Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
First, the way KU funding works any scammer is going to hit Amazon, not authors.
Second, Amazon sets the payout pool after the fact, based on total recorded page reads. So any "scam page reads" are *added* to the legit page reads and them Amazon sets the pool size to keep the per page payout within their desired range. So, more page reads = bigger payout. Any scam pages simply trigger a bigger payout. And if the growth is too bigs, alarms will trip and Amazon will look at where *their* money is going.
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Last time I looked, I was given the impression that Amazon set the payout based on the pool divided by total pages read during the 30 day period. The per page rate is set after the fact though it has remained moderately stable in 2018. If that information was correct, if a scammer manages to generate a high page read number, it reduces the payout to everyone else. Of course, Amazon is liable to catch on to this and the scammer will have to move to new user names and a new set of books. Given the various news stories in the last couple of months (i've added links to a few below):
Scammers Break The Kindle Store
Kindle Unlimited Book Stuffing Scam Earns Millions and Amazon Isn't Stopping It
Kindle Unlimited snafu: scammers, suspended accounts, and page read reductions
etc. It sounds as if Amazon has the usual problem of being reactive not proactive.
As for the book stuffers? As mentioned in an earlier post, a series my wife checked out turned out be be 3 80-89 page novellas and a 135 page novel. Sadly the ebooks that novellas were in ran to 450-800 pages while the novel had ~110 pages with the other 25 consisting of advertising for other books by the author and friends plus a 2 page acknowledgment that read like an Oscar speech (I want to thank—by name—everyone who has been within a metre of me during my life). She did complain to Amazon and received a "nice" form letter response. When I wrote the previous message in this thread mentioning that series, it was still on Amazon and shows as KU available. Amazon -- with the blinding speed of a giant tortoise...