Not sure as I'm not an author, but I don't think you can just "enroll" in the program. I think you have to be invited by Amazon.

As a reader, Prime Reading is a high end version of KU -- so not all KU books are in it, but, for the ones that are, it works the same way for Prime members -- borrow up to 10 books at a time, keep them as long as you want (even if the book goes out of the Prime collection).

There's also Kindle Owners Lending Library which is basically the same catalog as KU, but you can only borrow one book a month and must return it before you can borrow another. Further, you must borrow it via your kindle -- you can't do it through the Amazon web site.

Separately there's Amazon First Reads -- which is a program whereby 6 books to be released at the beginning of a given month are offered FREE to Prime members at the beginning of the previous month: each Prime member may choose 1. These are all Amazon imprint titles and lean heavily to thrillers and memoirs and usually have one or two for kids or young adult.

 

Does it significantly increase visibility?

In a word, yes. I have a first in series book I was spending a considerable amount per day advertising. When it went into Prime Reading, I turned all the ads off and it still maintained its low rank based solely on its Prime Reading visibility. When it left Prime Reading, its rank plummeted, and I had to resume advertising. But, as always, YMMV.

 

Thanks! Did your book 1 sales remain steady during that period, or were you mainly getting Prime Downloads?

 

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Definitely.

In my experience, the sales boost is always negligible. But the number of people who sign up to my mailing list each day increases substantially throughout the term (90 days).

 

Thanks! Did your book 1 sales remain steady during that period, or were you mainly getting Prime Downloads?

Book 1's sales went down and its KU reads went up. Overall, the money I made on Book 1 went down compared to the period immediately before it entered Prime Reading. However, the sales/KU reads of the other books in the series went up dramatically, more than making up for Book 1's revenue loss.

 

Definitely.

In my experience, the sales boost is always negligible. But the number of people who sign up to my mailing list each day increases substantially throughout the term (90 days).

From some author friends of mine who've participated in Prime Reading in the past, I've heard their book's review ratings were negatively impacted while in the program from a slew of 1-star reviews. Was that your experience? If so, I take it you felt the rise in visibility/mailing list signups overshadowed the ratings? These authors have since been offered follow-on opportunities with Prime Reading and turned them down because of the damage done to their ratings (and these are authors with 700+ reviews/ratings prior to Prime Reading). Just trying to weight the benefits versus cost, particularly given the likely sales boost will be negligible.

 

From some author friends of mine who've participated in Prime Reading in the past, I've heard their book's review ratings were negatively impacted while in the program from a slew of 1-star reviews. Was that your experience? If so, I take it you felt the rise in visibility/mailing list signups overshadowed the ratings? These authors have since been offered follow-on opportunities with Prime Reading and turned them down because of the damage done to their ratings (and these are authors with 700+ reviews/ratings prior to Prime Reading). Just trying to weight the benefits versus cost, particularly given the likely sales boost will be negligible.

Never heard of this.

I was just sent the offer to get into this program, can anyone else confirm this is true with all the negative reviews? I don't want to be a part of the program if this is commonplace.

 

My personal experience, having been in the program twice, is that Prime reviewers are a bit harsher than your average KU reader. During my first run in the program my book's rating average dropped by .2 (it was pretty high, though - it went from 4.8-4.6), and I remember getting a lot of reviews that were like 'I don't usually read fantasy, but this was free so I thought I'd give it a try. Turns out I still don't like fantasy.' Well, okay then.

KU readers in many genres are extremely kind with their reviews (IMO), so maybe Prime reviewers are a bit more in line with non-KU readers. Anyway, a few harsher reviews notwithstanding, it's a valuable program for the author and I can't imagine a scenario where an author wouldn't want to participate.

 

Just about finished with my 90 day run. Would do it a gain in a heartbeat if offered. Sales of book 1 didn’t move much but KU reads went up significantly as did sales and reads of the rest of the series.

 

I'm with Alec, I was concerned about getting negative reviews of that exact nature, but somehow lucked out. My average actually went up by .1, but the real reward was visibility. I benefited from series read through and overall sales and page reads have been fantastic, and my book 1 sustained a rank that I'd have difficulty hitting on my own without a lot more ad spend. I'd accept again given the opportunity, no question.