content to make this work, so they'll need to match scribd, at least in the begining. How it changes from there, only time will tell.

One problem I can see is that the pool of cash for select may need to be spread further, which will reduce the $/borrow people get at the moment.

I would say that this means Scribd and oyster were more successful than expected and forced Amazon's hand.
 
#16 ·
So peoples books have been auto enrolled and they've no idea what the terms are or how they'll be reimbursed? I'm surprised they have not communicate to authors how this will work.
Exactly.

It would have be nice if they'ed given authors and e-publishers a bit of a warning. I'm going to be extra busy updating guides and I expect a minor deluge of emails from my 100+ authors asking what does Kindle Unlimited mean. It doesn't look very professional to have tell them that I have no idea.. not until Amazon give the heads-up. :eek:

Oh well....
 
#20 ·
MitchHogan said:
So peoples books have been auto enrolled and they've no idea what the terms are or how they'll be reimbursed? I'm surprised they have not communicate to authors how this will work.
My guess is that part of your publishing agreement addresses their legal permission to include your books in such a program. If I was an author, I'd go read that right now and if I don't want to be part of this program, I'd find out if there was a way to opt out.

I know a LOT of readers who are going to really really like this! FWIW, though, I'm not seeing much of anything on the page linked. So it's not a full-fledged program offered to all customers yet.

My guess is it's an expansion of the Kindle Owners Lending Library and that Prime members will get it for a lower monthly subscription price than non-prime folks.
 
#22 ·
Ann in Arlington said:
My guess is that part of your publishing agreement addresses their legal permission to include your books in such a program. If I was an author, I'd go read that right now and if I don't want to be part of this program, I'd find out if there was a way to opt out.
This. If this is an extension of what we signed up with in terms of KOLL, Amazon doesn't have to check with us about anything.
In that case, these unlimited borrows will just share the KOLL monthly pot of cash. So if this program takes off in a big way, each share of that will shrink accordingly. Welcome to the 15-cent royalty.
 
#23 ·
But then people will simply not put their books into KULL and the scheme will collapse. They will need to at least offer 35% until Scribd and Oyster die. And if Apple or Google sees a gap, they could start up their own.

I wonder what the big 5 publishers think of this. It must look like madness from their point of view.
 
#24 ·
Herc- The Reluctant Geek said:
I wonder what the big 5 publishers think of this. It must look like madness from their point of view.
I think the old guard at the paper boy club in New York are scared. And of course that gets passed down to the many authors who have contracts with them.
Fear, unfortunately, has a way of stalling the inevitable. History itself proves that.
 
#25 ·
VMた said:
This is going to be bad. I hope it fails.
Me too. I hope they all fail to be honest, even though I have my books opted in to ScribD and Oyster. The thought of books being turned into Spotify... those tiny royalties... it scares me.

Time to get that mailing list built up!
 
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