I propose we contact Amazon and ask to lower the current KNEP cap from 3000 pages to 1000 pages.
Asking Amazon to police their entire store for "stuffed" content is silly and ineffective. If the customers don't mind having bonus material, Amazon won't disrupt their experience. However, if they lower the KNEP cap for payable material, the customers can still read their bonus material, but the exploitation of the KU system will be resolved and the monthly page inflation slow.
Plus--Amazon has already lowered the cap once before. This is an easy, effective, and fair solution, and one Amazon is equipped to implement immediately.
On average, each KNEP page equates to 150-200 words per page. At the current 3000 KNEP cap, this means a file could contain upwards of 600,000 words. This is an obscene amount of words--far longer than any novel. Even the largest George RR Martin novel is only 2/3 of that cap.
Lowering the cap to 1000 will mean a file could contain upwards of 200,000 words, which could still allow for even the largest scifi/fantasy novels. However, it will dramatically lower the amount of money potentially made from those who would exploit the pages-read system--limiting earnings from $14 per entire file to $4 per file.
This solution requires no additional programming, manpower, or oversight from Amazon. It is an easy fix that will slow the rampant page stuffing which exploits a loophole in the pages read system. It will ensure that All-Star Bonuses will once again go to the books that earned the most reads, not the authors publishing vast amounts of ghostwritten material with the most pages included in the file. The rampant page inflation will slow, resulting in greater payouts per page. And it will also deter some of the unseen scammers who are clickfarming and boosting books in lower ranks to steal from the system.
I've already spoken with an Amazon rep on the phone regarding this issue. While he could offer me no guarantees, he directed me to have anyone in favor of this change to email KDP at:
KDP-CRS <at> amazon.com
Numerous authors have already emailed their support--mostly top 100 romance authors. If authors from other genres also email in--especially genres which do not traditionally "stuff" their new releases--it will help to demonstrate the seriousness of this particular program exploitation.
I firmly believe Amazon does not understand the exploitation of their systems or how large a 3000 KNEP file truly is. If authors share their experiences, concerns, and common word counts and KNEP pages for their single-title files, the representatives will understand the importance of this issue.
Asking Amazon to police their entire store for "stuffed" content is silly and ineffective. If the customers don't mind having bonus material, Amazon won't disrupt their experience. However, if they lower the KNEP cap for payable material, the customers can still read their bonus material, but the exploitation of the KU system will be resolved and the monthly page inflation slow.
Plus--Amazon has already lowered the cap once before. This is an easy, effective, and fair solution, and one Amazon is equipped to implement immediately.
On average, each KNEP page equates to 150-200 words per page. At the current 3000 KNEP cap, this means a file could contain upwards of 600,000 words. This is an obscene amount of words--far longer than any novel. Even the largest George RR Martin novel is only 2/3 of that cap.
Lowering the cap to 1000 will mean a file could contain upwards of 200,000 words, which could still allow for even the largest scifi/fantasy novels. However, it will dramatically lower the amount of money potentially made from those who would exploit the pages-read system--limiting earnings from $14 per entire file to $4 per file.
This solution requires no additional programming, manpower, or oversight from Amazon. It is an easy fix that will slow the rampant page stuffing which exploits a loophole in the pages read system. It will ensure that All-Star Bonuses will once again go to the books that earned the most reads, not the authors publishing vast amounts of ghostwritten material with the most pages included in the file. The rampant page inflation will slow, resulting in greater payouts per page. And it will also deter some of the unseen scammers who are clickfarming and boosting books in lower ranks to steal from the system.
I've already spoken with an Amazon rep on the phone regarding this issue. While he could offer me no guarantees, he directed me to have anyone in favor of this change to email KDP at:
KDP-CRS <at> amazon.com
Numerous authors have already emailed their support--mostly top 100 romance authors. If authors from other genres also email in--especially genres which do not traditionally "stuff" their new releases--it will help to demonstrate the seriousness of this particular program exploitation.
I firmly believe Amazon does not understand the exploitation of their systems or how large a 3000 KNEP file truly is. If authors share their experiences, concerns, and common word counts and KNEP pages for their single-title files, the representatives will understand the importance of this issue.